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

[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?

[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)

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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.