Binaries - How to Work with Large Groups

Gravity has limitations when handling a large number of articles. "Large" depends on the power of your processor and the amount of RAM.
If you want to work with large groups and articles, there are other binary download applications available. But here are some suggestions that may help.
Verify Local Headers
Server - Properties - Operation "Verify local headers when ..."
Do NOT enable this server option if you work with large binary groups. If enabled, this setting can make it appear that Gravity is hanging or pausing a long time after fetching the headers. This option is useful for normal size text groups but not high traffic binary groups.
If enabled, Gravity will get a list of all available articles for all subscribed groups on the server and compare them with those articles in the local database, removing the expired ones. In very large groups (usually binaries) the server may have several hundred thousand available articles. Even if you only have 20,000 articles locally, Gravity fetches all the article numbers. If the server has 250,000 articles, you will have to wait while Gravity downloads and processes more than a quarter of a million article numbers after fetching new articles!
Ø    You can perform this operation manually at any time, even if disabled in Server Properties. Right click the newsgroup in the group pane and select "Verify Local Headers"
Tip: You can set up the same server twice. Either use a different server nickname, or use the IP address in Setup. This way you can have text groups in one server setup (with verify headers enabled) and binaries in another setup (with verify headers disabled).
Work with a limited set of articles
Don't get swamped downloading 40,000 articles or more at once.

·      Use the pop-up group menu "Retrieve Limited Number of Headers." When you want the next batch, retrieve headers again.

·      You can set a header download limit globally for all groups in Server - Properties. This makes for a safety catch.

·      .. and/or set a header limit for individual groups in Newsgroup - Properties - Overrides.

Purge and Compact

To optimize compacting and performance, delete decoded articles to free up space.

You can automate this with a rule run manually:

Condition:          Marked as decoded

Action:               Discard

Do not enable the rule for incoming articles. Before you leave the group, run this rule manually. Or at the end of a decode session, select multiple groups and run the rule once on all binary groups.

Purge and compact often. You might want to set short purge times for read articles in your binary groups, at least the ones with heavy traffic. You can override the global purge options for specific groups in Newsgroup - Properties - Overrides.

To get the most benefit from deleting and purging, you should compact the databases. Server settings influence automatic compacting. But you can do it  manually any time. Use Tools - Database - "Purge and Compact Database"
Use Filters that do not cause a Display Re-fresh
Some filters will cause extra work with large numbers of articles. For example, if you mark an article as read, Gravity may remove it from an unread filter and refresh and rethread all articles.
You can avoid this with certain filters. An "All articles" filter will not trigger this. Also, if you include the entire thread in the filter, the thread will not be removed and the display not refreshed, until all articles in the thread are read.
Do not switch filters too often in a large group. Every time you switch or re-apply a filter, the whole thread list has to be reconstructed.