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Important Considerations While Working With Outlook and Exchange Server

Outlook users who would like to use the Cached Exchange Mode in the most efficient manner have to be aware of the offline storage file or OST file size consideration as well as some issues that arise during the sending and receiving of mails. We take a quick look at both these factors.

" If you are interested in enabling the Cached Exchange Mode for your Outlook, you need to be aware that the size of the offline storage files or OST files have a tendency to increase from anywhere between 50 percent to 80 percent over the size of the mailbox that is stored on the Exchange server. This is because the size of the OST files is a client-side limitation and the format that Outlook uses to store data in the OST files when the Cached Exchange Mode is enabled is not particularly efficient. In fact, there are fears that not taking note of this increase in size could lead to corruption in the OST files and steps may have to be taken to recover ost data.

As a result of this inefficient format, when the mailbox from the Exchange server is downloaded into the OST files, it may take up a large amount of disk space. When Cached Exchange Mode first makes a copy of the mailbox on the local machine, the local OST file is updated. When users have small mailboxes, there is no problem and the OST files work fine. However, if the mailboxes turn out to be large, one can expect damage to the OST files. Of course, by having an effective OST backup and recovery system, it should be possible to ensure that no data is lost so long as quick action is taken to recover ost data.

The other solution is to take advantage of the fact that Outlook 2003 now comes with a new file format that allows Unicode OST files. This means that the files that could store only up to 2 GB, can now store data up to 20 GB of data. Therefore by simply creating Unicode OST files, it is possible to create a local copy of the mailbox even if the mailboxes are large. This will avoid a situation where Outlook runs out of OST file space resulting in error messages or even worse, damage to the OST file.

Despite this new feature, one cannot entirely rule out corruption in OST files and it makes perfect sense to be prepared for any eventuality by knowing how to use powerful repair tools such as Advanced Exchange Recovery from DataNumen that can very effectively recover ost data from seriously damaged OST files.

" Outlook users also need to understand that manual Send or Receive actions are no longer necessary once they enable the Cached Exchange Mode. This type of data synchronization is taken care of automatically and serves to reduce the network traffic as well as server usage. Cached Exchange Mode not only takes care of sending, receiving mails but also ensures that the mailbox on the server and the local copy are up-to-date at all times.