Phil Rine
asked on
Microsoft Access 2007 table unusually large
I have a customer that has an Access backend database that has reached the 2GB limit. The table has approx 80,000 records and has a field that embeds scanned PDF documents. Is there any way to tell which field or fields is causing the table and database to be so large. There are about 250 fields in the table but the math doesn't add up from what he tells me. The bottom line is we are not sure why the database is so big and how can we figure out why?
oleggold
The math is probably problematic here since PDFs can be stored as image/lob in the database which takes huge amount of space
since it's " scanned PDF documents" they're probably images so it doesn't matter that they're in pdf format
try to identify the fields with image datatype.If possible remove these fields or replace them by a text field and save the pdf file on the file system and put the path to this file on the text field. You should also change the programs that access to this field to get data from file instead that getting it from the field directly.
Also, an alternative should be migrate from Access to SQL-Server, which allows more data.
Also, an alternative should be migrate from Access to SQL-Server, which allows more data.
Has you done a Compact & Repair on the database ?
ASKER
All good suggestion which we will try. A repair and compact has been done with no file size change.
You might want to consider this or at least be aware of if you are dealing with images in an Access database ... and I can totally vouch for this program.
http://www.ammara.com/dbpix/access.html
It does *all* the work for you. Examples show how to add a simple 'control' panel to Load, Save, Zoom In/Out, Size To Fit and much more. AND ... virtually eliminates BLOAT associated with storing images in an Access MDB. I have 3 clients who sell commercial run-time products that use DBPix.
Note. I have no connection with DBPix ... except I have used it many times ...
mx
http://www.ammara.com/dbpix/access.html
It does *all* the work for you. Examples show how to add a simple 'control' panel to Load, Save, Zoom In/Out, Size To Fit and much more. AND ... virtually eliminates BLOAT associated with storing images in an Access MDB. I have 3 clients who sell commercial run-time products that use DBPix.
Note. I have no connection with DBPix ... except I have used it many times ...
mx
<<I have a customer that has an Access backend database that has reached the 2GB limit. The table has approx 80,000 records and has a field that embeds scanned PDF documents. Is there any way to tell which field or fields is causing the table and database to be so large. >>
Not directly. What you do is make a copy of the DB, then in table design, drop a field, do a compact and repair, and see the resulting size.
As the others have said, the culprit is probably the PDF file. *Especially* if by embedded you mean that you used Access to create an embedded object. When you do this, Access puts its own OLE wrapper around an object which basically doubles it size.
That's why the new attachement data type was created.
<<
There are about 250 fields in the table but the math doesn't add up from what he tells me. The bottom line is we are not sure why the database is so big and how can we figure out why?
>>
250 fields in a table? Doesn't sound like it's designed well unless this is some kind of temp or import table.
Jim.
Not directly. What you do is make a copy of the DB, then in table design, drop a field, do a compact and repair, and see the resulting size.
As the others have said, the culprit is probably the PDF file. *Especially* if by embedded you mean that you used Access to create an embedded object. When you do this, Access puts its own OLE wrapper around an object which basically doubles it size.
That's why the new attachement data type was created.
<<
There are about 250 fields in the table but the math doesn't add up from what he tells me. The bottom line is we are not sure why the database is so big and how can we figure out why?
>>
250 fields in a table? Doesn't sound like it's designed well unless this is some kind of temp or import table.
Jim.
ASKER
MX
My customer likes the idea of DBPix. I went on the site with the link you sent but I cannot tell if it will work with scanned documents in PDF format. Have you ever worked with it with PDFs?
Phil
My customer likes the idea of DBPix. I went on the site with the link you sent but I cannot tell if it will work with scanned documents in PDF format. Have you ever worked with it with PDFs?
Phil
"Have you ever worked with it with PDFs?"
No. But I have used the product several times, and 3 clients I have have incorporated it into their commercial applications.
mx
No. But I have used the product several times, and 3 clients I have have incorporated it into their commercial applications.
mx
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