Database Question in Entourage 2008

[Lynn Quinlan]

Hi there,

I had gone through all the folders "On My Computer" and had deleted them
all. I restarted my Leopard Mac 10.5.4 with Entourage 12.1.1 and checked
again expecting to see a significant reduction in the Entourage database's
size. Unfortunately, it still states (wait for it) 15.5 GB. I assume the
database only stores the messages kept "On My Computer" and not the active
e-mail accounts. If this is indeed the case then how do I safely remove
this database and free up a significant chunk on my system? I don't need
the deleted messages as they're backed up on CD. I just need some space
back. I also have these stored on a different Mac, just in case.

Advice on how to proceed much appreciated. Thank you!

Lynn

 

[Diane Ross]

I had gone through all the folders "On My Computer" and had deleted them
all. I restarted my Leopard Mac 10.5.4 with Entourage 12.1.1 and checked
again expecting to see a significant reduction in the Entourage database's
size. Unfortunately, it still states (wait for it) 15.5 GB. I assume the
database only stores the messages kept "On My Computer" and not the active
e-mail accounts. If this is indeed the case then how do I safely remove
this database and free up a significant chunk on my system? I don't need
the deleted messages as they're backed up on CD. I just need some space
back. I also have these stored on a different Mac, just in case.

Let's go over some basis:

The database will be left with 'wasted' space in it every time you delete
something. However, this is not all bad, since the wasted space is used up
with new data as it is added. This way, over a period of time (assuming that
you are deleting stuff as you go) the database will probably reach an
optimum size, after which the stuff you delete is roughly equal to the stuff
you add, and no further growth takes place.

However....

In your case, you want to compress the database to recover some of this
wasted space.

1. On the Entourage menu, click Turn Off Office Reminders.
2. Quit Messenger and all Microsoft Office applications, including
Entourage.
3. In the Microsoft Office 2008/Office folder, double-click the Microsoft
Database Utility application, or hold the Option key down when launching
Entourage.
4. Click the identity of the database that you want to compact and back up.
5. Click Compact database, and then click Continue.
6. Follow the instructions on the screen.

Make sure you have enough hard disk space available for twice that amount.
As part of the rebuilding process, Entourage creates a second database file.
(As added security in case something goes wrong make a duplicate in the
Finder of your Identity.)

Note When you compact the database, Entourage creates a backup copy of your
database before it is compacted and moves it into a folder in the
/Users/username/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities folder.
The backup copy displays the date and time when the process occurred, for
example, "Main Identity [Backed up date and time]". You can delete this file
after you are satisified with the rebuild to gain disk space.

 

[Lynn Quinlan]

I had gone through all the folders "On My Computer" and had deleted them
all. I restarted my Leopard Mac 10.5.4 with Entourage 12.1.1 and checked
again expecting to see a significant reduction in the Entourage database's
size. Unfortunately, it still states (wait for it) 15.5 GB. I assume the
database only stores the messages kept "On My Computer" and not the active
e-mail accounts. If this is indeed the case then how do I safely remove
this database and free up a significant chunk on my system? I don't need
the deleted messages as they're backed up on CD. I just need some space
back. I also have these stored on a different Mac, just in case.

Let's go over some basis:

The database will be left with 'wasted' space in it every time you delete
something. However, this is not all bad, since the wasted space is used up
with new data as it is added. This way, over a period of time (assuming that
you are deleting stuff as you go) the database will probably reach an
optimum size, after which the stuff you delete is roughly equal to the stuff
you add, and no further growth takes place.

However....

In your case, you want to compress the database to recover some of this
wasted space.

1. On the Entourage menu, click Turn Off Office Reminders.
2. Quit Messenger and all Microsoft Office applications, including
Entourage.
3. In the Microsoft Office 2008/Office folder, double-click the Microsoft
Database Utility application, or hold the Option key down when launching
Entourage.
4. Click the identity of the database that you want to compact and back up.
5. Click Compact database, and then click Continue.
6. Follow the instructions on the screen.

Make sure you have enough hard disk space available for twice that amount.
As part of the rebuilding process, Entourage creates a second database file.
(As added security in case something goes wrong make a duplicate in the
Finder of your Identity.)

Note When you compact the database, Entourage creates a backup copy of your
database before it is compacted and moves it into a folder in the
/Users/username/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities folder.
The backup copy displays the date and time when the process occurred, for
example, "Main Identity [Backed up date and time]". You can delete this file
after you are satisified with the rebuild to gain disk space.

Hi, Diane,

Thank you so much for your wonderful, clear reply. I followed the steps
through and went down to 2.5 GB. Anyway, I discovered that there were two
backup files which I was able to happily delete which resulting in my
reclaiming over 30 GB of hard drive space. Your instructions were
invaluable and easy to follow. Thanks again!

Lynn

 

[Diane Ross]

Thank you so much for your wonderful, clear reply. I followed the steps
through and went down to 2.5 GB. Anyway, I discovered that there were two
backup files which I was able to happily delete which resulting in my
reclaiming over 30 GB of hard drive space. Your instructions were
invaluable and easy to follow. Thanks again!

Glad you have reclaim the space. 30GB is a lot!