Offline Files and Folders

[rathcoffey]

Hi all

Im not sure if this is possible, but what the hey.

I have a folder on our network that i want to make availeble offline. This is no problem.

However, the subfolders within this folder are not synchronised, the contents of the subfolders are but the folder itself isnt. Essentially, the organisational structure of the folder is lost and all I get is the files (including the subfolders files) but not the subfolders

Is this as is or is there an option to make the subfolders offline or some solution that will do it?

Thanks

Rathcoffey

'A world without donuts is like a donut without a hole.......wait that would mean more donut! I'm a Genius' Homer Simpson

 

[NTesla]

Go into Windows Explorer and acess the mapped drive in question. See if the folders that do not get syngronized have the little white icon with a blue arrow. If it is their then these folders should be syngronizing. If not make them availiable off line. Once a folder is availible offline everything inside that folder, sub folders and files should be available as well. You may also want to try take the availible offline option off, run disk cleanup to remove all the files and then make the folder availiable off line again

If they already are, are you using roaming profiles. I found the hard way that changes I made with my desktop would not be availiable off line on my notebook. I talked to the network administrator at the college I'm attending and he said I needed roaming profiles. I set them and have not had a problem since.

Let me know how you do

 

[rathcoffey]

Hi there

To explain myself again.....all the folders have the synchronised icon on them.

All the files within all the subfolders gets synchronised. Its the subfolders themselves that dont get synchronised. Essentially, I have all the files but the folders dont sync.

I dont think roaming profiles will help as various users need this folder offline. I do not want to have various copies of the files on my server.

Any other ideas?

Rathcoffey

'A world without donuts is like a donut without a hole.......wait that would mean more donut! I'm a Genius' Homer Simpson

 

[bcastner]

Check Group Policy.

Subfolders always available offline
Makes subfolders available offline whenever their parent folder is made available offline.

 

[NTesla]

Using Roaming Profiles would not create multiple copies of the files. I my self have two accounts on my network and both are roaming profiles and both have a mapped drive to the same directory.

Yes I actually use both accounts and I don't get multiple copies of each file.

 

[rathcoffey]

Group Policy is fine.........I have both enabled.

All the files are there but no subfolders, if I view by detail, it gives me the location path of all the files.

Is this as is?


'A world without donuts is like a donut without a hole.......wait that would mean more donut! I'm a Genius' Homer Simpson

 

[bcastner]

I suspect you are viewing the file cache directly. If you do this the folder structure is not visible.

Use the 'Shortcut' to offline files, or in Explorer use the Offline File tab under Folder options.

 

[rathcoffey]

If I open the shortcut to offline files folder on the desktop, I still only see the files, no folder structure.

Im not sure what you are proposing in your post, can you elaborate??

Thanks

'A world without donuts is like a donut without a hole.......wait that would mean more donut! I'm a Genius' Homer Simpson

 

[DaShard]

Did you ever get an answer. I have the same issue at a couple of locations. Does an install of 'My Briefcae work better?

Just can't seem to view those offline folders - no way!

Thanks

 

[bcastner]

I am confusing matters.

. Ignore the "Shortcut to offline files" as you really cannot see the directory structure or manage the files in any useful way from there.

The "trick" is that you need to ignore the offline cache and the shortcut and the "View Files" tab of offline properties, but access the files as if your were still online.

Then the files will be shown with their full folder and subfolder associations.

 

[DaShard]

Great. Please expand on how to 'access the files as tho' I were still online'?

Do you mean just to open an applicaqtion and choose 'File' 'Open' or what?

How hard can this be ?????

 

[bcastner]

Yes, exactly that.
Lets say when you are connected the files "appear" as coming from your Home directory on the server on drive letter H.

You would open offline the file on drive letter H.

 

[rathcoffey]

Im still unsure about this.

So I should map the folder I want to make offline??

Then make this mapped drive offline......?

If i do this, when Im offline, the drive isnt accessable...

What are you suggesting?

'A world without donuts is like a donut without a hole.......wait that would mean more donut! I'm a Genius' Homer Simpson

 

[bcastner]

Suppose a user's home directory resides on a network server and maps to the H drive. The user can simply right-click on the home directory folder and choose the Make Available Offline property from the context menu to tell Win2K to cache the contents of the home folder to a laptop. After the user disconnects the laptop and logs on again, the home folder will be available on the laptop without a network connection.

Marking Files for Offline Use
To start using Offline Files while connected to the network, a user opens My Computer, Windows Explorer or My Network Places and selects a shared remote folder or individual files in that folder. When a user selects an entire folder for offline access, any files placed in that folder in the future automatically become part of the user's Offline Files selections, and Win2K automatically synchronizes them for offline use.

Open the Offline Files Folder. This folder displays information about the status of the files and the network connection. The Offline Files Folder also displays the path to each file's source folder—important information because the local system stores all offline files in one folder, even when they come from multiple network folders. Keep in mind that the permissions on offline files remain the same as on the shared resource. A read-only file is still read only when you're working locally.

To work with a file offline:

. open the local Offline Files Folder and double-click the file you want to work with. This action opens the file in the appropriate software application.

. or, use the File Open dialogue to open the file within an application. The source information for the file will be identical to that of the file in its network setting.

 

[KirkRock]

When I setup offline files, while I'm connected to the lan I map a network drive to the directory I want available offline (i.e H:\myhome). Then I right click on the 'My Documents' directory and select properties. In the 'Target' location I put H:\(you can type in a UNC path if you dont want to map a drive). Click OK, right click on My Documents again and select 'Make available offline'.

After you synchronize your files, disconnect your PC from the network and open 'My Documents' and you will see your offline files with the directory structure.


-Kirk