Clean Up Attached Documents and Pictures

These two utilities should be used when Document Storage and/or Picture Storage settings are changed in System Configuration.

Most commonly, this would be done if the document and/or picture attachments in AcctVantage are taking up significant size in the database. Changing these settings can reduce the size of the data file significantly. In this regard it can be beneficial to store the attachments in a folder outside the data file. You don't need to worry creating the folders and moving the files manually -- that's what the utility does!

1. System Configuration settings

Go to Administration > System Configuration and select Documents or Pictures from the drop-down list.

Find the Storage Location setting, double-click it and change the setting to On the server machine. Save the System Configuration window.

Changing the setting to In the data file would be rare. Please contact AV Support if you plan on changing the setting to store attachments inside the data file.

1.1. Documents

1.2. Pictures

2. Run the Clean Up Utilities

Go to Administration > Utilities and choose Clean Up Attached Docs or Clean Up Pictures.

This part of the process could be lengthy. It's difficult to estimate and really just depends on the quantity and size of the attachments and the performance of the server hardware.

2.1. Clean Up Attached Docs

When you click Clean Up Attached Docs, you will see this message. Click Yes to continue. The system will extract the attached documents from the database and place them in a folder on the server.

2.2. Clean Up Pictures

When you click Clean Up Pictures, you will see this message. Click Yes to continue. The system will extract the attached pictures from the database and place them in a folder on the server.

3. Documents and Pictures folders have been created

After the utilities are finished, you can find the Documents and Pictures folders by going to the server and opening the folder where the data file (4DD) is stored.

These folders contain your actual attachments. As such, here are a few suggestions:

  • Please back up these folders! If you have a 3rd party backup utility you are using outside of AcctVantage, it's probably a good idea to back up these folders using that application.
    • The 4D backup utility can be used but it's not ideal because that won't reduce the size of your AV backup files.
  • Other than making sure these folders are backed up, please leave the folders alone! When the Clean Up utilities are used, the system creates references to the file locations, which is necessary in the event you want to retrieve an attached file from AcctVantage. If a file is moved, renamed or otherwise modified within the folder on the server, the location reference will be rendered invalid and you won't be able to access the file from AV. The file will need to be reattached. We are unable to fix such issues via AcctVantage Support!

4. Perform the Data Maintenance routine

After all of the above is done, best practice would include running the Data Maintenance routine. This will remove the empty space in the database that was freed up when the attachments were moved.

It's not 100% required to run this routine immediately after you run the Clean Up utilities. However, the data maintenance will need to be done at some point in order to reduce the size of the data file (which is one of the main goals of this overall process).