Maintaining the database

It is recommended that you regularly perform database maintenance and optimization to increase hard drive space, remove redundant or extraneous information, and increase overall ACDSee 12 performance.

You can use the tools in the Database Maintenance dialog box to update folders, or to identify folders whose thumbnails and database information you would like to delete. The Database Maintenance dialog box displays a list of the folders on your system, and uses icons to indicate the status of database information within specific folders.

Database content icons

To perform database maintenance:

1. In Manage mode, click Tools | Database | Database Maintenance.
2. In the Database Maintenance dialog box, browse for folders marked with the database content icons. If there are no marked folders, you do not need to perform database maintenance and can exit the Database Maintenance dialog box.
3. Select a folder and click one of the following buttons to identify the maintenance you want to perform on that folder:
   • Remove Thumbnails: Removes all thumbnail information for the selected folder.
   • Remove Database Information and Thumbnails: Deletes all database and thumbnail information for the selected folder.
   • Remove Orphan Folders: Deletes any out-of-date or broken references to missing files or information for the selected folder. It is only possible to check for orphans in folders located on your computer. This option will not be visible if the folder is located on a network.
   • Change Binding: Changes all location references for the selected orphaned folder to another folder, and retains all database information. The default binding folder is My Pictures.
4. The Database Maintenance tool will delete records, creating unused space in your database. To reclaim the unused space, click Optimize Database, and follow the instructions in the wizard.
5. Click Close.

Maintaining the database