Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

jmt356
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Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by jmt356 »

Whenever I am working with spotty internet, my operations in Outlook are extremely delayed. Each search gets interrupted by a message in Outlook that states:

“Microsoft outlook is trying to retrieve information from the Microsoft Exchange server.”

I am using an Outlook Exchange Server account. The very purpose of using Exchange with an offline version as opposed to a version that requires connecting online is for situations where I have no internet or limited internet. I don’t see why Outlook keeps on searching on the Microsoft Exchange server for basic searches for things like emails, contacts, etc. It should just search the offline OST file, which is saved on my hard drive.

Is there a way to get Outlook to just search the local OST file rather than go online to connect with the server each time I perform a search?
Regards,

JMT

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HansV
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by HansV »

Activate the Send/Receive tab of the ribbon.
What happens if you click 'Work Offline' in the Preferences group?
(If you want to go online again, simply click the same button)
Best wishes,
Hans

jmt356
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by jmt356 »

My searches are immediate when on offline mode. However, I cannot send or receive emails when in Offline mode, even when I am connected to the Internet.

Is it not possible to work off of my local OST files while online?

I question what the purpose is of being able to download an OST file if Outlook is always going to connect to the server for all operations. Outlook should be able to just work off the local file and then connect to the server when the server file needs to be synced to the local file, but without slowing down the user when the user has spotty internet.
Regards,

JMT

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HansV
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by HansV »

Perhaps:

Select File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
Select the account and click Change...
Drag the slider 'Download email for the past' to the right until the caption is 'All'.
Click OK.
Best wishes,
Hans

jmt356
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by jmt356 »

I set the slider to "All" for my default account. Do I need to do this for all my accounts?

Should I tick Use Cached Exchange Mode?

Is the cache the downloaded file? Is there no way to get Outlook to work off of only the downloaded file without always going back to the online version on the server?
Regards,

JMT

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HansV
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by HansV »

> Do I need to do this for all my accounts?
Yes.
> Should I tick Use Cached Exchange Mode?
Yes
> Is the cache the downloaded file? Is there no way to get Outlook to work off of only the downloaded file without always going back to the online version on the server?
Try the above and find out.
Best wishes,
Hans

jmt356
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by jmt356 »

I think this may have actually solved the issue. My searches are almost instant now. Maybe it is because my internet is fast but I think the cache solution did help.
Regards,

JMT

JoeP
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by JoeP »

Cached Exchange mode causes the amount of email you selected in the slider to be downloaded to your .OST file. It is a reflection of what is on the server and is kept synched to the server. If it is all your email the search indexer will use it and search will be much faster.
Joe

jmt356
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by jmt356 »

Whenever I search for anything in Outlook, I get a message that states:

It looks like there's a problem with your network connection.
Let's look on your computer instead.

Two questions:
1. Why am I getting this error, bearing in mind that I am always connected to the internet?

2. How do I stop this error and get Outlook to always search on my computer instead of on the server?
Regards,

JMT

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HansV
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by HansV »

1. No idea.
2. Try this:
Start the registry editor RegEdit.exe
Navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook

If this key has a subkey Search, select it. Otherwise, create a new key under the above path and name it Search.

In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Search, create a new DWORD value.
Name it: DisableServerAssistedSearch
Set its value to: 1
Best wishes,
Hans

jmt356
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by jmt356 »

I do not have an Outlook folder in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0. The only folder I have in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0 is Common.
Regards,

JMT

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HansV
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by HansV »

Create a new key named Outlook under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0
Create a new key named Search under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook
Create a new DWORD value named DisableServerAssistedSearch in the new Search key and set its value to 1.
Best wishes,
Hans

jmt356
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Re: Outlook Exchange account constantly searching for information on server rather than on local hard drive

Post by jmt356 »

The issue persists in one of my Exchange accounts. In my other Exchange and Gmail accounts, running a search immediately generates search results, but with one of my Exchange accounts, running a search continues to return a message that states:

It looks like there's a problem with your network connection.
Let's look on your computer instead.
Regards,

JMT