Dialing for Dollars – Getting FileMaker to Call or Text to an iPhone, Skype, Facetime or Zoom

In this time of the COVID-19 epidemic, many people are working from home. FileMaker is often an important part of a workflow, even when homebound. Wouldn’t it be great if you could launch your FaceTime, Skype or Zoom calls right from a database screen?

This free demo file is based on a file by Calvin Mosiman, featured by Richard Carlson. I recommend watching their Youtube video to get a full idea of what is going on in the scripts. For my purposes, I gathered all the scripts from his demo file into a single one and made it a little more modular so I could quickly paste it into my databases. To add it to your solution, copy the single script, and the Popover button and then edit the script to your preferred phone number field. I thought I’d share my version.

Other sources:
• Dialing your phone from FileMaker – Luminfire
• Dial iPhone from FileMaker – Hi Voltage

It is possible to send and receive SMS messages from a Mac by setting it up correctly.

In previous blog posts, I’ve talked about using FileMaker to make phone calls:

• Dialing Skype from FileMaker

as well as inbound calls causing customer lookups in FileMaker:

• Smart Phone Caller ID Triggers Customer Search in FileMaker

Download Demo File

Integrating Call Outs into your database file

It is important that you do the steps in this order to avoid having to reassign the button bars to the script.
• Copy the script and paste it into your solution
• Copy the Popover with the Button Bar with all the options.
• Edit the script to use the Phone Number field in your solution
• One more option in the script is to add a body field for your Texting. This could be some standardized text, or come from a notes or correspondence field.

Copy the Script
Copy the script called “Call Outs – All in One”

Edit The Script
Edit the line near the top of the script that sets the Variable for $TheNumber. Change this field to the phone number field in your solution.

Copy the PopOver Button
Copy the Popover Button that contains a Button Bar with all the options included. Paste this onto your layout in your solution, preferably next to a telephone number that you will be using for calling.

Removing a Button Bar Item
To remove any of the options that you don’t want to support by selecting the button bar item and clicking the ‘minus’ button in the Button Bar Setup screen.

• 1) You can move through the button bar items with the arrow keys. When you get to the one you don’t want…
• 2) Click the minus button to delete it.

Zoom’in

I also added the Zoom calling URL. There is more to Zoom, many people set it up to schedule conferences. I did not go that deeply into it, because I don’t need that functionality, but the Zoom documentation is here if you want to add it. If anyone does the work and wants to share it, I can add it to the demo file.