Tips for Offline Users (1) - Synchronizing

In this series of articles, I want to start by talking about issues that Outlook users run into when they work offline. There are things to think about that you normally don't run into if you stay connected all the time.

Dial-up/slow connection users

When running Outlook offline, users need to periodically synchronize with the Exchange server to send and receive message. If the user has any offline folders, they will need to be synchronized as well. This is Microsoft's recommended method over the "stay-connected" method if you're using Outlook over a slow connection. This is due to the fact that connection time is much shorter when used for synchronizing only. Data is stored locally for fast access, but synchronization is needed frequently to stay updated.

If you prefer to stay connected even with a slow connection, you may notice Outlook to be unavailable when you're downloading a large message and degradation of speed is dramatic when message gets larger. However, the advantage is that you can send immediately after composing a new message.

So what's the catch? If you will only download selective messages, then the stay connected method will work for you as only messages you open will be saved onto your hard drive. If you generally read all your new mail and like fast and continuous response from Outlook, then it is better to go into offline mode and use synchronizing instead. In the meanwhile, get a cup of coffee!

Automatic Synchronization

You can set your Outlook to synchronize automatically at a given time. There are times when that doesn't quite work so smoothly: When you're at the office with a fast connection, you set the auto sync feature and expect that when you go to a slow connection, it will work as expected, but it doesn't. This is due to Outlook detecting that you are now on a slow connection and doesn't want to auto-sync for you until you tell it to. In this case, you'll have to do a manual synchronization. It's not your Outlook malfunctioning, it's just a default behavior.

Offline web pages

If you have web pages made available offline when you were online, but are now unavailable when you're actually offline. Make sure you have Internet Explorer (IE) installed. These offline web pages saved in Outlook are saved in a format designed for IE only.