Summary of changes

February 2026, changes for V16R1M3

This edition of the document provides information applicable to File Manager Version 16 Release 1 Modification Level 3. Here are the major changes to this document from the previous release:

File Manager has been updated to align its handling of the ISPF Packed format with the global ISPF setting Global_Disable_Pack, when a new File Manager option ISPFGLBL is enabled. See ISPFGLBL:
  • A new ISPFGLBL option is introduced in the Customization Guide. When set to YES, File Manager enforces ISPF global settings; when NO (default), File Manager behavior remains unchanged and independent of ISPF globals.
  • If ISPF globally disables packed data:
    • Users can still read and interpret existing packed data, but cannot save or rewrite data in packed format.
    • PACK-related options and commands (PACK, PACK=ASIS) become unavailable or are ignored, and data is always saved in standard format.
  • Updated multiple User Guide sections to document the enforced behavior when ISPF packed format is restricted.
  • Enhanced panels and informational messages to clearly notify users when ISPF packed data is disabled and explain File Manager resulting behavior. see Editor Options panel.
  • Added new system messages FMNBB674 - FMNBB678 to explicitly indicate when packed format usage, related commands, or options are unavailable or overridden. See File Manager messages.

October 2025, changes for V16R1M2

This edition of the document provides information applicable to File Manager Version 16 Release 1 Modification Level 2. Here are the major changes to this document from the previous release:

June 2025, changes for V16R1M1

This edition of the document provides information applicable to File Manager Version 16 Release 1 Modification Level 1. Here are the major changes to this document from the previous release.
  • A new option has been added to use an auxiliary data set when viewing a large non-VSAM data set that will not fit into memory. See the new option in VIEWAUX.

March 2025, V16R1M0 (refresh)

This refresh version of File Manager Version 16 Release 1 Modification Level 0 includes the following new support:
  • File Manager provides a Microsoft Visual Studio Code extension client with an intuitive interface to access, edit, and manage data sets and files on z/OS systems. See File Manager on VS Code for more details about downloading the extension.

October 2024, changes for V16R1M0 First Edition

This edition of the document provides information applicable to File Manager Version 16 Release 1 Modification Level 0. Here are the major changes to this document from the previous release.
  • File Manager provides updated internal COBOL and PL/I compilers with this version. Starting with this version, by default, the internal default COBOL compiler is used and additional internal compilers are provided.

    To determine which File Manager COBOL compiler is to be used, a new option, ALTCOB, has been added. See ALTCOB for more information about the available COBOL compilers.

    To determine which File Manager PL/I compiler is to be used, a new option, ALTPLI, has been added. See ALTPLI for more information about the available PL/I compilers.

    To discover the level of the internal PL/I compiler being used, a new command is available, SHOWPLI, from both batch and the File Manager command line. See Customizing for processing PL/I include books for more information about submitting this command.
  • FM/Db2 IVP updates for supported versions of Db2 Version 12 and later. See the section Verifying the customization of FM/Db2 for the updates.