Thanks to all for your suggestions regarding tabs.  I did not know  
about the char(9) option, so that is very helpful.

Jonathan--I am going to play around with the Appearance tab settings,  
so I can better understnd how they work, and how they affect what  
happens when I use char(9).

Richard, I will let Filemaker know that a tab character would be  
helpful.
I had been hoping there was something similar to the paragraph symbol.

Tim,

I have found Lists of concantenated information from multiple fields  
very helpful in several situations.

In one case, I have Filemaker server sending autoemails to various  
supervisory people with a list of employees and related info-- 
attendance issues, etc.  Lists of concatenated info is much easier to  
include in the email than anything else I could come up with.  The  
server does not support saving and sending pdf's.  I could have the  
server save and attach tab separated text files, but that entails  
several more script steps then just including a list calculation in  
the auto-generated email. Being able to add tabs to the calculated  
fields will help make the information more readable.

I also use concatenated fields to bring inter-related information from  
multiple tables over to a single portal field on an intranet.  I find  
it is a lot simpler than having multiple fields that have to be  
aligned, spaced correctly and of the right size to show all the  
information when it has widely varying lengths.

I am also working on a filemaker generated newsletter.  I know others  
suggest not using Filemaker for a newsletter, but my client asked me  
to try to set up Filemaker to automatically generate a pdf newsletter,  
since nearly all the info for their newsletter exists in various  
Filemaker tables already.  It makes some sense to just pull the  
information into a newsletter file, rather than have it exported out  
from multiple files and then compiled into a newsletter in some other  
application (eg InDesign). So I am experimenting.

I have found that using calculated lists along with the merge text  
method works pretty well for creating a decent looking layout that  
includes info from varying numbers of records each month.  A portal  
would work if the number of records was consistent, but when it varies  
from 5 to 20, the portal set up doesn't work well for this use.  At  
this point, this is an experiment, so I am still working out the  
wrinkles.  Being able to add tabs in the calculations that I am  
combining with the List function will give me more options for making  
the output cleaner and more readable.

Now if someone at Filemaker would figure out how to insert container  
fields using the Merge text option....  : )







On Aug 31, 2011, at 3:20 PM, Tim Mansour wrote:

> On 01/09/2011, at 2:26, Sue <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Does anyone know a way to include a tab in a concatenated text  
>> calculation?
>
> All you need to do is include a literal tab within quote marks (if
> you're having trouble inserting a tab character just copy & paste from
> a text document). You're right that spaces won't work unless you use a
> fixed-width font (eg, Courier).
>
> But my question is: why not just keep the fields separate on the
> layout, with suitable sizing and spacing, rather than concatenating
> text?