Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

One of the advantages of creating public folder applications or storing information in a public folder is that you can configure a public folder for offline access. If you travel or work from home using a laptop computer, you can synchronize public folders for use offline.

Before you can configure a public folder for offline access, you must set up an offline folders file. After you've created an offline folders file, you can drag public folders to the Public Folders Favorites group to make them available offline. After you drag a folder to Public Folders Favorites, you can configure offline access to that public folder.

To configure a public folder for offline access using send/receive groups, use the following steps:

1. Choose Tools, Send/Receive, Send/Receive Settings, Define Send/Receive Groups.

2. Choose a send/receive group and click Edit to display Figure 29.21.

   Figure 29.21. Use the Send/Receive Settings dialog box to configure offline access to Public Folders Favorites.

3. Select your Microsoft Exchange Server account in the Accounts list.

4. In the Folder Options section, scroll down and expand Public Folders. Expand the Favorites branch to display all the public folders you've added to Public Folders Favorites.

5. To configure a folder for offline access, click the check box next to the folder's name. You can then choose a synchronization mode either Headers Only or Complete Item Including Attachments.

6. Click OK and Close to finalize your offline file folder settings.

7. Perform a Send/Receive operation to synchronize the folder and copy items to your offline folders file.

If you use cached Exchange mode, you might wonder whether you still need to worry about offline access to public folders. Yes, you do. Public folders aren't automatically synchronized like the rest of your Exchange mailbox. However, after you drag a public folder to Public Folders Favorites, the folder synchronizes to your offline folders file just like the rest of the folders in your mailbox store.