Compressing the database

Deleting a movie does not shrink the file — the space it used stays inside as a hole. Compressing rebuilds the database, drops the holes and, as a side effect, repairs most of the damage a crash or a lost network connection can leave behind.

Running it

Database › Compress, or the compress button on the toolbar. The collection closes, is rebuilt and reopens; a progress panel is shown while it works. Large collections with images stored inside take a while — let it finish.

Compress database on exit on the General tab of Preferences does the same thing every time you close the program. Convenient for a collection you edit a lot; skip it if closing the program needs to be instant.

When to do it

• After deleting a lot of movies, or after removing screenshots and covers.
• After a power cut, a crash, or a network share disappearing mid-write.
• Whenever the program reports a database error and offers to compress — say yes. That offer exists because compressing is what usually fixes it.
• If sorting or filtering starts behaving oddly. Shift+Ctrl+F8 rebuilds the indexes, which is the lighter version of the same medicine.

If compressing does not help

Open the most recent backup and compare. If the backup is fine, work from it. If the database will not open at all, write to us — damaged files can often be recovered.