ACT 2011: Adding documents to records via documents tab question

[ewatson]

When one of our clients makes an order or orders an information kit from us, we attach the sent documents to their client record to show what they've received from us.

One of my colleagues today asked whether this is doubling up the files on our server? We've noticed our server is very close to capacity and I wondered whether this could be (partly) as a reason. We actually attach the document as opposed to adding a shortcut and so wondered whether the 'add document' option actually adds another copy of the document onto our server?

Any help is appreciated as we're trying to get rid of as much unused data as possible.

[jonmklub]

Attaching a file within ACT makes a copy of the file inside the ACT database structure (leaves the original in place).  However, unless you are attaching massive files or have extremely limited space on the server, it is unlikely that this is your problem.

You need to do further evalulation on the server to see where the useage is going.  If you see it's ACT, make sure you are not backing up the ACT database to the ACT database itself. This can make this file grow exponencially.

We host and work with lots of databases and the files including attachments rarely exceed about 10 gig. Usually they are much smaller.

How much space is left on hte hard drive?  How big is the drive? What is the size of your ACT database?