Microsoft Home Page

Sign in

Select the product you need help with

Support for Microsoft Outlook 2003

Help and support for Microsoft Outlook 2003. Customer service, technical solutions, error messages, troubleshooting tips, and answers to top issues.

Go To: All Topics

Offline Folders (OST)

Offline Folders (OST)

how-to articles - Offline Folders (OST)

how-to articles - Offline Folders (OST)

Limits to using personal folders (.pst) files over LAN and WAN links
Explains why .pst files (which store messages locally) are typically unsupported over a LAN or WAN link. To resolve this issue, you can use Exchange Server with an .ost file or Terminal Services instead. An exception in which Outlook 2010 is hosted...
You cannot add offline folder (.ost) files to Exchange Server profiles in Outlook 2007 and in Outlook 2003
Explains that Outlook does not let users add offline folder (.ost) files to their Outlook profiles when they use an Exchange Server e-mail account.
How to determine the mode that Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003 is using for offline folder files
Provides steps that you can use to determine the mailbox mode that Outlook is using for offline folder files (.ost).
How to compact the personal folders (.pst) files in Outlook
Describes how to compact the personal folders (.pst) files in Outlook to conserve space on your hard disk. You can delete unwanted items from the various .pst folders, and then compact the files to make them smaller.

Troubleshooting - Offline Folders (OST)

Troubleshooting - Offline Folders (OST)

The e-mail messages that are stored in an Offline Folder file are larger than the e-mail messages that are stored on an Exchange server
Explains that the size of an e-mail message is different depending on whether the e-mail message is in an online or offline folder. This behavior occurs because of the database structure differences between the Exchange mailbox .mdb files and Outlook...
The contents of the Public Folder Favorites folder are not removed from your offline folder files when you turn off the Download Public Folder Favorites option in Outlook
Explains that the Public Folder Favorites folder still has contents even if the Download Public Folder Favorites option is turned off in Outlook. You must manually clear the items from your local folders to work around this problem.
New messages groups may appear in an expanded view instead of in a collapsed view in a subfolder of the Inbox in Outlook 2003
Explains that new messages may be displayed in an expanded view in a subfolder instead of in the collapsed view. You use the "Arrange By Conversation" view and disable the "Always Show Unread and Flagged Messages" option to work around this problem.

More Troubleshooting...

Get Help Now

Get Help Now

Contact a support professional by E-mail, Online, or Phone

Other Support Options

Microsoft Partners: Access Unlimited Online Support

Check for Updates

Office Update

Technical Communities

Office Community

Related sites

Last Review : May 26, 2013