Forum Discussion

HelenPeynado1's avatar
HelenPeynado1
Qrew Member
10 months ago

Do unused tables related to currently used tables cause functionality problems?

I have 25 tables in one app. 22 are unused tables.  They were previously used to track data but have since been migrated to another program.  My currently used tables still have relationships to a majority of these tables that are not updated.  Do these tables effect functionality for the active tables apart from the obvious missing data? Does it slow the program down?  Thanks!



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HP
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  • ChayceDuncan's avatar
    ChayceDuncan
    10 months ago

    Others might feel differently but to answer your question specifically - yes, it affects the overall load of the app and functionality - but the amount is probably so miniscule and minute that you could go 10 years and forget that they're there. When your app is loaded Quickbase has to summon those tables, and with your relationships it will need to evaluate that data and determine any lookups and summaries that need to be assessed, but again, it's probably so small that it doesn't matter. There is very little impact if you leave them, and probably almost nothing to gain if you're considering removing them. 

    The caveat to the above is if your 'used' tables are massive or taking up a lot of app bandwidth - or if these now defunct tables are huge then it might be slightly different - but if across the board it's just an average table - you can probably forget they're there. 



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    Chayce Duncan
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  • ChayceDuncan's avatar
    ChayceDuncan
    Qrew Captain
    10 months ago

    Others might feel differently but to answer your question specifically - yes, it affects the overall load of the app and functionality - but the amount is probably so miniscule and minute that you could go 10 years and forget that they're there. When your app is loaded Quickbase has to summon those tables, and with your relationships it will need to evaluate that data and determine any lookups and summaries that need to be assessed, but again, it's probably so small that it doesn't matter. There is very little impact if you leave them, and probably almost nothing to gain if you're considering removing them. 

    The caveat to the above is if your 'used' tables are massive or taking up a lot of app bandwidth - or if these now defunct tables are huge then it might be slightly different - but if across the board it's just an average table - you can probably forget they're there. 



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    Chayce Duncan
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  • BrianSeymour's avatar
    BrianSeymour
    Qrew Assistant Captain
    10 months ago

    I'd agree with Chayce from my experience. Any performance concerns are likely negligible, but that entirely depends on the complexity of your specific app and record volume.

    If you do want to remove them to clean up after your future-self and others, you could open a Support Ticket to request a copy of the app to have as an "archive" prior to removing the tables from the live app. Then, restrict access to the archive as necessary to avoid confusion.

    Alternatively, you could go into table settings and hide from the table bar to give the appearance of a slimmer app that may be a bit easier to navigate. And make the deprecated tables not searchable for the most part.

    Also be mindful of any cross-app relationships to your 25 table app. Those relationships require the linked apps to boot up too.

    Brian Cafferelli has written several performance related blog posts that may be worth your time. It'd be interesting if you used the Performance Optimizer several times to benchmark your app's current state, then remove the tables and re-run the Performance Optimizer to compare results. But, my guess is that you won't really notice a difference.



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    Brian Seymour
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