How to network multiple copies of InBloom

InBloom uses FileMaker Pro’s wonderful networking strength in order to share your data in real-time between multiple computers.  In order to network InBloom, you’ll need the following:

1. A multi-user license of InBloom*
2. A unique copy of FileMaker Pro on each computer you plan to network

*If you purchased only a single-user version of InBloom, you can upgrade to the multi-user version by purchasing the multi-user license upgrade from the web-store.

FileMaker Pro is based on a client/server network model so choose a particular computer to be the server and central storage of all your information.  Decide on which computer to use based on which machine will always be connected to your network, be in a fixed position i.e. not a laptop roaming your store, and is on the best/fastest computer based on processor speed, hard drive speed, hard-drive size, and computer RAM size.

Note: You can test networking InBloom using multiple trial copies of FileMaker Pro (available at FileMakerTrial.com) and a demo of InBloom Pro (available at InBloomSoftware.com/download) before purchasing.  If you really want to understand how this works before laying out any money, we advise using the free trial versions before purchasing.

Getting Started

We’ll demonstrate setting up InBloom and FileMaker using an example store with 3 computers.  Here’s how to get rolling:

1. Decide on a computer to use as a server. Let’s say Jane’s Vintage has three computers: an iMac at the front desk, a laptop in the receiving area logging new inventory, and an older Windows PC used for accounting in a back office.  Because the iMac is networked using an ethernet cord to the router and the other two computers will connect wirelessly, the iMac at the frontdesk is the ideal computer to have as a server.
2. Purchase (or upgrade to) a multiuser version of InBloom.
3. Purchase and install three separate copies of FileMaker Pro, one for each computer.
4. Install some plugins in each computer’s FileMaker folder. Once you install FileMaker Pro, also install three extensions that are available from www.InBloomSoftware.com/download.  To install them on a Mac, open your Applications folder, then the FileMaker Pro folder, then the Extensions folder, and drop the three files in this location.  On a Mac, your FileMaker extensions folder should look like this:
   
   On Windows, open your C drive, then the Program Files folder, then the FileMaker folder, then the FileMaker Pro 10 folder, then the Extensions folder, and drop in the three extensions files. On a PC, your FileMaker extensions folder should look like this:
   
5. Install the InBloom folder on the server computer. Simply download and install InBloom on your central/server computer.  We recommend putting the InBloom folder in your Documents folder rather than leaving it on the Desktop to avoid accidentally deleting the folder and the important files.
6. Open InBloom and register your new multiuser serial number. Login and from the Main Menu, choose the Register InBloom option from the Help menu, see a full description here.
7. Enable FileMaker sharing on the server computer. Once InBloom is open, go to the File menu, choose Sharing, then choose FileMaker Network.  In the new window, make sure Network Sharing is set to On, then click OK.
   
8. Configure the printer settings for each computer. From the Main Menu, go to Other Modules, then go to Printer / Stations.  Because each computer will have different printer settings and we’ll be sharing printers using Mac OS X’s built-in printer sharing functionality, you’ll need to specify a new station record for each computer you’ll be networking.  Because Jane’s Vintage store has three computers, we’ll create a station for each.
   We click the New Station button and add a station for each computer.  You don’t have to specify the printers just yet as it will be easier to do once we have completed networking InBloom.
9. Open FileMaker Pro on the other client computers. To begin using InBloom over the network, we simply open FileMaker Pro on the other computers.  From the File menu, choose Open Remote and in the new window, change the View pulldown menu to Local Hosts.  You should see your server computer appear with multiple available files.  Choose InBloom, and click Open.
   
10. Login and specify the printers. Login from each client/remote computer and go to Main Menu > Other Modules > Printers/Stations and specify the appropriate printer name for each station.  In the example below, since we’re logging in from the Windows PC, we specify the Receipt Printer, Tag Printer, and Document Printer for the Windows Workstation.  We can also login from the MacBook laptop and specify the printers based on their connection to that particular computer.
    
11. Last but not least, relogin. Once you have finished specifying your printers, make sure to Re-Login on any networked copy of InBloom using the appropriate station.  This will ensure that printing is performed to the correct printer.  If we were to relogin from the Windows machine, our login screen would indicate the Windows station from the pulldown menu, see below:
    

But wait…

Now that all of the setup is done, logging in everyday is straightforward.  Whenever one of Jane’s employees comes in, they simply repeat only Step 9:

1. Open FileMaker Pro
2. Choose Open Remote from the File menu
3. Choose InBloom, click Open in the dialog window
4. Login normally, making sure to select the appropriate Station

And that’s it!