Offer option to run a diagnosis wihout the optimisation

[Tallpics]

Would it be possible to offer the choice to just run the database diagnosis without automatically jumping into a database optimisation?

My thinking is like this.

A busy day of categorising/sorting would run quicker if I could run an occasional diagnosis of the work so far... leaving a full optimisation to the end of the day.

At the moment the optimisation part of the proceedure takes the most time whilst I'm actually only wanting to check the integrity of the database.

Anyone else agree?

[Ferdinand]

If you hold down the CRTL key when clicking start then the optimisation step is skipped.

[BanjoTom]

Ferdinand continues to educate me (and others, I suspect!):
"If you hold down the CRTL key when clicking start then the optimisation step is skipped."

Great to learn this!

[Mario]

Well, actually he quotes from the database diagnosis help topic, where it reads (in a neat yellow 'Tip' box):

You can skip the Optimize step when you hold down <Ctrl> while pressing [Start] in the dialog box. This speeds up the diagnosis, especially when you run it multiple times after a problem has been diagnosed and fixed.

It's often beneficial to press <F1> and read the help topic for whatever feature you use. I've spend months (!) writing all that information, and the help evolves with every version, incorporating new info, adding feedback and corrections suggested by users...or as my friend Smiley would put it:

[Ferdinand]

He was actually working from memory.

Mario's response was expected, but even so, I've often wondered whether this dialog box should contain a reminder about this option.  There's a lot in Match and its help file, and the brain can't retain everything.

[Richard]

There's a lot in Match and its help file, and the brain can't retain everything.

True but it is not hard to remember that pressing <F1> when a feature has the focus will often give needed information about that feature. At my age, there is no way I can recall all that is in Help but thanks to <F1>, I don't need to.

However, adding a reminder to the dialog box would be helpful.

[Ferdinand]

I agree with you Richard, but at the same time, pressing F1 all the time makes for a slow workflow.  It's one thing to press F1 when there's something you don't understand, and another to keep pressing F1 every time you encounter a dialog, in case there's an option that you weren't aware of.  Some things need to be intuitive / obvious.

I think we are in violent agreement on this particular suggestion, as the saying goes.

[Mario]

I've often wondered whether this dialog box should contain a reminder about this option. 

The idea is to always run the optimization. Skipping it should be an exception (basically I had that built for me, but then decided to document it). I think this falls under the 'learnable' category.

[Ferdinand]

Here's my problem.  There are three things you can do:  Diagnostics, Optimise and Compact.  There are two commands:  Diagnostics & Optimise and Compact & Optimise.  So without this CTRL option, to do both Diagnostics and Compact I have to Optimise twice.  Hence I use the CTRL command to only do it once.  I imagine that I'm not alone.  Hence my suggestion.

While I'm on the subject, in the File | Database Tools menu, the Database Diagnostics item has a '..." after it, indicating that a a dialog follows.  The Compact and Optimise item also has the "..." but there's no further dialog - execution is the next step.  I think this item should not have the "...", if my understanding of Windows protocols is correct.  A small point.

[Mario]

The diagnosis is only complete when you let it run (with the Optimize step). As explained in the short desc and in the help, only when this is done, the entire database is checked for potential damage. Skipping it is not advised because you may miss database damage. See the help topic for details.

The Compact operation is independent because it does not check the database for anything, it just compacts and optimizes it by copying it to a new file, removing fragmentation and deleted records.

Again, the Optimize and analysis step in the diagnosis is a vital part. It should not be skipped. The only reason for the <Strg> trick is when you already had the diagnosis run once with Optimize and analyze and you just want to run it again to see if warnings have been solved.

[Ferdinand]

The diagnosis is only complete when you let it run (with the Optimize step). As explained in the short desc and in the help, only when this is done, the entire database is checked for potential damage. Skipping it is not advised because you may miss database damage. See the help topic for details.  Again, the Optimize and analysis step in the diagnosis is a vital part. It should not be skipped. The only reason for the <CTRL> trick is when you already had the diagnosis run once with Optimize and analyze and you just want to run it again to see if warnings have been solved.

I realised this when I saw your other thread replying to ubacher.  I've read the help file again and I don't think this point is entirely clear.  This is an important point and I suspect it's not widely understood by those who are aware of the CTRL shortcut.  I will send some suggestions for the help file in the usual manner.

The Compact operation is independent because it does not check the database for anything, it just compacts and optimizes it by copying it to a new file, removing fragmentation and deleted records.

Then from my view the feature request should be about having an option to running compact without optimise.  I often want to diagnose, optimise and compact in one sequence without optimising twice, and what I now understand is that it's better to skip the one associated with the compact step, if only I could.  Or even better, adding a compact *option* to the diagnose and optimise step, since generally I'd do all three.

My point about the "..." remains.

[Mario]

The help reads currently:

Detecting 'Silent' Problems
The optimize and analyze process is able to detect damage in rarely used parts of the database file, in spare sections, slack space, unused index entries. These parts of the database are rarely used and are not included in the other diagnosis steps.

The incidentally hidden <Ctrl> trick is explained in the help, but with a warning. I have now even added "Do not skip the Optimize/Analysis step out of habit because if you do, physical database damage may be not detected." after learning that some users apparently are in the habit of skipping this important step to save time - or whatever.

You are welcome to send feedback on this or any help topic via the "Send Feedback" link available at the bottom of each help page.


The diagnosis and the compact operations (Compact & Optimize is just the name, I could also have named it "Compress & Pack") have been separated by design. Diagnosis should be run much more often than the Compact. Unless you delete thousands of files in a go, a compact is rarely needed. If your database is on a SSD you may want to skip the Compact entirely because the performance gain is probably small and you save a lot of write cycles and data traffic.

[Ferdinand]

If you've made changes to the help file then I'll wait until I see the new version before making suggestions.

Your point about compact and an SSD is well taken.

[Mario]

The quote above is from the current help.

I just added the

"Do not skip the Optimize/Analysis step out of habit because if you do, physical database damage may be not detected."

after learning that some users apparently are in the habit of skipping this important step to save time - or whatever.