Outlook on two computers - how to avoid duplicate messages

[Alpha]

Hi,

I want to set up Outlook on my laptop for working away from home with
my POP account.

To do this, I set both my laptop and desktop with "leave messages on
server". My idea was to copy the PST file from my desktop to my laptop
every time I'm going away, and later copy it back when I'm back home.
I keep all my received as well as sent mail for reference, so that's
why I want to copy the PST back and forth.

The problem is that when I copy the PST to the laptop, it does not
"remember" it has downloaded all those 1000's of messages that are in
the PST file - it starts downloading them again! I thought the
information about which messages were previously downloaded is saved
in the PST, but apparently this is not the case.

my question is, where does Outlook stores the information about which
messages on the server are "old" and which are "new"? if it is some
file that I can copy along with the PST back and forth, this would
solve my problem.

If not, does someone has an alternative in mind? I'm sure my scenario
is fairly common...
I also like the flexibility of reading my mail with a web-mail
interface from time to time, on any PC (not just my laptop) - so I
don't prefer options that involve not leaving copies of the emails on
server at all.

Thanks!

Guy.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

If not, does someone has an alternative in mind? I'm sure my scenario
is fairly common...

Honestly, I would ask your ISP if they offer IMAP service instead of POP.
That'd give you everything you want. The data would be stored at the server
rather than on your local machine, you could have multiple folders and do
whatever you want, and it should be just perfect.

 

[Brian Tillman]

To do this, I set both my laptop and desktop with "leave messages on
server". My idea was to copy the PST file from my desktop to my laptop
every time I'm going away, and later copy it back when I'm back home.
I keep all my received as well as sent mail for reference, so that's
why I want to copy the PST back and forth.

The problem is that when I copy the PST to the laptop, it does not
"remember" it has downloaded all those 1000's of messages that are in
the PST file - it starts downloading them again! I thought the
information about which messages were previously downloaded is saved
in the PST, but apparently this is not the case.

It's stored in the Registry.

There are a couple of ways to address it when using POP accounts. What I'd
do is to create a new PST, make it the delivery location, let it download
all the messages, then switch the delivery location back to the PST you
transferred. From then on, it should download only new messages.