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Offline Public Folders

Configuring Public Folders for Offline use

Using the Favorites Folder

The Favorites folder under the Public Folders branch is not the same as the Favorites folder in your operating system. The latter contains shortcuts to frequently used Web sites, allowing you to access those sites quickly and easily. The Favorites folder under the Public Folders branch allows you to create shortcuts to public folders that you use frequently. This isn’t an important feature if you deal with only a handful of public folders, but it can be a real time-saver if you work with Internet newsgroups on your server through Outlook or if your server contains numerous folders. Don’t struggle to find the one folder you want among many in the folder list; simply place the folder in your Favorites folder and access it from there.

Adding folders to Favorites is easy—just drag the folder to the Favorites folder, and Outlook creates a shortcut to the folder. When you want to use the folder, open it from the Favorites folder rather than from Public Folders.

Using Public Folders Offline

NOTE

Only folders which have been copied into the Favorites folder can be used Offline.

One of Outlook’s strengths is that it gives you the ability to work offline. For example, you can work from home or use a portable computer while on the road, connecting to the server only when you need to synchronize folders. In addition to working with your Outlook folders offline, you can work with public folders offline.

In previous versions of Outlook, you configured public folders for offline use by setting the properties for the folder. In Outlook 2002, you configure a folder for offline use by using the Send/Receive Groups dialog box. You can have the folders synchronize each time you perform a send/receive operation through your primary send/receive group, or you can create a group specifically for synchronizing your public folders and synchronize them separately from your mailbox folders.

NOTE

You need to set up an offline store before you can use any Exchange Server folders offline. Follow these steps to set up a send/receive group to synchronize public folders:

1. Open Outlook and choose Tools, Send/Receive Settings, Define Send/Receive Groups.

2. In the Send/Receive Groups dialog box, select the existing group you want to use to synchronize public folders or create a new group specifically for synchronization.

3. Click Edit. In the Send/Receive Settings dialog box, select Include Account In This Send/Receive Group, and then scroll through the Check Folders list and expand the Public Folders branch.

4. Expand Favorites and select the folders you want Outlook to make available offline.

5. Click OK, and then click Close to return to Outlook.

6. Perform a send/receive operation with the send/receive group to synchronize the public folders with your offline store.

Troubleshooting - Your public folders aren’t available offline.

If you’ve configured a send/receive group to synchronize your public folders for offline use, but the folders aren’t accessible when you’re working offline, make sure you’ve synchronized the folders at least once with the server. As is the case with your other Outlook folders, you can’t work offline until you synchronize the folders at least once.