Optimizing ActivityPointerBase Storage in Dynamics 365 by Moving Email Records and Attachments to SharePoint

The ActivityPointerBase table stores metadata for all activities (e.g., emails, tasks, appointments) in Dynamics 365, which can lead to significant storage consumption over time. Optimizing storage usage is essential for performance and cost management. Below are strategies to reduce the storage footprint of ActivityPointerBase:

 

1. Move Email Record to SharePoint

• Action: Move the email body (stored in the description field) from Dynamics 365 to SharePoint.
• Add a Custom Field: To maintain a reference to the external storage location, create a custom field (e.g., SharePointLink) in the Email Messages entity to store the URL of the SharePoint document.
• Columns to Empty:
  • Description: After transferring the email content to SharePoint, clear or set this field to an empty string or placeholder such as "Moved to SharePoint" to free up space in Dynamics 365.

2. Move Email Attachments to SharePoint

• Action: Move email attachments (stored in the ActivityMimeAttachment table) to SharePoint for external storage.
• Reason: Although attachments are stored in the ActivityMimeAttachment table, moving them to external storage helps reduce related metadata stored in Dynamics 365. This indirectly limits the growth of ActivityPointerBase, which may expand due to large email metadata.