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FileMaker Pro Plugins & Solutions

Contacts plugin

With the iPhone, iPad and iCloud services the need for a good connection between Apple's Contacts and your FileMaker solution is becoming more and more important. That's why we developed the Contacts plugin for FileMaker, a plugin that enables you to synchronise contacts between Apple's Contacts to FileMaker.
Included is a people-picker window from which you can select Apple contacts directly from within your FileMaker database.
The download includes a set of FMP examples to get you started.

ContactsPiLogo19

What can you do with this plugin?

- Copy individual or all contacts from Apple contacts to FileMaker records or vice versa.
- Framework for automatic matching and updating of contacts between the two applications in both directions.
- Copy all contact details or only a selection.
- Use FileMaker's find function to link a FileMaker record to an Apple contacts card.
- Use Apple's contacts  people-picker (Enhanced in V2) to select contacts from contacts right inside FM.
- Make Skype calls directly from FileMaker.
- Available as site license with a maximum of 10, 25, 50, 100 or unlimited authorisations.
- You can use one serial number/name combination for all authorisations up to the maximum of the purchased license.
- V2 now has UTF8 support, and is both 32/64 bit compatible.
- Also available as a bundle with the calendar plugin.
- exchange contact images between FileMaker Pro and Contacts
- splash window is no longer shown on startup, but can be enabled by the developer 

Latest version:3.06 
Compatible with Mac OS 10.12x (Sierra) up to 10.15x  (Catalina) and Big Sur (11.1x) - MacOS 10.10 and 10.11 should work, but have not been tested
note for Catalina: because our installer is not “notarised” yet, you have to open the installer by right clicking it, and then choose Open.
Apple M1: works in Rosetta mode, we’re working on a native version
Compatible with FileMaker Pro/Advanced 14 (in 64 bit mode) to FileMaker Pro Advanced 19.

Please check out our FAQ for compatibilty with Google accounts


Try before you buy

One of the most asked questions is: so once I install the plugin then I can exchange all my contacts?
Unfortunately not. You need to be a reasonably seasoned FileMaker programmer to be able to make a connection between FileMaker and Apple’s Contacts. We tried to make it easy for you, and in the download you’ll find many examples ranging from simple to complex. Often you can copy the code in these examples and then modify it where needed.
We also included a very thorough manual that explains how Apple’s Contacts work and how you interact with it from FileMaker. 
All our plugins are fully functional in demo mode for 30 days. So if you’re in doubt then first download and install without purchasing. Once you’re sure that you can implement the plugin you can purchase a license. 

In the webshop you can find all prices. We offer single user licenses as well as discounted licenses for 10, 25 50, 100 or unlimited users. You also get a discount if you buy a larger quantity of one license kind. 
The difference between 10 single user licenses and 1 ten-user license is that the ten-user license will have one serial number that you can install 10 times, while 10 single user licenses each come with their own serial number. The latter can be interesting for developers who want to sell our plugin included in their solution. 

This button will initiate the download of the Contacts plugin installer.  
Included in the download are the manual and a set of FileMaker Pro examples ranging from simple to complex interaction. You can use these as a starting point for your own solution. The download works fully functional for 30 days in demo mode. After that you need to enter a valid license. 
You can purchase a license from within the FileMaker application

Click here to download the legacy v1 installer

Upgrade info for existing users of the contact plugin v1

With the release of V2 (early 2016) of our contacts plugin we increased the price slightly. Existing users of V1 had the chance to upgrade to v2 for a special price.
This offer ended the 1st of January 2017. Contacts plugin V1 can be used on older FM systems (up to FM 14) If you still have a version 1 license you need purchase a new V2 license to be able to use it in FileMaker Pro versions later than 14. A version 1 license number will not work with the V2 installer. 

Send an email to daniel -at-froodware.com if you have questions about this. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the latest version of the contacts plugin?
you can always find the latest version in the download section of our website. (there is also the latest V1.38 there)

Is there a version of the contacts plugin for my Windows PC?
no, and we do not have any plans yet to make one

The plugin does not seem to work in OSX 10.9 or higher
well, it does work, but you need to give FileMaker access to Apple contacts | you can do so by going to your System Preferences->Security and Privacy and add FileMaker Pro to the list of applications that is allowed to access Contacts

Do you offer discounts for larger quantities?
to apply for a discount you can either enter a larger quantity for the single user version or buy a site license  
a site license has the same registration info and serial number for all instances, while purchasing a larger quantity of the single version will give you a different serial per instance for a lower price

Can I use the address book plugin with iCloud?
yes, the plugin works great with contacts stored on iCloud 
some things you should know when you're planning to do that:
1 when you convert a local contacts book to iCloud, all UIDs ( the contacts serial number that connects each Apple contact to your FileMaker solution ) will change. This will only happen once, so if you are already syncing with iCloud this does not apply to you. If you start afresh we suggest you first link your contacts to iCloud, and then sync your contacts with your FileMaker solution. If you already established links between FileMaker and your contacts and you haven't synced to iCloud yet the solution for this problem is to store the serial number from your FileMaker Contacts in Contacts and always search for that serial number when you want to exchange data with Apple's contacts
2 when you create a new Apple contact using the plugin it will be created in the account set in the Apple contacts Preferences > General > Default Account
More info can be found in the manual

Can I use the contacts plugin with CardDAV accounts?
Yes, our tests show that the plugin works OK with contacts stored on a CardDAV server. The same complications and solutions described in the previous question apply

Can I use the contacts plugin with Google accounts?
in OSX 10.9 this seems to work fine, but when you set the Apple Contacts application default group to a Google account in a newer OS it becomes unreliable. 
It seems that after Apple Contacts has assigned a UID to the card, this is overwritten by a Google (?) UID. Once that has happened it remains the same. You can consider to use iCloud or 'On My Mac’ as the default group.

Can I use the contacts plugin in a multi-user FileMaker database?
Yes, you can use the Contacts plugin in a multi-user FileMaker database. Each client needs a separate licensed copy of the Contacts plugin. For more information see the FAQ about site licensing. Technically speaking the complications described in the FAQ about iCloud apply: the UIDs for each users' Apple contacts will differ. To tackle this problem you have several options:
1 store the serial number from your FileMaker contacts in the users' Apple contacts book and always search for that serial number when you want to exchange data with Apple contacts. This method will also 'survive' turning iCloud on.
2 store several UIDs for each FileMaker contact in your database.
3 maintain a separate table in your FileMaker database that stores the UIDs for each user.
4. Implement our synchronization engine in your solution. Besides automatically keeping Apple Contacts and your FileMaker solution in sync, each client will maintain it’s own preference-file which keeps track of the links between the Contact UIDs and the FileMaker contact records.

Do you have site licenses, and what about authorisation in a multi-user environment?
you can buy site licenses from the Froodware website that use one serial number for 10, 25 , 50 and 100 seats, plus there is an unlimited license | authorisation of  each copy can be scripted ( examples of this are included in the installation package ) and as of FileMaker 12 the installation of the plugin can be done automaticallycan I use the contacts plugin as a 'server side' plugin on FileMaker server?no, though technically speaking the plugin can run on FileMaker server, the MacOS user account that actually runs FileMaker server is 'fmserver' which has no contacts, so there is no contacst book to exchange data with

I don't have much experience with programming in FileMaker. will the plugin automatically sync my FileMaker contacts with my Apple contacts?
No, the Aple contacts book framework is complicated and syncing data is complicated, so you will need to be a reasonably seasoned programmer to work with the plugin. The contacts plugin comes with a wealth of examples and comprehensive manual though, so a serious programmer can certainly achieve good results.

I just want to be able to select a contact from Apple's contacts in my FileMaker invoices database. Can that be achieved easily?
Yes, wiith a little bit of copying from the provided examples you can have the Apple Contact selector up-and-running in a wink

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