records deleted but database size is no smaller..

[Guest]

Access 97. I deleted 250 records but the database is still 4meg. Is there a
way to compact it? I want to email the basic database without the records
to a co-worker.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Access 97. I deleted 250 records but the database is still 4meg. Is
there a way to compact it? I want to email the basic database
without the records to a co-worker.

Yes it is under the tools menu. You do need to run compact to reduce
the size of the file. It will also delete old forms reports etc that you
have deleted.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Yes it is under the tools menu. You do need to run compact to reduce
the size of the file. It will also delete old forms reports etc that you
have deleted.

Additionally, make sure you zip the file. Access tends to compress really
well (unless you've encrypted the database)

 

[Jim]

This post reminds me, is there a way to setup a unattended Compact and
Repair Database? Maybe at a time I know the computer will not be in use?

Jim Mac Millan

 

[John Vinson]

This post reminds me, is there a way to setup a unattended Compact and
Repair Database? Maybe at a time I know the computer will not be in use?

Total Access Agent at http://www.fmsinc.com is one way. Another is to
use Windows Secheduler to launch Access using the /compact command
line switch.

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Additionally, make sure you zip the file. Access tends to compress
really well (unless you've encrypted the database)

Good. I missed that part about the e-mail.

 

[Jim Mac Millan]

Thanks John,

I never even thought about looking for switches.
Strange, help list "/compact target database or target Access project"
but in actuality it would only work with the "/ compact" after the path.

Jim Mac Millan

"John Vinson" wrote in message

 

[Tony]

Hey Jim,

John may disagree with me, but based on personal experience I wouldn't set
up an automatic compact/repair.

I had a pretty sizable database created in Access 2K (over 30MB and used
every hour of every work day) that was corrupted due to some hiccups in
network connectivity. The users could use it as normal, but after a weekly
compact/repair (scheduled but not automatic) the database was unrecoverable
by the means we had at hand. We could have gotten it back with professional
help but it would have been very expensive. We ended up getting a copy from
tape and re-entering data...

I would suggest that if you 'have' to run an automated compact/repair, you
proceed it with a backup. I manually perform compact/repairs on about a
half dozen dbs and haven't been tripped up so far ;-)

My process is:

1) open the db the way an end-user is intended to open it and make sure it
opens without errors
2) close it and back it up
3) open it administratively and compact/repair
4) open it as in step 1 above, again making sure it opens without errors
5) close it and back it up again

If anything is amiss in the above process, I stop and start digging. It's a
bit of a baby sitting chore, but I'm more at ease since I can step in if
there are issues.

Ciao,

Tony

 

[Jim Mac Millan]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the suggestion.

Jim Mac Millan