Size of indexed files

In DT personal, I just indexed a 400mb PDF that lives on Google Drive, and I was surprised to see the size of my database (as seen in DT’s Get Info panel) go up by 400mb. One reason I’m indexing PDFs, rather than importing them, is to keep down the size of my database – but that doesn’t seem to be the result. (I searched this forum for “indexing” and “size”, and couldn’t find an answer to this simple question!)
When I index a PDF, the actual file continues to live on Google Drive, right, with only the index of it living in DT?

Yes, in the case of Index-capture of a file to a DEVONthink database, the file itself isn’t captured into the database, and remains external to the database in its original location.

The database will contain an index of the text content of that file and metadata about it, including the Path to the location of the file.

No, capturing a 400 MB PDF by Index won’t increase the database file size by 400 MB, as would be the case if that PDF had been Import-captured and copied into the database.

Try this:

  1. Run Tools > Verify & Repair, to eliminate the possibility of database errors. (Rebuild the database, if errors are found.)

  2. Empty database Trash. Run Tools > Backup & Optimize, to compact the database and update the internal Backup folder. Check the database file size in File > Database Properties.

  3. Capture the 400 MB PDF by Import. Now Check the file size of the database in Database Properties. You should see an increase of database file size, just a bit more than 400 MB.

  4. Delete that 400 MB file, then empty the database Trash. Run Tools > Backup & Optimize. Check the database size in Database Properties.

  5. Index-capture that 400 MB PDF. Check the database size in Database Properties. You should see a relatively small increase in size, probably much less than 400 MB.