Hide Object When — dynamic visibility in FileMaker

Intermediate

Make layout objects appear and disappear based on calculation rules — without overlapping objects or multiple layouts.

What you'll learn

How Hide Object When differs from making an object transparent
Common patterns: role-based visibility, state-based panels, conditional labels
How hidden objects interact with tab order

Hide Object When lets a calculation control whether an object is visible — when the calculation is True, the object disappears but still occupies its space on the layout.

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Set the Hide Object When calculation

Select an object, open the Inspector > Data tab > Hide object when. Enter a calculation — when it returns True (non-zero, non-empty), the object is hidden.

FileMaker Script

// Hide a button unless the user is an admin:
Get ( AccountPrivilegeSetName ) ≠ "[Full Access]"

// Hide an error message when no error:
IsEmpty ( $errorMessage )

// Hide the "Edit" button when record is locked:
Invoices::Status = "Locked"

Conditional formatting in FileMaker layouts Layout and record script triggers in FileMaker