The customer needed to simplify access to project documentation stored on a network drive referred to as the “P-drive.” Each project had its own folder and subfolders containing various types of documents. Until now, folders had to be created manually, and users had to navigate through the disk’s directory structure in a cumbersome way. The goal was to enable easy and direct access from within FileMaker, while also allowing for automatic folder structure creation to maintain organization.
We developed an integration between FileMaker and the network drive that allows users to open project folders — or specific subfolders such as Status, Closure, or Financial — directly from within the application. This connection enables not only direct access but also automatic creation of the necessary folder structure if it doesn’t already exist. Administrators can define which folders and subfolders should be automatically created based on the department.
Subfolders that remain empty are temporarily labeled with the prefix “ZEMPTY_.” A scheduled script running on the FileMaker Server regularly scans all project folders and removes this prefix from any folder that contains files. This results in a very clear and user-friendly system where users can immediately see which folders already contain documents and which are still empty. Thanks to our SimpleFile plug-in, all operations can be performed seamlessly directly from the FileMaker client.
