The size of FORMS' databases can vary widely depending on the complexity of the forms and on your organization’s system for processing them.
The image database is usually the largest.
The form database, which contains data from processed forms, can also be large.
The size of these two databases is generally proportional to the size and number of forms scanned and saved. Another factor is the number of fields filled in on the forms.
If your organization’s workflow has forms being scanned and verified during the workday and interpreted and transferred automatically at night, the databases can contain up to two days’ forms every evening.
Normally, forms are deleted from the form and image databases as they are successfully transferred. (The exception is if Delete transferred forms is deselected as a Transfer job description option.) However, file space is not freed up; FORMS re-uses that space without changing the file sizes. (In other words, the same space is re-used for new forms as they enter FORMS.) Therefore, the largest number of forms that have accumulated and waited for processing at any one time determines the size of the database.
If at one time many forms accumulated and, after they were transferred, the space they occupied in the database continues to burden your system, you can reinitialize the databases to free up disk space. (Initialize forms initializes both the form and the image database.)
The same is true of the form definition, set definition and table databases: They do not decrease in size when you delete form/set definitions or tables using the usual commands. To free up disk space, you can reinitialize these databases.
Strategic placement of databases and files in a non-network environment