Tom Think of a bookcase with a row of books You remove some from within the row that leaves "holes" (FTM equivalent you deleted some reports of charts that you saved etc) You want to create some more room at the end of the bookcase so you compact the books by pushing them together and "filling in" the holes No books are missing but you have compacted the bookcase. Not an ideal analogy but you get the idea? John Donaldson -----Original Message----- From: ftm-tech-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:ftm-tech-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Tom Herson Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2011 4:25 AM To: ftm-tech@rootsweb.com Subject: [FTM-TECH] Compacting Because I don't do it on a regular basis, I usually compact my file when someone mentions it, as Linda just did. I was surprised to see that the fle was reduced by 50.5% That's pretty scary. How could that be? Nothing seems to be missing with regard to the number of people, marraiges, etc.