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FotoTime maintains several index files that are used to store information about each picture as well as the associated thumbnails.
The primary index file (<PicDir>\Ndx\fototime.fnx) contains all the information about each picture. It also contains information about pictures that were deleted (in case you later add them back). You should never remove this file since it contains all captions, album information, etc. In addition, you need to be sure this file is backed up regularly.
FotoAlbum also maintains a thumbnail database file that contains the thumbnails for all images. This file is (<PicDir>\Ndx\fathumbs.ftd). FotoAlbum can rebuild this file if it is removed, but any archived images that no longer exist on your system will lose their thumbnails.
Periodically you may want to optimize the index data and ensure no inconsistencies have occurred. Use the "File->Maintenance Tasks->Index Maintenance" option to validate your index data and optionally rebuild all thumbnails.
Check album integrity: Choose this option to check/fix any problems with albums and pictures. It ensures that references between pictures and albums are all valid and that all published pictures belong to at least one album.
Retry errored pictures (rescan): Check this option to rescan all pictures and rebuild thumbnails for any pictures that were determined to be invalid. This option is useful if certain files were locked at the time thumbnails were being built and marked as unusable.
Compress index file: Use this option to remove entries for images that no longer exist within your picture folder. These entries are automatically "aged" away and removed eventually, but this allows you to remove them immediately.
Remove archive entries: This option will remove entries about images that have been archived and removed from your system. Only choose this option if you do not intend to recover those images from archives later. You will still be able to recover images from archives, but you will not be able to view information about those images unless you restore them first.
Remove non-PicDir entries: This removes all entries about pictures that exist outside your picture folder. As you browse using the Explore or Device view, FotoAlbum tracks information about those images. This allows you to purge this information immediately (FotoAlbum normally purges this information periodically).
Remove deletion action history: The index file also keeps track of all deletions of pictures and albums. This is used during the FotoSync process to help determine the appropriate action. You can remove this information anytime you are sync'ed with the FotoTime website.
Reset modification timestamps: This option allows you to change the timestamps of all modifications made to pictures and albums to the current time. This can be useful if you want to force the FotoSync process to consider the changes made on your PC to be the most recent (overriding changes made on the website).
Rebuild all thumbnails: If you check this option, FotoAlbum will immediately start the rebuilding of all thumbnails within your picture folder. This can take a while and does not need to be done very often.
Keep archived thumbnails: If checked, thumbnails will be maintained for all images that have been archived and are no longer on your system. This ensures that a thumbnail can be displayed for the archived images. Note: You should leave this checked unless you do not intend to restore any images that are currently removed from your system.