As with any data stored on a computer, you should back up your Business Contact Manager data. You can do this by using the following steps:
At some point, you might need to restore a previously backed-up database. If your database is corrupted or you get a new computer and need to transfer your database to the new machine, you can perform a database restore. NOTE There are several symptoms of database corruption you should look out for. If the history grid in any of your BCM items disappears or fails to display data that you know is there, your database is probably corrupt. If you receive an error every time you open any BCM item and have not customized your BCM forms, your database is likely corrupt. Although database corruption doesn't happen often, it's a real possibility with just about any sort of database. Because of this, I recommend setting a weekly or monthly Outlook task to back up your BCM data. The whole process takes less than 5 minutes and can ensure that you won't lose data should your database corrupt. When restoring a database, the most important step is to start with a blank database. Do not try to restore a database into a corrupted database; you'll definitely encounter problems. To start with a clean database and restore a backed-up database, use the following steps:
I hope you'll never need to restore your database. However, if you do, the previous steps should make it relatively simple. Routine Database MaintenanceAll databases need some routine maintenance on occasion. Think of a database as much like a bookcase. When you first put books in the bookcase, you might organize them. You might group them by subject, in order of height, or even in alphabetical order. After you retrieve books from the bookcase, you might not put them back in the right order. You might not even stand them up, but instead shove them in the bookcase in any order. A database can behave in a similar manner. Your database can become fragmented, which can impair performance. You can use database maintenance to reorganize your database much as you can reorganize a bookcase by rearranging all the books back in order. To run maintenance on your BCM database select File, Business Database, Maintenance. Click Start to begin database maintenance. Depending on the size of your database, maintenance can take several minutes. |