Size of .accdb file changes drastically

[dhstein]

Because I'm being very careful, I make small changes in my database and save
it as a new version. I notice that the size of the files varies a lot - from
1.2 MB to 7.5 MB. These are very small changes for the most part, and my
newer files are not the biggest even though they have more tables, queries,
etc. Can anyone shed any light on this? Thanks.

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Have you tried compacting the database after saving your changes?

 

[dhstein]

You forgot to compact the db. When you work with a db, the db engine adds
more data pages (4KB for each one) to allow space for that work. The new
files don't have the extra data pages, so they're smaller files than the
originals.

Compact the db and it will become as small as it needs to be, without the
extra data pages. Growth of 6MB is miniscule for a db so you shouldn't worry
about this size.

Chris
Microsoft MVP



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Thanks for the responses. This is just the development file with test data so that's why the file is small right now.