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12.14: To Index or Not to Index?

  • Page ID
    46627
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    Learning Outcomes

    • Determine when to use an index

    Despite the stated advantages of indexing, there are some drawbacks as well. Indexes add metadata to the database, which increases its size and disk space requirements. In addition, when a new record is added to an indexed table, there is a slight performance hit—for 20 indexes on a table, Access will make 20 adjustments when a new record is added or subtracted. So, you will want to avoid indexing on smaller tables or tables that are not frequently involved in queries.

    Contributors and Attributions

    CC licensed content, Original
    • To Index or Not to Index?. Authored by: Robert Danielson. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution

    12.14: To Index or Not to Index? is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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