Outsmarting Act! Space Hogs
No, not the Space Pigs from the Muppets. Space hogs. As in things that hog hard disk space. One of those with Act! are the indexes. Or is it indices. . . whichever, they are giant space hogs, gobbling up GB without so much as an excuse me!
This one is a relatively easy fix. We see it often enough (this morning, which is what sparked the post!) that we figured we’d share the tidbit.
What are Act! Index files?
Think library card catalog. The index files help Act! find things more easily when you do a Global Search. Just like the card catalog has at least one card per book in the library, Act!’s index is as big as your database. So, this can quickly take up a big chunk of your hard disk very quickly.
Changing the Index Location
This is an easy way to get back a chunk of your C:. If you have partitions, you typically have a smaller main C:, for program installation, and another drive or drives for data. By default, the Act! indexes are dropped on your main drive. Here is how to change that: (And remember, drop us a line if you need help – support@3leafcrm.com)
- Close Sage Act!
- Go to a run prompt and type in services.msc
- Locate and stop ACT! Service Host and ACT! Smart Task Service Host
- Delete existing Indices folderDefault location:
Windows® XP, Windows Server® 2003: C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataACTACT DataIndices
Windows Vista®, Windows® 7, Windows Server 2008: C:ProgramDataActACT DataIndices - Locate the Act.Server.Host.exe.config file within the Sage ACT! installation folderDefault location:
32-bit Operating system: C:Program FilesActAct for Windows
64-bit Operating system: C:Program Files (x86)ActAct for Windows - Right click on file, select Open With, select Notepad
- Locate the section configSections
- Remove the beginning and ending comment characters
- Update baseIndexFolder to desired location (Example: D:Act Index Files)
- Save the file and close it
- Through Windows Services, right click and start the ACT! Service Host and ACT! Smart Task Service Host
When you open your Act! database, it will recreate the indices in the new, roomier location. Not finding what you need from this post? You may be on a version other than what we used to illustrate. Drop us a line at support@3LeafCRM.com and we’ll be happy to help.
