Yes, and this usually isn’t about index syntax, it’s about what you’re indexing and where.
A few things that commonly cause Block Group index failures:
Too many fields / wide tables (especially stats-heavy joins) → the database engine chokes.
Indexes on calculated or text-heavy fields that aren’t selective.
File GDB limits — large Block Group tables + multiple indexes can hit internal limits and crash Pro.
What works reliably
Index only the join key (e.g., GEOID) and one or two highly selective numeric fields — not everything.
Create indexes before joining large stats tables, not after.
If this is a File GDB and the table is large, try:
Exporting to a new FGDB, then indexing
Or moving to Enterprise GDB if this is production-scale
Indexing everything hurts more than it helps. Keep indexes minimal, selective, and created early, and the crashes usually disappear.
