Remote Mail / Offline Folders - getting the best of both worlds

[Mark Alexander Bertenshaw]

Hi -

I have a user who normally uses her laptop in the Office, connected to our
Exchange Server. However, she has expressed a wish to be able to use her
ISP account whilst she is away for the next few weeks - her email being
redirected from the Exchange Server to her ISP in the mean time. She also
would like to have all her emails contacts & calendar available to her
whilst being away. I have created an off-line folder and a remote mail
connection.

But, I want the best of both worlds:

Mode #1: Office - Use Exchange online folders as normal, don't use ISP
mails.
Mode #2: Away - Use offline folders, ensure ISP mail gets put in Inbox, and
ensure Outbox mail gets sent to ISP when Send/Receive is pressed.

Ideally, any new emails in the Inbox would be replicated back to Exchange
after getting back to the office.

Unfortunately, when pressing Send/Receive, it only seems to try to get mail
from our server, not the ISP. Reading the help file, I get the impression
that Remote Mail is not meant to be used with Offline Folders.

Thanks,

 

[Mark Alexander Bertenshaw]

Apologies - this is an Outlook 2000 installation.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Hi -

I have a user who normally uses her laptop in the Office, connected
to our Exchange Server. However, she has expressed a wish to be able
to use her ISP account whilst she is away for the next few weeks -
her email being redirected from the Exchange Server to her ISP in the
mean time. She also would like to have all her emails contacts &
calendar available to her whilst being away. I have created an
off-line folder and a remote mail connection.

But, I want the best of both worlds:

Mode #1: Office - Use Exchange online folders as normal, don't use ISP
mails.

Mode #2: Away - Use offline folders, ensure ISP mail gets put in
Inbox, and ensure Outbox mail gets sent to ISP when Send/Receive is
pressed.

Ideally, any new emails in the Inbox would be replicated back to
Exchange after getting back to the office.

Unfortunately, when pressing Send/Receive, it only seems to try to
get mail from our server, not the ISP. Reading the help file, I get
the impression that Remote Mail is not meant to be used with Offline
Folders.

Better ideas:
A) Use OWA
B) Set up VPN for her to use Outlook & check only the Exchange server (no
forward to ISP necessary then) and sync to an OST file
C) Set up RAS if VPN isn't an option, and use B)

 

[Mark Alexander Bertenshaw]

Better ideas:
A) Use OWA
B) Set up VPN for her to use Outlook & check only the Exchange server (no
forward to ISP necessary then) and sync to an OST file
C) Set up RAS if VPN isn't an option, and use B)

I rather rather hoping to avoid VPN if at all possible! But I can see the
advantages.

Thanks,

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I rather rather hoping to avoid VPN if at all possible! But I can
see the advantages.

Yes, it's very good stuff - I personally use it all the time for clients. I
prefer to use VPN via a firewall appliance rather than Windows VPN - I like
Sonicwalls for this although there are plenty of others.