While the Compact Database option remains at the bottom of the File menu in Codebook for macOS, it isn’t the same feature as it was prior to Codebook 4. Basically, now it runs a VACUUM on the database, that will compact it somewhat, and this can make database operations a little bit more efficient (generally not enough that you would notice–if the UI is blocking or unresponsive definitely let us know!)
This means that Compact Database (perhaps we should rename the menu item to “Vacuum Database”) only affects the local encrypted database. This doesn’t affect any other copies of Codebook on your other devices, or Sync data stored in a cloud service remote (i.e. Dropbox and Google Drive). If you decide to run Compact Database, afterward you can go about your business, there’s no need to Sync the change to other devices anymore (indeed, it would not affect them if you did.) Our apologies that we haven’t already updated the confirmation sheet and this post to note the change.
Compact Database was originally put in place to help mitigate an excessive amount of data that could accumulate over time in the database from the previous Sync implementation. Due to the way the old Sync system had to exchange entire copies of the database file, Sync could end up taking a long time to complete. That is no longer an issue with the updated Sync system. You don’t have to worry about the size of the db anymore, or using this to make Sync run faster.
We’ll update the original post soon to note the change in behavior, and get that dialog updated in Codebook for macOS that redirects the user here with the “More Info” button.
Also, in case it’s not clear, Local Folder option for Sync is still there, we have no plans to remove it.
Please let us know if you have any other questions!