Thanks John! We appreciate your feedback here! Oh and a good idea about future videos too. What I have learned in my very beginning knowledge with all this so far is that although you may find yourself getting familiar with the tool itself (Claris Connect) the real learning often hides out with the 3rd party service you're talking too. Just like learning a new API, integration is just as much about the expertise on the subject matter related to the third-party app and what it specializes in as much as is it about "which button do I push to move the data". For example, two weeks ago I couldn't even spell Typeform - let alone know what it can do. We have these issues today as well with current plug-in integrations. The FM Books Connector plug-in makes it easier to integrate with QuickBooks, but it doesn't make you an expert at accounting or a pro at navigating the ins and outs of all the workflow choices a customer has when they talk about integrating FileMaker with QuickBooks. 😊 I'll have a better perspective on all this in another month or so as I dive in deep with various apps. Right now, I'm still learning where the steering wheel is.
I use Outlook Manipulator on a virtual machine and run continuously in the background a set of scripts that synchronize Outlook mails with our filemaker database running on the server. Is Claris Connect able to do the same? Is there a possibility to connect FM with Outlook? I see Office 365 is on the list of connectable apps. Does this include Outlook?
Hi Bernard! This is Marc here answering this comment. So, first, thank you for your question and for being a Productive Computing customer! I love to hear how you are using Outlook Manip with your background set of scripts that synchronize Outlook Emails. So the Outlook Manipulator plug-in uses the actual Outlook Application (on Windows) to do its magic. This allows us to talk to anything that the Outlook application can which includes not only MS Outlook, but the other things that Outlook can communicate with such as MS Exchange as well as Office 365. With Claris Connect, the option you have is to connect to Office 365 online only. It doesn't talk directly with your Outlook Application per se. In addition, Claris Connect focuses more on the Email portion of Office 365 and less on the other modules. For example, you can push a contact to Outlook 365 from FileMaker using Claris Connect. But the fields are limited to First, Last, Full name, Company, Email and Phone at this time. It doesn't allow you to push to other things such as the address, notes, and all the other dozens of fields available. But Claris connect is interesting because you could do the integration without needing a virtual machine to run as a robot which has some nice advantages. So, we'll see how this evolves. Claris Connect does not appear to work at all with Outlook tasks and has some limited connections with the calendar by way of appointments by the looks of it. So, Claris connect allows for some connectivity but is quite limited by comparison to the Outlook Manip plug-in, which has the near-full Outlook capability available to you in simple-to-use script steps. But at the same time, Claris Connect can do more "in the background" because it's a hosted entity and is founded upon triggers/actions many of which don't need a human to "click a button" in order to execute. The opportunities and comparisons of what we can do today already are things that we're all going to have to discover and learn in 2020 as this new option presents itself. There is also the issue of licensing costs of Claris Connect and how that may play an important consideration in the decision to use it or not. I look forward to this discovery and learning all I can about Claris Connect so that we may provide this info to the community. Watch for upcoming courses at www.ProductiveComputingUniversity.com as well as more videos here on RUclips! Thanks again for your support of our products and for your comment today. - Marc
Mark! Thanks so much for your question here. This is Marc (from the video above) answering this comment. Nice name by the way 😊 So, I believe this exact question is already on the minds of many. I think the short answer is that Claris Connect is pre-wired to work with FileMaker Server in the Cloud and on-premises (long pause after you hear that). No other service can do that today out of the box that I'm aware of. Yes, you could use Zapier to create a traditional API connection to FileMaker using the Data API no- problem. But that requires API integration skills and as we've seen in the FileMaker community, not everyone has those skills as FileMaker has traditionally been software that was specifically geared towards non-developers. So, I think the short answer is "this one works with FileMaker" while the rest don't. Now, what about the rest of the features? That would take another video (or a series of them) and/or a very long blog article to do a comprehensive comparison feature by feature. In a nutshell, Claris Connect includes things that others don't but for the most part, it's a close cousin. It has similar advanced features too like the ability to store data, parse data, provide logic (If/Then), etc. Then there is the topic of price. On the surface, when you compare the offerings of let's say Zapier to Claris Connect, you quickly see a big difference there (in favor of Zapier). But at the end of the day, if we have to seek and hire a developer who is great at connecting Zapier with the FileMaker Data API (that might be a tall order), it's going to cost us. And then all of a sudden, Claris Connect looks like the bargain of the century. I think Claris Connect is another option that we didn't have before delivered in a modern way. This is generally good for the platform and a foward looking path Because of the rich history of FileMaker, we have lots of options today. Integration strategies that we use here at Productive Computing include plug-ins (my personal favorite), Claris Connect, and you can still go straight to the API directly using a traditional insert from URL script step. Each one has advantages and disadvantages. We continue to learn what Claris Connect is all about and I'm anxious to learn the nitty-gritty details. Look for more information from us on this topic. Thanks again Mark for your great question!
Hello @Charles Ellmaker Thanks for your critical comment. You never know what will strike people as "mentally exhausting" these days but it's funny that you mention this because our internal team called out the same thing (camera angle) in the past. This is an older video and we have since fixed our camera angle so we agree with you on this one! In any case, thanks for following us and we'll continue creating what will hopefully be valuable FileMaker-related content for the community.
Great introductory video Marc! Would be great to see the programming steps to integrate Typeform and FileMaker in a future videos.
Thanks John! We appreciate your feedback here! Oh and a good idea about future videos too. What I have learned in my very beginning knowledge with all this so far is that although you may find yourself getting familiar with the tool itself (Claris Connect) the real learning often hides out with the 3rd party service you're talking too. Just like learning a new API, integration is just as much about the expertise on the subject matter related to the third-party app and what it specializes in as much as is it about "which button do I push to move the data". For example, two weeks ago I couldn't even spell Typeform - let alone know what it can do. We have these issues today as well with current plug-in integrations. The FM Books Connector plug-in makes it easier to integrate with QuickBooks, but it doesn't make you an expert at accounting or a pro at navigating the ins and outs of all the workflow choices a customer has when they talk about integrating FileMaker with QuickBooks. 😊 I'll have a better perspective on all this in another month or so as I dive in deep with various apps. Right now, I'm still learning where the steering wheel is.
Very informative - well done!
Glad it was helpful and thank you for watching!
I use Outlook Manipulator on a virtual machine and run continuously in the background a set of scripts that synchronize Outlook mails with our filemaker database running on the server. Is Claris Connect able to do the same? Is there a possibility to connect FM with Outlook? I see Office 365 is on the list of connectable apps. Does this include Outlook?
Hi Bernard! This is Marc here answering this comment. So, first, thank you for your question and for being a Productive Computing customer! I love to hear how you are using Outlook Manip with your background set of scripts that synchronize Outlook Emails. So the Outlook Manipulator plug-in uses the actual Outlook Application (on Windows) to do its magic. This allows us to talk to anything that the Outlook application can which includes not only MS Outlook, but the other things that Outlook can communicate with such as MS Exchange as well as Office 365.
With Claris Connect, the option you have is to connect to Office 365 online only. It doesn't talk directly with your Outlook Application per se. In addition, Claris Connect focuses more on the Email portion of Office 365 and less on the other modules. For example, you can push a contact to Outlook 365 from FileMaker using Claris Connect. But the fields are limited to First, Last, Full name, Company, Email and Phone at this time. It doesn't allow you to push to other things such as the address, notes, and all the other dozens of fields available. But Claris connect is interesting because you could do the integration without needing a virtual machine to run as a robot which has some nice advantages. So, we'll see how this evolves. Claris Connect does not appear to work at all with Outlook tasks and has some limited connections with the calendar by way of appointments by the looks of it.
So, Claris connect allows for some connectivity but is quite limited by comparison to the Outlook Manip plug-in, which has the near-full Outlook capability available to you in simple-to-use script steps. But at the same time, Claris Connect can do more "in the background" because it's a hosted entity and is founded upon triggers/actions many of which don't need a human to "click a button" in order to execute.
The opportunities and comparisons of what we can do today already are things that we're all going to have to discover and learn in 2020 as this new option presents itself. There is also the issue of licensing costs of Claris Connect and how that may play an important consideration in the decision to use it or not. I look forward to this discovery and learning all I can about Claris Connect so that we may provide this info to the community. Watch for upcoming courses at www.ProductiveComputingUniversity.com as well as more videos here on RUclips! Thanks again for your support of our products and for your comment today. - Marc
How is this different from Zapier, IFTTT, Microsoft Flow and the half dozen or so other 'integration platforms already out there?
Mark! Thanks so much for your question here. This is Marc (from the video above) answering this comment. Nice name by the way 😊 So, I believe this exact question is already on the minds of many. I think the short answer is that Claris Connect is pre-wired to work with FileMaker Server in the Cloud and on-premises (long pause after you hear that). No other service can do that today out of the box that I'm aware of.
Yes, you could use Zapier to create a traditional API connection to FileMaker using the Data API no- problem. But that requires API integration skills and as we've seen in the FileMaker community, not everyone has those skills as FileMaker has traditionally been software that was specifically geared towards non-developers. So, I think the short answer is "this one works with FileMaker" while the rest don't.
Now, what about the rest of the features? That would take another video (or a series of them) and/or a very long blog article to do a comprehensive comparison feature by feature. In a nutshell, Claris Connect includes things that others don't but for the most part, it's a close cousin. It has similar advanced features too like the ability to store data, parse data, provide logic (If/Then), etc. Then there is the topic of price. On the surface, when you compare the offerings of let's say Zapier to Claris Connect, you quickly see a big difference there (in favor of Zapier). But at the end of the day, if we have to seek and hire a developer who is great at connecting Zapier with the FileMaker Data API (that might be a tall order), it's going to cost us. And then all of a sudden, Claris Connect looks like the bargain of the century. I think Claris Connect is another option that we didn't have before delivered in a modern way. This is generally good for the platform and a foward looking path
Because of the rich history of FileMaker, we have lots of options today. Integration strategies that we use here at Productive Computing include plug-ins (my personal favorite), Claris Connect, and you can still go straight to the API directly using a traditional insert from URL script step. Each one has advantages and disadvantages. We continue to learn what Claris Connect is all about and I'm anxious to learn the nitty-gritty details. Look for more information from us on this topic. Thanks again Mark for your great question!
Great info. The weird camera angle is mentally exhausting and, unfortunately, distracting.
Hello @Charles Ellmaker Thanks for your critical comment. You never know what will strike people as "mentally exhausting" these days but it's funny that you mention this because our internal team called out the same thing (camera angle) in the past. This is an older video and we have since fixed our camera angle so we agree with you on this one! In any case, thanks for following us and we'll continue creating what will hopefully be valuable FileMaker-related content for the community.