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I have a Microsoft Access file that I am sharing across computers using Dropbox. The file is usually 4.4 MB. Today when I checked on the file, it was 356 MB. After a lengthy download process, I opened the file to find that nothing was wrong.

Here's the really strange part... when I open the file and then immediately close it (no changes, no saving) the file size reduces from 356 MB down to the usual 4.4 MB.

Anyone have any idea what is going on here?

jww
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Bob McNees
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  • This site is for programming questions. We are not general software tech support, or MS Office File weight-loss support. – Marc B Sep 02 '14 at 18:54
  • Then I'm confused why there are 25,000+ questions with Access related tags. Is there any reason programmatically that a file would grow that large? – Bob McNees Sep 02 '14 at 19:03
  • talking about writing programs FOR or USING access is not the same as "why is my copy of access doing this". – Marc B Sep 02 '14 at 19:04
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    If by "sharing across computers using Dropbox" you mean "using Dropbox to share a database among multiple users who could be accessing it at the same time" then you might be interested in my other answer [here](http://stackoverflow.com/a/19339775/2144390). – Gord Thompson Sep 02 '14 at 21:29
  • Thanks, Gord. No I did not mean to imply that multiple users had the file open concurrently. There is 0 chance of that happening. I'm aware of the implications of using a shared file if concurrent access is required. Whatever is happening here is related to a single instance. – Bob McNees Sep 03 '14 at 15:03

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If you are sharing it across computers, that means DropBox is constantly attempting to keep the newest version synched up on the server. So, if one of your machines had a 330mb version of the file, it got updated on the server like that. Then, you opened your local version, and it updated the drop box one to 4.4mb.

Whereas it's a spiffy idea to be able to share your docs across multiple machines, you do run a risk of things going weirdly out of synch.

durbnpoisn
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  • I'm wondering how a 330 mb file was created in the first place. I run the database and the users on the other end only input data. – Bob McNees Sep 02 '14 at 18:59
  • There is a chance that the file was left open, and Access was constantly writing auto-save info. One strange thing with Access is that the file will get bigger and bigger, for no apparent reason, until you save it with a new name (which will strip all that out.) I'm riding totally on a theory here... – durbnpoisn Sep 02 '14 at 19:14
  • After some more digging, I noticed that there is a flag to auto compress the database on close. I had the flag on my local computer, so that explains the drop in size. However, I'm still looking for an answer on what exactly was compressed out. – Bob McNees Sep 02 '14 at 19:16
  • It's a lot of stuff. Like Access refuses to throw anything away. Excel can do the same thing. I've found that the best thing to do sometimes, is just save the file with a different name. – durbnpoisn Sep 02 '14 at 19:20