
They’d be better off caching everything to offline/local storage.Īfter all, the disk space used by even a large mailbox is relatively low (when drives are measured in Terabytes). That’s OK if you have limited disk space but most people don’t have that problem. You’ll see the Offline Setting, probably with the default one-year setting. Go to File | Info | Account Settings | Account Settings | Email tab | choose the account then Change. Hidden away is the setting which only downloads the last year of messages. When you setup an Exchange Server or account, the latest Outlook for Windows doesn’t give you any options.

It’s not mentioned, let alone linked on the Send/Receive settings dialog even though it has a direct impact. There’s a separate and unseen Offline Setting which controls the age of messages saved offline. Send / Receive | Send/Receive Groups | Define Send/Receive Groups Those options are still there but now aren’t the only setting that controls what’s saved on your computer. Each folder could be selected as synchronised or not. Those options were at Send & Receive groups …. However the default setting has changed and the option to change it not shown during the initial account setup.īack in the old days, it was possible to control what was synchronised between Outlook for Windows and the cloud-storage mailbox. That’s called ‘Cached Exchange Mode’ and has been available between Outlook for Windows and Microsoft serviced mailboxes for many years. That’s a good thing because the local copy is faster to access and works even if there’s no Internet connection. In other words, your info is on a cloud/server plus a clone saved on your computer. Changing the location or using a mail identity that is located on an external hard disk or a network is not supported.After setting up Outlook for Windows maybe your older messages aren’t showing up quickly? That might be because of a hidden default set by Microsoft which no longer appears as an account setup option.įor most mailboxes (, Exchange Server etc) Outlook for Windows can synchronize a copy of some or all your messages, calendar, contacts etc. Like Microsoft Entourage for Mac 2008, Outlook 2016 for Mac and Outlook for Mac 2011 are intended to be purely locally cached mail clients.

~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 Identities Outlook for Mac 2011 caches your mail items in an identity in your home folder at the following location: ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles Outlook 2016 for Mac caches your mail items in a profile in your home folder at the following location: Additionally, using a mail identity or profile that is located on an external hard disk or on a network is not supported in either version of Outlook for Mac. We do not recommend that you change the default location of your Profile folder for Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Mac, or your Identity folder for Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011 to an external hard disk or to a network.
