Let's see if we can clarify this question about compacting FTM data bases. First we need to understand the nature of a data base. As we add information to the data base, we may need additional space for the new records. This entails the program obtaining the needed new space from Windows. Windows assigns a block of space to FTM and the program then adds the new information. Windows may have to find the needed space in a different location of the hard drive. As a result, the blocks of space assigned to the FTM data base are not adjacent. If you've ever looked at farmland while riding in a plane you see all of the different patterns of blocks of farms, pastures, etc. This is sort of how the hard disk may look like. This is called fragmentation. Excessive fragmentation can slow the process of accessing data in a data file because the hard disk must travel between the blocks to get the data. Compacting a FTM data base does nothing to help with fragmentation. To get the data in adjacent blocks, you have to use Windows (or another 3rd party utility) to "defragment" the hard disk. As you work with your FTM data base, you may add new records or you may delete unwanted records. This may cause extra empty space within the data base. If FTM finds the extra empty space, it reuses it as you add more records. Because it has the extra space within the data base, it does not have to go to Windows to get more space. Now what does this have to do with FTM Compacting? Sometimes when you maintain the data within the data base, adjacent records may be removed leaving what might be considered a "hole" between records. This is similar to windows fragmentation but on a smaller scale and it is internal to the database so Windows isn't aware of it. With older versions of FTM, there seemed to be some routines which did not clean up addresses or pointers to data. This could yield erroneous display and in some more sever cases a crash of the data base. Hence the warning message after a crash to compact the data base. So in older versions, we compacted the data base to reduce the over all size of the data base AND in some cases to rebuild the addresses to eliminate any bad addresses. This was true for FTM 2008 through FTM 2012. However, FTM 2014 has a new data base structure and automated protections to minimize the erroneous or bad address situation. So it really isn't as necessary to compact the data base to rebuild and correct addresses. Now what is FTM telling us when we compact a data base. The final message is to show the percentage of space released. In FTM 2008 - FTM 2012, the compacting message would NEVER show that you did not release 0%. The first time you run Compact, it indicates the largest percent. If you then immediately run Compact again, it indicates a smaller amount released. Regardless of how many consecutive times you compacted the file, it always showed (erroneously) that it had reduced the file by a small percent. In my case, it is always 00.14%. FTM 2014 has corrected this false indication. The first time you run Compact, the extra space is released. Any immediate subsequent runs of Compact now indicates 0% was released. So run the Compact one time on a periodic basis, dependent upon the amount of information you are deleting or changing. In your first message you said subsequent Compacts showed reduction of 1%. This may because there is a problem with the data base which Compacting cannot solve. This occurs on occasion. Here is what I would do. 1. Backup your current file. 2. Restore from the backup file ensuring to use the restore syncing to the new file. 3. Try compacting the newly restored file. If on the second compact, you get to 0% released, your problem should be resolved. If you don't get to 0% released, then I would 1. Create a new empty file with one person (I normally use myself as the person) in the file. 2. Merge the old file into the new file. 3. Either merge the two identical persons. 4. Try the compact and see if it goes to 0% on the second compact. Hope that helps BJ On 3/11/2014 3:27 AM, mikethacker wrote: > I was not aware that 2014 would not compact to zero