Messages appear in the offline junk e-mail folder and do not appear in the online junk e-mail folder in Outlook 2007 and in Outlook 2003

When you use an offline folder (.ost) file, you may see a message in the Junk E-mail folder when you work offline that you do not see in the Junk E-mail folder when you work online. This problem may occur even when the junk e-mail filter is set correctly.

This problem may occur when you use Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and a Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail account offline, and the Exchange e-mail account is not in Cached Exchange Mode. When Outlook synchronizes with the Exchange Server computer, the message is delivered to the Inbox. When you work offline, the message in your Inbox is moved to the Junk E-mail folder if you do not open the message. When you synchronize with the Exchange Server computer again, the junk mail is uploaded to the Junk E-mail folder in the Exchange Server mailbox.

Note This problem does not occur if you use an Exchange Server e-mail account in Cached Exchange Mode.

To work around this problem, manually synchronize the offline and online folders. To do so, use one of the following methods:

• To synchronize a selected folder, on the Tools menu, point to Send/Receive, and then click the folder.
• To synchronize all folders that are set up for offline use, on the Tools menu, point to Send/Receive, and then click Send/Receive All.

When you use Outlook and you connect to an Exchange Server 2003 computer, you can use the junk e-mail filter on the Exchange Server computer to provide basic junk mail filtering. You can add a sender to your Safe Senders list or your Blocked Senders list, and the Exchange Server computer filters the mail before it is delivered to your Outlook client. This feature only provides junk mail filtering for messages that match an entry in your Safe Senders list or your Blocked Senders list.

When you use a Cached Exchange Mode e-mail account and a personal folder (.pst) file in Outlook, the Blocked Senders list is stored on the server and is available from any computer on the network. The Exchange Server computer uses the Blocked Senders list to evaluate messages. When a sender in your Blocked Senders list sends you a message, the message is moved to the Junk E-mail folder on the server.

To help protect your computer from junk e-mail messages, use the following guidelines:

• Set the junk mail protection level to Safe Lists Only so that Outlook only delivers messages to your Inbox from domain names and e-mail addresses in your Safe Senders list and your Safe Recipients list.
• Permanently delete all messages that you think are junk mail, instead of moving them to the Junk E-mail folder.
• Verify that Outlook is not set to automatically download pictures and other content in HTML messages. To do so, follow these steps:
  1. In Outlook 2003, on the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. Click the Security tab, and then click Change Automatic Download Settings.
  3. Click to select the Don't download pictures or other content automatically in HTML e-mail check box, and then click OK.
• Verify that downloads from Web sites in security zones are not permitted. To do so, follow these steps:
  1. In Outlook 2003, on the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. Click the Security tab, and then click Change Automatic Download Settings.
  3. Click to clear the Permit downloads from Web sites in this security zone: Trusted Zone check box, and then click OK.
• Turn off automatic processing of meeting requests and read and delivery receipts. To do so, follow these steps:
  1. In Outlook 2003, on the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. Click Calendar Options.
  3. Click Resource Scheduling, click to clear the Automatically accept meeting requests and process cancellations check box, and then click OK.

• Set the junk mail protection level to Safe Lists Only so that Outlook only delivers messages to your Inbox from domain names and e-mail addresses in your Safe Senders List and your Safe Recipients List .
• Permanently delete all messages that you think are junk mail, instead of moving them to the Junk E-mail folder.
• Verify that Outlook is not set to automatically download pictures and other content in HTML messages. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. In Outlook 2007, click Trust Center on the Tools menu, and then click Automatic Download.
  2. Click to clear the Don't download pictures automatically in HTML e-mail messages or RSS items check box, and then click OK.
• Verify that downloads from Web sites in security zones are not permitted. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. In Outlook 2007, click Trust Center on the Tools menu, and then click Automatic Download.
  2. Click to clear the Permit downloads from Web sites in this security zone: Trusted Zone check box, and then click OK.
• Turn off automatic processing of meeting requests and read and delivery receipts. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. In Outlook 2007, click Options on the Tools menu.
  2. Click Calendar Options.
  3. Click Resource Scheduling, click to clear the Automatically accept meeting requests and process cancellations check box, and then click OK two times.

Note If you use Cached Exchange Mode, a copy of the Exchange mailbox is stored on your computer in an .ost file. This copy permits you to work online or offline without interruption, and the data can be synchronized automatically or manually.