Some tables in SW have foreign keys so simply deleting from the table can be problematic.The statement to purge data from that table is very easy but as a newbie, I can't post it here. Lowering your retention settings is the best way to handle this issue because deleting from a given table can cause big issues. I can give you a hint:
Look through the stored procedures in the database as SW uses them to do the purge work. Review the code to get a better understanding of the complete purge process.
There are suggestions about shrinking a database and/or related files. I'm a DBA and I despise the fact that SW wants to shrink/grow things like log files. Do not do these things unless you know why you are doing it and HAVE to do it.
