Outlook Assistance required

[Scotty]

I have a network accessible storage device, plus a desktop and a couple of laptops. It seems quite easy to set this up so that the outlook.pst file is on the NAS box and the Outlook clients on each PC point to it. In fact it is easy and it's been working.

However I've been playing with SynchToy (a Microsoft power toy that syncs folders) and I thought I'd keep a copy on both desktop and NAS as a live(ish) back up.

However although the outlook.pst on the NAS box is being used by Outlook (date last modified confirms this as does the fact this is where the outlook.tmp.pst appears) there's also still an outlook.pst file on my C drive in Documents & Settings/<username>/Local Settings/Application Data/Microsoft/Outlook which also appears to be modified when ever I use Outlook.

Help! I want to sync the correct file and not get it all mixed up and any files lost.

[shark_90]

I think you're overcomplicating things here. You should never try to sync an open file for a start, and you could really confuse things and end up with some file corruption that you can't recover from if you're not careful.

My suggestion is to store the PST on the NAS if you want to, and set up an NTBackup (Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools) to backup your PST file to another location.

I personally think you're playing with fire by opening a PST on more than one computer and delivering mail to it. If it were an offline PST then no problem, but certainly not if you're delivering mail to it.

[Scotty]

There's no intention to synch when open or to use by more than one client at a time.

The SynchToy app suits my needs better than Backup.

I just don't get why I've got a Outlook.pst on the c drive when it's the remote one being used.

[Sparky]

The local one will have been created by Outlook and is probably opened each time - however it won't be used. Delete it and it will most likely re-create it, or say it can't find it and let go of it.

Check the file sizes of them. I bet they are quite different!

[drpellypo]

Yip - Outlook will create a local copy. This is done when you select yes to autoarchive amongst other things. Check your clients, make sure autoarchive, if switched on, is pointing to the right place. If you don't use it, turn it off.

[Scotty]

Thanks guys.

I'll have a hack about when I get home.