In FileMaker, you can make two database files work together as easily as you work with multiple tables. Using the techniques you already know, you connect tables from another file (often called an external database) without the overhead of copying all that data into your file. You just put a table occurrence from your external file onto your Relationships graph, and that defines its context in relation to all your other tables.
For example, suppose you have a Leads database that you want to connect to the Invoice system. Your goal is to create a layout in the Invoices database so your sales department doesn't have to manually open that file while they're busy looking through invoices. You'll start by adding a table occurrence from the external file to your "local" file's Relationships graph. See the box on Systems with More than One Database to learn more about why you might keep some tables in separate database files.
If you downloaded the sample files for this chapter, you'll...