Database software.

Does anyone have any insights into database software for Mac. I have had some experience using MS Access (when I was an unenlightened PC user) but it isn't available for Mac, at least not that I am aware of. I've had File Maker Pro recommended to me, but I was also curious about the database feature in AppleWorks.

Thanks in advance.

Depends on what you are wanting to do with it. There is a comercial data base program called File Maker that could do probably everything you want, however, it is commerical and would cost you and might well be a bit of overkill depending on your needs. There are some free ones that would probably do well for most people.

Open Office V.2 has a database that looks like it could match up with Access, and will use Access data files. Open Office is free and is compatable with most files from ms word and excel and access.

AppleWorks also has some compatability along those lines.

Hello,

I was in a similar predicament. All the databases I created were in MS Access. I wanted to make the switch to Mac, and was a bit disappointed to find out that MS Office did not include Access.

I did a little research and found filemaker. It’s a powerfull database tool. I believe MS Access may be a little more robust with end-user usage, and other advanced query language. I’m not sure how advanced/complicated your MS Access databases are, but for me, filemaker could handle any of my MS Access databases.

I find filemaker to be more user friendly, and actually more fun to use. You can find a few good deals on filemaker pro 7 on ebay (under $150). You can also get more advanced versions of filemaker, but they tend to cost hundreds of dollars.

I believe appleworks is more a suite of applications. Not nearly as sophisticated as filemaker, in which you actually create databases.

Hope this helps…

VJ

Thanks for the input. I think I'm going to give File Maker a try.

Definitely try FileMaker. I have used Access and FileMaker, in fact I wrote a system for a business in Access that now runs that business and there were times I was crying out for them to buy FileMaker...

It's an excellent database program.

Vicky