Compressing the database

Deleting books and replacing covers leaves unused space inside the collection file, and the file never shrinks on its own. Compressing rebuilds it: the space comes back, and minor structural damage is repaired along the way.

Compressing by hand

1. Choose Database › Compress or click the Compress button on the toolbar.
2. Wait — a large collection takes a few seconds.
3. All My Books reports the size before and after.

Compressing automatically

Tick Compress database on exit in Tools › Preferences › General. The collection is then compacted every time you close the program, which keeps the file tidy without you thinking about it. On very large collections this adds a noticeable pause on exit; leave it off if that bothers you and compress occasionally by hand.

Compression as a repair

If All My Books runs into a database error, or finds the file damaged or full, it offers to repair or compress the collection, because that fixes most of them, and keeps a copy of the file as it was next to it. An error caused by a lost network connection is not damage, and there the program does not offer compression. A collection that is too damaged to open is repaired automatically at startup: the program compacts it, keeps the original state next to it as a .compactbak file and opens the repaired copy. You are told what happened, and the program does not simply refuse to start.

See also Making a backup and Password protection.