Archiving Emails in Advantage Xi

 

Advantage Xi uses a Microsoft Access database to store all data.  This includes contacts, phone numbers, notes, properties and emails and more.  Microsoft limits the size of Access databases to 2 Gigabytes which in normal situations is not a problem.  However, if you use our email module and store attachments in the database instead of extracting them to the hard drive, your database can get bloated.  The large attachments are compressed but still take up more room in the database than regular client data.  When your database gets too large (over the 2 gig) , emails will start coming in blank and other errors can come up. 

 

To get around this size limitation, we have an Archiving feature that moves older emails and their attachments from the main database into multiple smaller databases.  This works great because the main database does not get bloated and we can use multiple archive databases to allow you to have an unlimited number of emails stored.   The only problem with this option is if you have more than one computer and use Advantage Xi in more than one location then the archive file may not be accessible.  Note:  There are services like www.DropBox.com that allow you to sync folders between locations that can help with this situation.   You can also setup a shared folder on the network to store the archives but if you detach from the network then you will not have access to the archives.   If you only have one computer and store the archives on the local hard drive you will be fine.  

 

How to setup the Archives:

 

  1. Utilities > Options > Email Options > General TAB

  2. Click on the [Setup] button next to the Archive now button to select/create the archive folder.  In most cases you will want to create an ARCHIVE folder in the Mark-It Advantage Xi folder (see below). 

    The Full Path would be:  
    C:\Program files\Mark-It Systems\Mark-It Advantage Xi\ARCHIVE\

    Windows Vista/7 (64 bit) users:
    C:\Program files (x86)\Mark-It Systems\Mark-It Advantage Xi\ARCHIVE\

    If you have already setup an archive folder on a shared drive then use the directory tree in the setup to navigate to the shared folder then press the OK button.

  3. Once you select the folder, if the archive file does not already exist it will confirm that you want to create the Archive file in that folder.  It will create a file named  ARCHIVE1.mdb as the database gets larger it will automatically create an ARCHIVE2.mdb, ARCHIVE3.mdb, etc…

    If you have Backup Software, we recommend that you include this ARCHIVE folder in your normal backup procedures.

  4. In the Email Options screen there is a setting for the number of days (default: 45) – you can change this number as needed.  The lower the number of days the smaller your database can be when compacted.

  5. In the Email Options there is also a checkbox to AUTOMATCIALLY ARCHIVE.  We recommend that you check this box.  When you leave the email module, the system will automatically find any emails that have not already been archived that are older than the number of days specified in step 4 and archive them.

  6. You can press the [ARCHIVE NOW] button to Force the Archive process.  The first time you archive it may take a few minutes to move the emails.  Let it sit there and do the process, it will tell you how many emails were archived when done.

 

 

If you have the Automatically Archive option turned on you will not need to do anything else in the future.  If you don’t then you will need to come into the Options screen and press the Archive now button when you want to archive.