Why is it that when I deleted data from my Access database the data disappears, but the file doesn’t go down in size? How can I make my Access database smaller? Is this a bug?
Breathe easy — this is not a bug. In order to make your Access datbase file size smaller, you need to compact the database.
Compacting the database is just a few clicks, and not nearly as complicated as it sounds. Microsoft has an entire article on how to compact and repair an Access database on their Office Online site. There are two cautionary notes regarding the process — be mindful of file permissions and access restrictions for databases stored on NTFS volumes, and make sure shared database are not opened up by another user when you attempt to compact and repair.
Read these cautionary notes in Microsoft’s tutorial, then follow the instructions for compacting your Access database. After you complete the process, your database should shrink in size to reflect the space freed by the deleted data.
