Compact and repair an Access database

Compact and repair an Access file - Access - Microsoft Office Online

To ensure optimal performance, you should compact and repair your Microsoft Access files on a regular basis. Also, if a serious problem occurs while you are working in an Access file and Access attempts to recover it, you might receive a message that the repair operation was cancelled and that you should compact and repair the file.
Caution When you compact a Microsoft Access file located on a volume that uses the NTFS file system, Access removes the existing file and replaces it with the compacted file. It then applies the default file permissions to the new file. If the file is an Access database (Microsoft Access database: A collection of data and objects (such as tables, queries, or forms) that is related to a particular topic or purpose. The Microsoft Jet database engine manages the data.), use Access user-level security (user-level security: When using user-level security in an Access database, a database administrator or an object's owner can grant individual users or groups of users specific permissions to tables, queries, forms, reports, and macros.) instead of file-level permissions. Otherwise, use folder permissions. For more information about the NTFS file system and folder permissions, see Windows Help.
You must have Open/Run and Open Exclusive permissions (permissions: A set of attributes that specifies what kind of access a user has to data or objects in a database.) for an Access database in order to compact and repair it.
Compact and repair the current Access file
If you are compacting a shared Microsoft Access database (multiuser (shared) database: A database that permits more than one user to access and modify the same set of data at the same time.) that is located on a server or shared folder, make sure that no one else has it open.
On the Tools menu, point to Database Utilities, and then click Compact and Repair Database/Project.
Compact and repair an Access file that is not open
Close the current Microsoft Access file. If you are compacting a shared Access database (multiuser (shared) database: A database that permits more than one user to access and modify the same set of data at the same time.) that is located on a server or shared folder, make sure no one else has it open.
On the Tools menu, point to Database Utilities, and then click Compact and Repair Database.
In the Database to Compact From dialog box, specify the Access file you want to compact, and then click Compact.
In the Compact Database Into dialog box, specify a name, drive, and folder for the compacted Access file.
Click Save.
If you use the same name, drive, and folder, and the Access database or Access project is compacted successfully, Microsoft Access replaces the original file with the compacted version.
Compact and repair an Access file automatically every time you close it
Compacting does not occur if you close a shared Access database (multiuser (shared) database: A database that permits more than one user to access and modify the same set of data at the same time.) while another user has it open.
Open the Access database or Access project that you want Microsoft Access to compact automatically.
On the Tools menu, click Options.
Click the General tab.
Select the Compact on Close check box.
Note You can stop the compact and repair process by pressing CTRL+BREAK or ESC.