Forum Discussion
Strange problem compacting Access databases
- Some people have reported that this problem lingers IF they also have MacAfee Anti-Virus installed. Try disabling it to see if that corrects the problem. Also, see if you can white-list Access in the MacaFee AV if that is the case.
isladogsI dread resorting to a laborious work-around for something that should work, and worked fine until recently.
Compacting from the command line, or compacting while the database is closed, both give the same error.
I can understand why you don't want to do laborious workrounds.
However, have a look at the very useful utility in this link: https://www.devhut.net/windows-explorer-ms-access-database-right-click-context-menu/
Over the years, Access has got less and less tolerant of issues that can cause corruption. Compacting an open database can indeed cause corruption in certain situations.
Perhaps your database has a lot of open connections when you try to compact? However, that wouldn't explain the errors occurring when run externallyPerhaps this is a side effect of the most recent Access bug? Which Access 365 build are you using?
- FWIW: Several recent posts here and on other forums seem to indicate that the fix for the most recent bug is not effective for everyone. It's important to know which build you are on.
- I currently have Version 2201 (Build 14827.20198), which is dated Feb 16 according to Microsoft. I first noticed the problem on February 18, and didn't attempt to compact anything on the 17th, so maybe the problem is actually caused this latest build.
My current version has a help message that mentions a bug in Version 2201 (Build 14827.20158) with the relevant symptoms, which was supposedly fixed in Version 2201 (Build 14827.20192) dated February 8.
Side note: I can't compact any database; it's not specific to a particular file. I use Access as a GUI for creating data that I load into SQL server, so I have dozens of files, none larger than 8MB, and none much connected to anything. The files don't have long histories. The only other odd thing about my system: in order to load Access data into SQL server locally for testing, I needed to download and install AccessDatabaseEngine_X64.exe from Microsoft. This provides the Access ODBC driver. I have been doing this for 20 years and it's always been fine. But on my current Windows 10 computer, most Windows updates seem to eliminate the ODBC driver, and I need to do a repair-reinstall of the Access database engine to get going again. This is a minor nuisance I have been living with for more than 2 years, and never affected the basic function of the MS Office Access application.