The Outlook 2007 remote mail feature enables you to manage your messages without downloading them from the server. With remote mail, you connect to the e-mail server, download the headers for new messages, and disconnect. You can take your time reviewing the message headers to decide which ones you want to download, which ones you want to delete without reading, and which ones can remain on the server for later. Then you can connect again and download the messages you’ve marked to retrieve, leaving the others on the server or deleting them, depending on how you marked the message headers.
Note
To learn how to work with headers using remote mail, see "Working with Message Headers" in Chapter 15.
Remote mail is useful when you have a message with a very large attachment waiting on the server, and you want to retrieve only your most critical messages without spending the time or connect charges to download the attachment. You can connect with remote mail and select the messages for downloading, leaving the one with the large attachment on the server for when you have more time or are back in the office and can download it across the network or through a broadband Internet connection.
Note
If you want to configure how Outlook 2007 handles synchronization with Cached Exchange Mode and Exchange Server 2003—and are not specifically interested in using remote mail—see the section "Configuring Cached Exchange Mode Synchronization" later in this chapter.
Remote mail is also useful when a corrupt message in your mailbox might prevent Outlook 2007 from downloading your messages. You can connect with remote mail, delete the problem message without attempting to download it, and then continue working normally.
Note
The remote mail feature, strictly defined, works only with Exchange Server accounts; but Outlook 2007 also provides features similar to remote mail for POP3, IMAP, and HTTP accounts.
Note
For details on performing selective processing for other types of accounts, see "Understanding Remote Mail Options" in Chapter 15.
Unless you are using Outlook 2007 (or 2003) in combination with Exchange Server 2007 (or Exchange Server 2003), remote mail is available with Exchange Server only when you are working offline. The commands that would otherwise enable you to download headers and work with other remote mail features are unavailable when Outlook 2007 is working in online mode. You can use remote mail with any version of Exchange Server—it does not require Exchange Server 2003. However, Outlook 2007 behaves differently with remote mail if you are connecting to Exchange Server 2007 (or Exchange Server 2003), as the next section explains.
When you are working with Outlook 2007 with an Exchange 2000 Server, the icon in the selected message header is different from those of the other messages that have already been downloaded. The icon indicates that the header has been downloaded but the message body has not. Clicking the header shows a message in the Reading Pane that the message has not yet been downloaded. Outlook 2007 does not offer a preview of the message.
When you connect to an Exchange Server 2007 (or Exchange Server 2003) mailbox, however, Outlook 2007 does provide a message preview, as shown in Figure 43-5. Outlook 2007 displays the first few lines of the message in the Reading Pane and adds a Mark This Message For Download button in the Reading Pane. You can click the button to mark the message for download. The button changes to Unmark This Message For Download when you mark the message. The marking options available when right-clicking on the message in the Inbox toggle between Mark To Download Message(s) and Unmark Select Headers.
Remote mail and offline folders fulfill two different functions. Offline folders enable you to synchronize your local offline folders with your Exchange Server mailbox, enabling you to work offline. Remote mail enables you to manage headers remotely without downloading their associated messages. You’ll probably use both at one time or another. In fact, to use remote mail, you must either use an offline folder (OST with or without Cached Exchange Mode) or configure your mail for delivery to a set of personal folders.
Note
You can achieve much the same effect with send/receive groups as you can with remote mail. For example, you can configure a send/receive group to download only message headers and not message bodies and then perform a send/receive operation on that group to retrieve the message headers. To accomplish this selective downloading for an Exchange Server account with send/receive groups, however, you must be connecting to an Exchange Server 2007 or Exchange Server 2003 account. Outlook 2007 by default downloads full items for Exchange Server 5.5 and Exchange 2000 Server accounts.
You must configure your Exchange Server account for offline use and add an offline folder file to your configuration, or you must add a PST file to the configuration and configure it as the delivery store for mail. In most cases, you probably don’t want to use a PST file to store your Exchange Server messages (which is a local e-mail store), preferring to leave the messages on the Exchange Server. For Exchange Server accounts, therefore, an offline file, either with or without Cached Exchange Mode, is the way to go.
Note
To learn how to enable Cached Exchange Mode, see "Outlook as an Exchange Server Client" in Chapter 41.
Before you can work offline, you must first synchronize the OST file with your Exchange Server mailbox. Generally, you can do so by simply connecting to the Exchange Server computer and performing a full send/receive operation.
Note
For information on configuring your Exchange Server account for offline use without Cached Exchange Mode, see the "Using Offline Folders" section earlier in this chapter.
When processing messages selectively, you first download the message headers and then decide what actions you want to perform with each message, based on its header.
Downloading message headers for an account is easy: In Outlook 2007, open the Inbox (or other mail folder) and click Tools, Send/Receive, Download Headers In This Folder. Or, if you have more than one account, you can choose Tools, Send/Receive, Microsoft Exchange Only, Download Inbox Headers.
Outlook 2007 then performs a send/receive operation but downloads only headers from the specified folder.
Note
For more information, see "Processing Headers with Send/Receive Groups" later in this chapter.
If you are working from a dial-up connection and want to save on connect charges or identify spam, you can disconnect the dial-up connection and review your messages offline to decide what action to take on each.
The icon for a message header with an associated message that has not been downloaded is the standard envelope icon, just as it is for downloaded but unread messages. However, Outlook 2007 also includes an icon in the Header Status column of the Inbox to indicate that the message has not yet been downloaded. Figure 43-5 shows examples of the icons that Outlook 2007 uses to indicate downloaded headers and messages marked for download.
You’ll find the commands for marking and unmarking messages in the Send/Receive menu (click Tools, Send/Receive). When you have finished marking messages as needed, click Tools, Send/Receive, Process Marked Headers In This Folder to process the headers only in the current folder, or choose Process All Marked Headers to process marked headers in all folders.
Note
If you need more details on working with message headers, see "Working with Message Headers" in Chapter 15.
As indicated earlier in this chapter, remote mail is available only when Outlook 2007 is working offline unless you are using Outlook 2007 in combination with Exchange Server 2007 or Exchange Server 2003. In most situations, you won’t need to use remote mail when working with a LAN connection, but remote mail can still be useful with a LAN. For example, you might have a corrupted message in your Inbox that you would like to delete.
To force remote mail for a LAN connection when you are using Cached Exchange Mode and Exchange 2000 Server or earlier, simply place Outlook 2007 in an offline state. Click the Online indicator in the status bar and choose Work Offline to place Outlook 2007 in offline mode (or click File, Work Offline). When you finish using remote mail and want to place Outlook 2007 in online mode again, click the Disconnected indicator in the status bar and choose Work Offline again to return to online status.
Follow these steps if you want Outlook 2007 to start up in an offline state:
Open the properties for the Exchange Server account in your profile and click More Settings.
On the General tab, select Manually Control Connection State; then select the Work Offline And Use Dial-Up Networking option.
Click OK, Next, Finish, OK, and then restart Outlook 2007, which will start in offline mode with remote mail features available.
Note
Alternatively, if you put Outlook into offline mode (via File, Work Offline or by selecting the option on the status bar menu), it will stay in offline mode until you deselect the Work Offline option. Even if you close Outlook 2007 and reopen it, the offline mode, once selected, persists until online mode is selected.
Instead of working with message headers manually, as explained in this chapter, you might prefer to process them automatically by configuring remote mail options in a send/receive group. This section explains how to do that.
Remote mail provides options that you can use to control how it handles the downloading of mail items. Although you can add remote mail to any send/receive group, it is good practice to set up a separate send/receive group just for remote mail. That way, you can process messages through remote mail by simply synchronizing folders with that particular send/receive group.
When you configure a send/receive group for Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange Server 2007, the process on the Outlook side is the same. To configure header processing, use the following steps:
Click Tools, Send/Receive, Send/Receive Settings, Define Send/Receive Groups.
Click New to create a new Send/Receive group or click Edit to modify an existing one.
In the Send/Receive Settings dialog box for the group, select the Exchange Server account in the Accounts list.
Click a folder in the folder list, then configure the options for the folder, choosing between the following options:
Download Headers Only. Download only the headers of the e-mail message.
Download Complete Item Including Attachment. Download the headers, the body of the e-mail message, and any attachments. This is the standard receive operation.
Download Only Headers For Items Larger Than. Download only the headers for e-mail messages that exceed the size that you specify in the drop-down list.