It takes longer than expected to synchronize an IMAP mailbox store in Outlook 2003

When you expand an Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) mailbox store in the navigation pane in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, it takes longer than expected to synchronize the IMAP mailbox store. Additionally, when you view the IMAP transport log file in the Temp folder, you see that the whole hierarchy for the public folder tree is crawled. This behavior occurs although the public folders were not accessed during synchronization.

This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest Office 2003 service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.

Service pack information

This problem is corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 2.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Office 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

After you install the service pack, follow the steps in the "More Information" section to set the DisableStoreCrawling registry key and to enable the hotfix.

Hotfix information

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the Outlook 2003 post-Service Pack 1 Hotfix Package that is dated March 19, 2005. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

After you install this hotfix, follow the steps in the "More Information" section to set the DisableStoreCrawling registry key and to enable the hotfix.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 2.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To enable this hotfix, follow these steps:

1. Quit Outlook 2003.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click to select the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook
4. After you select the subkey that is specified in step 3, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click Key.
5. Type OutlookBar, and then press ENTER.
6. With the OutlookBar subkey selected, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
7. Type DisableStoreCrawling, and then press ENTER.
8. Right-click DisableStoreCrawling, and then click Modify.
9. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
10. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.