Modern Related Record Duplication
For many years, duplicating a record in FileMaker has been straightforward. You simply choose Duplicate Record from the Records menu and you’re done.
Things get more complicated when you also need to duplicate the associated related records. At that point, you typically have to “load” the related records, either with a Find or Go to Related Records script step, duplicate each one individually, and ensure the new primary key value is written into the foreign key field of every related record.
Once that’s complete, you return to the original layout and repeat the same process for every other related record set you want to duplicate. Automation can feel exciting at first. Watching the entire process run with a single button click is satisfying. That excitement fades, however, when you realize you need to rebuild the same logic again and again in new solutions. It may not happen constantly, but it happens often enough to be frustrating.
With more modern FileMaker development, we now have far more powerful options. The Execute FileMaker Data API script step allows us to duplicate complex sets of related records in dramatically fewer steps. In many cases, a process that once required extensive scripting can now be accomplished in as few as 15 script steps.
In this video, I walk through the modern approach to duplicating a primary record along with its related records in a fast and approachable way. The process is easy to update, and once implemented, it can be quickly adapted to other duplication scenarios. If you have an existing solution with a complex duplication process, I encourage you to explore what’s possible now. You may find you get far more value for the effort you invest.