Reindex Files Overview

Tabs3 Billing maintains two types of files: data files and index files. Data files (*.DAT) contain the information that has been entered in the file. Index files (*.IDX) are "pointer" files used by Tabs3 Billing to locate the position of specific records within the data file. The Reindex Files program deletes the existing index files for the selected data files and recreates them. The ability to recreate the index files allows for the possibility of salvaging data if the index files become corrupted due to hardware failure.

Compacting Files

Deleting Records That Contain Errors

Disk Space Requirements

Compacting Files

In addition to recreating index files, the Reindex Files program can optionally compact selected files. This serves several purposes:

Each fee, cost, payment, and client funds transaction is automatically assigned a reference number when it is added to Tabs3 Billing. When these records are deleted or updated to accounts receivable, the reference numbers used by the records are not reused for subsequent transactions. Because of this, your reference numbers for work-in-process transactions may become quite large, particularly for clients where there is a lot of activity each month. In this situation, you may want to reindex the specified transaction files and the Client Funds File using the Compact Selected Files option. This will reassign new reference numbers to your existing work-in-process transactions beginning with "1" for each type of transaction for each client. A Detail Work-In-Process Report or draft statement can then be printed to determine the new reference numbers.

Note: Because reference numbers may be changed, we recommend printing and/or deleting verification lists before reindexing with the Compact Files option.

Note: Compacting the Ledger File will also reassign numbers to the client ledger records if any records for a client have been deleted.

Deleting Records That Contain Errors

This option should only be used if directed by a Tabs3 Support Representative.

If this option is selected, an Unlock Delete Option window will be displayed upon attempting to reindex the files. You must contact Tabs3 Support in order to obtain the code required in order to use this option.

Important: Records that are deleted cannot be recovered. You may want to consider restoring from a backup, particularly if a large number of records are deleted.

Disk Space Requirements

When the Reindex Files program is selected, the software checks to be sure that adequate disk space is available. If you do not have enough disk space, a message will be displayed indicating the amount of additional disk space required.

Technical Note: Tabs3 Billing doesn't know which files are being reindexed when the program is loaded, therefore it assumes the largest data file is being reindexed. The amount of disk space required for reindexing is equal to approximately 2.1 times the largest file being reindexed plus one megabyte. Although Tabs3 Billing will allow you to proceed if a message is displayed indicating enough disk space is not available, we strongly recommend not proceeding unless more disk space is made available.