Container Field Size Question

[Caroline Cohaset]

Hi,

I hope I'm posting this to the right area.

I'm developing a database for my new veterinary practice. Many of the visits will have .pdf files of scanned documents embedded in a container field.

Is it wise of me to include the pdf in the database as a part of it, or have it there only as a link? I'm worried that after a couple of thousand pdfs, it will make the database very large. Or does Filemaker have some tricks in handling this and is this not a problem.

Thank you all,

Caroline

[ryanzon]

Hi!

Filemaker database can hold up to 2GB of data... That's a big one, but still if you dont have that super fast PC and 7200RPM Hard drives, what the heck.

You can store as much data (like pdf on containers) as you would like but face that consequences of slow performance of your database. Not to mention lower chance of recovery if ever your database might be corrupted.

My suggestion is that you make a link for those files and use Troi File plugin to lunch them straight from Filemaker.

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Ely

[cjaeger]

pdf s are linked by default. You cannot store them in the database on most platforms.

[danjacoby]

If they're scanned, why convert to PDF? Why not just save 'em as JPG?

[Caroline Cohaset]

If they're scanned, why convert to PDF? Why not just save 'em as JPG?

I suppose they are generally somewhat smaller in size, but PDF can be multipaged, and searchable PDF have OCR'd text underneath the image. There are other advantages in the interchangeable format.