Caching is a common technique used in software development to temporarily hold data that programs need to access frequently. Typically, this improves the performance of apps since it is faster to read data from the cache than to read from a database or data file. However, having corrupted caches will cause those once-performant apps to grind to a painful halt. In this article, we are going to discuss solutions for two types of cache corruption that we have experienced: FileMaker cache corruption and font cache corruption.

Clearing your FileMaker cache

FileMaker utilizes caching on local machines to increase performance when accessing hosted solutions. Typically, this cache is quite helpful since it prevents the client computer from having to pull ALL of the file information from the server, and can instead pull some information from its local cache.

Unfortunately, these cache files can sometimes become corrupted. When this happens, the FileMaker file will act sluggish and less responsive than normal. If you have a FileMaker file that has been particularly slow for you and you have eliminated any obvious causes, it might be time to clear out the cache and see if that helps.

The following instructions involve deleting files in locations that most people are unfamiliar with. Please be sure to closely follow the instructions and only delete the files/folders that are described in the guide. If you are unsure about deleting a file or folder, it would be best to leave it alone and ask a professional. Accidentally deleting the wrong files could cause damage to your computer.

Mac

• Close down the FileMaker app

• Open up the Finder app, then press Shift+Cmd+G (or from the menu bar, hit Go > Go to Folder…), enter ~/Library/Caches in the dialog and press Go

• Search through the folders until you find the first FileMaker cache folder; it will be called com.filemaker.client.pro12 or a similar name

• Open that folder and delete everything inside

• Back in the ~/Library/Caches folder, look for the second cache folder which should be called FileMaker

• Again, open this folder and delete everything inside

• Restart your computer

Windows

• Close down the FileMaker app

• Open up the Windows File Explorer

• In the Navigation bar, type in %localappdata%\Temp and hit enter

• Open the FileMaker folder

• Select all subfolders and delete them

• Restart your computer

Clearing Font Caches

The second cache issue we are going to look at is font cache corruption. This problem is rarer and is not FileMaker specific, but it can cause issues for FileMaker.

Having a corrupted font cache will cause text to display improperly. This could be anything from having strange symbols appear in the place of normal text to having the wrong font display during printing. In some cases, corrupted font caches can even cause applications to crash. If you see any of these issues on your machine, then it might be time to clear out that font cache.

Again, the following instructions involve deleting files in locations that most people are unfamiliar with. Please be sure to closely follow the instructions and only delete the files/folders that are described in the guide. If you are unsure about deleting a file or folder, it would be best to leave it alone and ask a professional. Accidentally deleting the wrong files could cause damage to your computer.

Mac

• Quit all your apps

• Open the terminal app; this can be found in Applications > Utilities > Terminal

Note: Using the terminal carelessly can cause damage to your computer, so please only enter commands that you are sure of.

• You can either clear the font cache for all users or just for your currently logged in user

• If you want to clear the cache only for your current user, enter the following into the terminal and press enter: atsutil databases -removeUser

• If you would rather clear the font cache for all users on your machine, enter the following into the terminal, press enter, and type your computer’s admin password if needed: sudo atsutil databases -remove

• Once this is done, we will need to restart the ATS server

• Enter the shutdown command into the terminal and press enter: atsutil server -shutdown

• Lastly, to restart the server, enter the ping command into the terminal and press enter: atsutil server -ping

Windows

• Start by opening up the Windows Services app; you can do this by typing Services into Windows Search

• In the Window Services app, look through the list to find the Windows Font Cache Service; select it and then press the Stop button at the top of the window

• Open up the Windows File Explorer app and go to the C: drive

• Starting with the Windows folder, navigate to C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\FontCache

• Delete all of the files and subfolders in the FontCache folder

• In the Navigation bar, type %WinDir%\System32\ and hit enter

• Scroll through the list to find the FNTCACHE.DAT file and delete it

Note: Be sure not to delete any other files or folders here. Deleting the wrong file could damage your computer.

• Restart your computer

PK Information is a FileMaker-certified development agency serving the Tampa Bay, Miami Lakes, and Knoxville regions. We believe that great software can change everything. Do you need help maintaining your database? Contact us today!

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