Compact and repair not working

Hi Patrick,

Thank you for the forum question.


Compact and repair will not close and reopen the database. Compact and repair remove empty space in your database so the file size will only get smaller if there is empty space in it. If you delete a lot of records from the database the file size will not get smaller before you remove the empty space (run Compact and repair).

It is not a compression tool.

You can reduce the file size by looking at the field properties. You may have a field with the data type text. By changing the number of characters from default 255 characters and then run Compact and repair the file size will get smaller. How much smaller is a question about how many records you have.

Microsoft has not developed the compression technology in Access for years. If the data model is created in Excel Power Pivot the files size is approximately 10% of the file size in Access for the same number of tables and records


Kind regards

Jens Bonde
Microsoft Office Specialist Trainer

Tel: 0207 987 3777
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