Microsoft KB Archive/30444

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

File: Indexing Speeds Up Find and Sort Operations
Last reviewed: October 26, 1994

Article ID: Q30444

Summary:

In Microsoft File, any fields that are frequently used by the Find and Sort command to find and sort records should be indexed. Do not index more fields than necessary because indexing uses disk memory that could be used for storing more records.

When a field is indexed in your form (in the Format Field dialog box), File versions 1.0x creates an index file on the disk for this data file. This index file helps File find and sort records based on that specific field more quickly than if they were not indexed. If the data file is moved another disk, also move the index. In File version 2.00, the index information is saved with the data file.

Index any text, regular number, or date field at any time. Computed, memo, and picture fields cannot be indexed.