Updated: 2006-11-16

To deploy Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Cached Exchange Mode, you can enable the option in the Office Customization Tool, and then choose from several options for Cached Exchange Mode download settings (for example, Download Headers). After you configure the options, you save the settings with other configurations in the Setup customization file that you use to deploy the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

For example, if users in your organization do not already have OST files, you might choose to configure a default OST file location for Cached Exchange Mode and offline use. If you do not specify a different OST location, Outlook creates an OST in the default location when users start Outlook in Cached Exchange Mode.

Note:
To lock down options, you can use the Outlook Group Policy template (Outlk12.adm) to deploy Group Policy settings for Cached Exchange Mode. For more information about configuring Group Policy settings for Cached Exchange Mode, see Configure Cached Exchange Mode Group Policy settings in Outlook 2007.

To configure Cached Exchange Mode settings by using the Office Customization Tool

1. In the Office Customization Tool, in the Outlook section, click the Specify Exchange Settings page. Then click Configure an Exchange Server connection. Note: You must choose Modify Profile or New Profile on the Outlook Profile page to configure Exchange Server settings.

2. To specify a new location for users' OST files, click More Settings, and click Enable offline use. Enter a folder path and file name for the OST file location. You can also enter a path in the Directory path to store the Offline Address Book files box, and click OK.

3. To enable or disable Cached Exchange mode, or to specify default download behavior when Cached Exchange Mode is enabled, click Configure Cached Exchange Mode on the Specify Exchange Settings page.

4. Select the Use Cached Exchange Mode check box to enable Cached Exchange Mode for users. Cached Exchange Mode is disabled by default if you do not select the check box but you do select Configure Cached Exchange Mode.

5. Select a default download option if you enabled Cached Exchange Mode in step 4:

   • Download only headers. Users see header information and the beginning of the message or item body (a 256-KB plain-text buffer of information). Full items are downloaded by double-clicking to open the message or by clicking Download the rest of this message now at the bottom of the Reading Pane.

   • Download headers followed by the full item. All headers are downloaded first, and then full items are downloaded. The download order might not be chronological. Outlook downloads headers followed by full items in the folder that the user is currently accessing, and then downloads headers followed by full items in folders that the user has recently viewed.

   • Download full items. Full items are downloaded. The download order might not be chronological. Outlook downloads full items in the folder that the user is currently accessing, and then downloads full items in folders that the user has recently viewed.

6. To turn off Headers Only mode, clear the On slow connections, download only headers check box. Downloading only headers is the default behavior when users have slow connections. There are scenarios in which Outlook perceives that users have slow connections when users' data throughput is fast, or vice versa. In these situations, you might want to set or clear this option.

7. Choose to disable the downloading of shared non-mail folders as part of Cached Exchange Mode synchronizations to users' OST files. By default, shared non-mail folders are downloaded. Downloading Public Folder Favorites might cause users' OST files—if they use non-Unicode OSTs—to increase past the 2-GB size limit. This results in errors when Outlook synchronizes.

8. Choose to download Public Folder Favorites as part of Cached Exchange Mode synchronizations to users' OST files. By default, Public Folder Favorites are not downloaded. Downloading Public Folder Favorites might cause users' OST files—if they use non-Unicode OSTs—to increase past the 2-GB size limit. This results in errors when Outlook synchronizes. Also, synchronizing Public Folder Favorites causes extra network traffic that might be unwelcome for users who have slow connections.

If you do not configure Cached Exchange Mode options, the current state of Cached Exchange Mode does not change for existing profiles when Outlook upgrades to a new version. If a user was configured to use Cached Exchange Mode in Outlook 2003, for example, Cached Exchange Mode is still enabled when the user upgrades to Office Outlook 2007. The location for new OST or OAB files is the default location: for Microsoft Windows XP, the location is %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook.

When you consider whether to change settings for synchronization with Exchange servers, be aware that timing for Office Outlook 2007 has improved so that e-mail updates faster than in Outlook 2003. However, there might be circumstances when you need to modify the default synchronization values.

Note:
If you specify a new Exchange server under Configure an Exchange Server connection, a new OST file is created for your users.

See Also