Outlook2000-Please Help

[Don79]

Hi,
I currently have a backup script which backs up all outlook.pst files for the employees in our company. However some employees do not have outlook.pst, but outlook.ost instead. I know how to restore the .pst file from a backup and open it within Outlook, but how do I do the same thing with an outlook.ost file? How do I open it in outlook? Someone told me that the outlook.ost file does not need backup since the information is being stored on the server somewhere. If so, where do I see this on the server? I want to make sure that the outlook.ost files are being backed up as well like the outlook.pst files are. Thanks for your help.

 

[Don79]

One More Thing. I right clicked "mailbox-joyce" and went to properties to check the folder size of an employee's *.ost file. It was 356 MB. When I go onto the backup script on the server, the same file on her machine is listed as 27K. Therefore, I dont believe it is being backed up? I am confused about this *.ost stuff.

 

[joegz]

A PST and OST files are two very different files. The OST file is an offline folder which is basically just a copy of the clients mailbox (inbox, contacts, tasks,etc...) so that the client can access their mail offine and process the mail (read, reply, delete, etc...). When they connect back to the server then it will synch up the changes to the data.

The PST is for storing mail off of the server so that space on the server is freed up. Since mail is now off the Exchange server you would definitely want to back up these files.

I don't see a need where a client would need to have his/her OST files backed up since the data is still on the Exchange server. If the client loses his OST file for some reason it is easily recreated through Outlook and at most client may lose a few of their replies but that is no great tradgedy.

joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."

 

[Don79]

Thanks for replying. You mentioned that the data is on the exchange server, where do I go to access it? Also, how is the OST file easily recreated through Outlook? I do have the PST's being backed up, so thats a good thing.

 

[joegz]

When I meant the data is on the server I am referring to the Mailbox components such as the Inbox, Sent Items, Contacts, Calendar, Journal, Tasks, etc.... and not the OST file. You access these items through your Outlook program. The OST file is a synchronized file with these Exchange server components.

The OST file itself is not on any server but instead on the clients local drive such as the C: drive. I am not certain if this is what you are asking.

To recreate the OST file in Outlook all you have to do is open Outlook. Go to TOOLS - SERVICES, select the Microsoft Exchange Server component and select Properties. Select ADVANCED, check to see if ENABLE OFFLINE FOLDER option is checked and then OFFLINE FOLDER FILE SETTINGS. In the FILE path enter the path for the OST file. Click OK.

If the file does not exist already Outlook will ask if you want to create it.

If you BROWSE for the file make sure you are not selecting an OST file that belongs to another user as these files are profile dependent.

So lets say you now created a new OST file for the client. When the client starts Outlook and connects to the Exchange server the Outlook Synchronization will start to synchronize the data on the Exchange server to the OST file.

The client can then disconnect from the server take their PC home and look at the mail they did not have time to read during the office hours. Whatever changes the clients makes don't get loaded back on to the Exchange server until the client connects to the server again.

I hope this helps. joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."

 

[Don79]

I understand the idea much better now. However, I still have a few questions if you don't mind. As you mentioned, the OST file is in the client's hard drive. I just did a search for that and found one with today's date, but the size is 180 KB. Now I know for sure that everything in her mailbox amounts to around 360 MB. (This can be verified by right-clicking mailbox and going to properties). So I find that strange. Also, are you saying that say she loses her entire e-mail, all I have to do is the synchronize process, and it will pull everything back from the server? In that case, something must be stored on the server. Sorry if I am being a pain. =)

 

[joegz]

My first question is did the file you find match what she has setup as her offline folder? You can have a separate OST file for each Outlook profile and are not limitied to one .OST file per machine. Second question is does she have offline folders enabled?

If you see that she does have Offline folders enabled and that the OST file selected in the settings window is the same then I would try synchronizing to see if the data now gets copied over. Generally synchronization occurs when you enter and exit the Outlook program but it also has to specified to do so under TOOLS - OPTIONS - MAIL SERVICES otherwise it is a manual process.

As far as your second question, if the clients loses her offline folder (OST file) for some reason, recreating the OST will simply copy the data over again from the Exchange server to the new OST file. Remember that the OST is just a copy of what is on the Exchange server so that the client can review the data when not connected to the Exchange server. The only time you have a threat of losing data is the client has processed mail, such as she replied to several e-mails offline, and something happened to the OST file that it could not be recovered. Only those changes would be lost. The client would never lose the data on the Exchange server because of the OST file. joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."