Database File

J

Jethran Waugh

Im not entirely sure what the database file in
/Users/yourHomeFolder/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2004
Identities/Main Identity does but I have one question. We are using
Mac OS X and Office 2004 for our students in a lab environment so we
have not installed Entourage. However when a user runs any other
office app for the first time it still creates this 18Mb file.
Normally this would not be a problem, but we also use network home
directories which by default are limited to 30Mb (enough for them to
store their work in but not really for 18mb files). Is there a way to
reduce the size of this file or preferably remove the file completely?
 
B

Barry Wainwright

Im not entirely sure what the database file in
/Users/yourHomeFolder/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2004
Identities/Main Identity does but I have one question. We are using
Mac OS X and Office 2004 for our students in a lab environment so we
have not installed Entourage. However when a user runs any other
office app for the first time it still creates this 18Mb file.
Normally this would not be a problem, but we also use network home
directories which by default are limited to 30Mb (enough for them to
store their work in but not really for 18mb files). Is there a way to
reduce the size of this file or preferably remove the file completely?
Click to expand...

The file is automatically created by the database daemon, that is fire doff
when any office app is used, since word and excel also access the office
database in addition to entourage. They use it to access the contacts that
may be available for the data merge, autofill and associated activities.

To prevent it from cluttering up the Home directory, copy the identity
folder to some other network location and put an alias in it's place.
Providing the alias has exactly the right name 'Office 2004 Identities' and
is in the right place (in the MUD folder) all the office apps will follow it
quite happily.
 
J

Jethran Waugh

Thanks Barry. Not sure if this really helps though as it just moves
the storage requirement to somewhere else. Given that all the Office
Apps need this file, instead of removing it, is it possible to reduce
its size?
 
B

Barry Wainwright

Thanks Barry. Not sure if this really helps though as it just moves
the storage requirement to somewhere else. Given that all the Office
Apps need this file, instead of removing it, is it possible to reduce
its size?
Click to expand...

Nope.

The 18mb consists of a variety of 'overhead', mainly default indexes and the
framework for the database etc.
 
J

Jethran Waugh

If we were to replace this file with an empty file that could not be
modified by the user, would this affect how other Office Apps behave?
 
B

Barry Wainwright

If we were to replace this file with an empty file that could not be
modified by the user, would this affect how other Office Apps behave?
Click to expand...

Almost certainly - a variety of function in word & excel access the
database, but try it and see what happens :)
 
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