By: Michele L. Deo, MCSE, CUSE

 

 

 Microsoft Exchange Recovery Types - Offline Storage

 

 

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As Microsoft Exchange 2000 Administrators, you must be prepared for all aspects of a user making a mistake somewhere and accidentally deleting and/or blowing away their mail data. Besides the Deleted item retention that I mentioned before, many traveling users have setup their Outlook clients to store their MS Exchange data locally on their systems, otherwise known as an .OST file.

 

When MS Outlook is configured for Offline use, this .OST file is created and the mail items are synchronized with the mail store on the server so that when the user is not connected to the network, the user can read and deal with their new mail.  If the user accidentally deletes the items on the Exchange server, they can either use the deleted items retention method or they may still have a current offline copy of the item on their local machine.  The user can import the local copy back to the server if need be, as long as the user doesn't connect to the network before doing the following steps:

Overview of the steps that need to happen:

• Export the Mail Item
• Import the Mail item

Export the Mail Item:

1.  Verify that the local computer is disconnected from the network (whether you dial in and/or connect up to the computer, do not connect until you are done with this step).
2.  Double-click on the Outlook icon located on your desktop.
3.  When prompted, select "Work Offline"
4.  Select File, and then Import and Export
5.  The Import and Export Wizard then guides you through the process.
6.  Select the Export to a file option
7.  From the Export to a file dialog, select Personal Folder File (.pst) and click Next
8.  Highlight the top level folder that you wish to export, and check the Include subfolders option, click next
9.  The default file is labeled backup.pst and the default location for this file is c:\documents and settings\%username%\local settings\application data\Microsoft\Outlook, change it if you need to.  Select ok
10. Leave the default options which should be Replace duplicates with items exported and then click finish.
11. Click OK to go back to the summary page, and do not change any encryption or password settings.

Log back into the network whether it's dialing up or reconnecting the network jack to your system.

Import the Mail Item:

1.  Click on the Outlook icon on your desktop and connect to the Exchange server when prompted
2.  Select from the File menu, Import and Export
3.  Follow the wizard like you did before, but this time you'll be selecting the Import from another program or file and click Next
4.  Select Personal Folder File (.pst) and then click Next
5.  Select the location of where you stored the exported file, unless you used the default location which is c:\documents and settings\%username%\local settings\application data\Microsoft\Outlook.
6.  Leave all the default options and click Next
7.  Leave the default items selected and verify that the items are being imported into the users mailbox.
8.  Click finish when done.  The items will now appear in the user's mailbox.

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