Offline Folders disaster

We have a client who just turned off their offline folders and now all of the docs he has been working on for the last week are gone. If i re-enable the offline folders will these folders come back? Where does windows store the offline files and folders.
I would appreciate any help on the matter.

Thanks

 

Hi,
Scope out the article by Microsoft: OL2000: (CW) How to Recover Offline Folder Information

and see if that particular information is helpful...Keep us posted

 

Thanks, however that article referd to an Outlook issue, but i am having issues with actual files and folders. (.doc, .xls, etc)

 

This is an XP Pro SP2 machine. When it does sync, it syncs with files on a 2k3 server SMB.

 

Until someone can pin-point the problem more directly, the most I can do is the process of elimination and that's why I am sending some material for you to read...In the mean time I also will read such and maybe together we can narrow it down ..So please bare with me if you can and I will do my best to assist you


Offline Folders

Offline Folders allow laptop and mobile users to take the contents of specific network drives with them as they travel (provided they have enough disk space). Although this feature can be very useful, there are a few pitfalls that need to be taken in consideration before enabling this feature on your network.

Where to Start...

Offline Folders
A quick primer on Offline Folders from Windows 2000 Magazine
HOW TO: Implement Share Caching Options in Windows 2000
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 214738 - Windows 2000 includes a feature called "Offline Files." You can use Offline Files to cache files that you commonly use from a file share. There are three different share caching modes:



Troubleshooting Offline Folders: Known Bugs and Issues
Cannot Make NetWare Server Folders Available Offline
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 227993 - When you select a folder on the network that is located on a Windows-based computer, the Make Available Offline command appears on the File menu in Windows Explorer. However, when you select a folder on the network that is located on a NetWare Server

Contents of the Offline Files Folder Do Not Maintain Compression on NTFS Partitions
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 227332 - Manually compressing the Offline Files cache\database (the %SystemRoot%\CSC folder) works, and files currently stored in the cache are compressed, but newly cached files are not stored in compressed format and previously compressed files become uncompressed after synchronization.

CSC Does Not Synchronize Files But Reports That Synchronization Was Successful
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 257839 - Users may experience a problem when they attempt to synchronize changes made to files while working offline. Synchronization Manager reports that the synchronization finished successfully, but the files on the server do not reflect the changes made. If a user views the files in the Offline Files Folder on the workstation, the files no longer reflect the changes. The Synchronization Manager icon on the taskbar continues to report that changes made while offline have not been synchronized. If the user goes offline, the changes made to the files reappear when viewed from the Offline Files Folder.

Data May Be Damaged When You Use Offline Folders
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 273245 - When you use offline folders, a null value may be placed in the file instead of the correct character.

Error Message When You Save Files to an Offline Folder
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 303339 - When you save a new file in an offline folder (with client-side caching), you may receive the following error message: An error occurred while reconnecting (drive letter) to \\ computer name \\ share name Microsoft Windows Network: The local device name is already in use. This connection has not been restored. Note that the file is saved and this error message is incorrect

Files or Folders May Not Appear in Offline Mode
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 226446 - When you view or use a folder that has been made available offline while it is in Offline mode, some or all of the files or folders it contains may be missing. However, all of the files and folders appear when the folder is online.

How to Restart the Offline Files Cache/Database
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 230738 - The Offline Files (CSC or Client Side Caching) cache and database has a built-in capability to restart if its contents are suspected of being corrupt.

Offline File Synchronization Does Not Distinguish Between Different LANs
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 231468 - When you are using client-side caching and attempting to synchronize offline data, you may receive the following error message:

Policy Based Offline Files May Not Be Available Offline
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 296068 - When you log on to your Windows 2000-based computer while it is disconnected from the network, some or all of your offline files may be missing or unavailable.

Security Permissions Are Not Maintained When Making Files Available Offline on a FAT or FAT32 Drive
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 271830 - When you use Windows 2000, you can define access controls for a file on a network share, which make the file available for use on a client computer when the client is not connected to the local area network where the file is maintained.

Synchronizing Offline Folders Does Not Synchronize Subfolders
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 262090 - In Windows 2000, Offline Files does not automatically synchronize subfolders by default.

Transition of Offline Files to Online Only Occurs Over Fast Link
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 263097 - Offline files can be utilized by mobile users to appear as though a connection to the network is still present. Files are cached on the disconnected remote computer until connectivity to the network is available. If the user loses a connection to the network, or the mobile computer is not connected, the view of shared network items that have been made available offline remains just as if the computer is still connected. Offline files continue to perform as offline even if connected to the network over a slow connection (link).


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Thanks, im reading

 

Hi,
This is about the best I can do...You may already be familiar with the last reading material I sent and the enclosed info may be more helpful than the previous...Good luck...

Synchronization error folders Help
Assistance > Outlook 2003 > Finding and Managing Items > Filtering Items

Show All
Hide All
The synchronization issues folders appear in the Navigation Pane (Navigation Pane: The column on the left side of the Outlook window that includes panes such as Shortcuts or Mail and the shortcuts or folders within each pane. Click a folder to show the items in the folder.) when you view the Folder List (Folder List: Displays the folders available in your mailbox. To view subfolders, click the plus sign (+) next to the folder. If the Folder List is not visible, on the Go menu, click Folder List.).

How?

On the Go menu, click Folder List.

The synchronization issues folders contain logs and items that Microsoft Outlook has been unable to synchronize with your Microsoft Exchange Server.

The following describes the four folders and the items you may find in each folder:

Sync Issues Contains all of the synchronization logs. In previous releases of Microsoft Outlook, these logs were stored in the Deleted Items folder. This folder is helpful if Outlook is having trouble synchronizing— for example, there is an item that you see in Outlook Web Access, but not in Outlook— or you are not getting new mail in some folders when using Cached Exchange Mode.

The information in this folder may help your organization's support team or Microsoft Exchange server administrator determine what is wrong. The contents of the Sync Issues folder are not copied to your server, and you cannot view the items in the Sync Issues folder from any other computer.

Conflicts Contains all the multiple copies of conflicting items in your mailbox. An InfoBar (InfoBar: Banner near the top of an open e-mail message, appointment, contact, or task. Tells you if a message has been replied to or forwarded, along with the online status of a contact who is using Instant Messaging, and so on.) at the top of the original item advises you that a conflict for this item exists. The conflicting item is stored in the Conflicts folder. Clicking the InfoBar will bring up a list of conflicting items and allow you to resolve the conflict by determining which item you want to keep.

If you have made changes to an item, but are not seeing the updated item in your Navigation Pane folders, check the Conflicts folder. It is possible that your changes caused a conflict with the original item, and the changes will exist in the Conflicts folder.

Local Failures Contains all items that could not be sent to your server. If you have made changes to items while working offline, and then notice that your changes are not appearing in another Outlook client or Outlook Web Access, you should check this folder.

The local changes may be permanently stuck in your Local Failures folder. An InfoBar appears at the top of any item that has another copy of the item stored in the Local Failures folder. Clicking the InfoBar opens the Local Failures folder for you in a separate window. You can only see these items when you are offline and you cannot view them from any other computer.

Server Failures Contains items that Outlook failed to synchronize from the Exchange server. When Outlook cannot synchronize the item from the server, it moves it from its original folder location into the Server Failures folder. The contents of this folder are available only when you have a connection to your server.

If you are missing a message that has been sent to you, and you have verified with the sender that the message was sent, check this folder. Items normally appear in this folder only when there are failures in synchronizing server items with an Offline Folder file (.ost) (Offline Folder file: The file on your hard disk that contains offline folders. The offline folder file has an .ost extension. You can create it automatically when you set up Outlook or when you first make a folder available offline.), which is used when you work offline or use Cached Exchange Mode. An InfoBar appears at the top of any item that has another copy of the item stored in the Server Failures folder. Clicking the InfoBar will open the Server Failures folder for you in a separate window.

Note If you use the Offline Folder file (.ost) (Offline Folder file: The file on your hard disk that contains offline folders. The offline folder file has an .ost extension. You can create it automatically when you set up Outlook or when you first make a folder available offline.) Integrity Check tool (Scanost.exe) to fix synchronization errors, the scan logs that are generated can be found in Deleted Items.



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I need files and folders restored, not anything in Outlook.

 

Hi,
Sorry about that, for some reason I over looked your mentioning of it not being an Outlook problem...I beleive I was concentrating more of the issue was an Offline file/folder sync problem and did not notice the previous reading material refrencing Outlook...Can you post back at your convience and let us know if the last reading material I sent was helpful or not...thanks

 

I need to know where the files are stored, is it in a DB, or a temp files folder. Do the files become deleted when you disable the offline folder?

 

Hi,
I am not so sure when they are deleted from offline that they are permanently gone but for starters I would check the temp bin and recycle bin as well...Almost everything I have researched refers to Outlook...I will check back this evening and hopefully in the mean time you will have posted back on your findings...

 

I have not found the files yet, but i am still looking into temp folders and such

 

Hi,
Thanks for posting back...One of the challenges I have been up against with this is, learning and understanding the set up...From there I have been trying to figure out how such files/folders can become amongst the missing...I have found several sources about it but so far no luck on how to recover such...It does seem bizzare that for no reason they disappear...I will continue to see what I can find out and keep you posted...While I do so, can you recall if any programs like Norton Internet Security got deleted and then the problem was discovered or what ??? Providing you had such...The reason I am asking is, when things like Norton Internet Security is installed and then removed, certain files it was protecting face the possibility of also being removed...

 

Hi,
I'm not doubting the possibility of the files/folders are missing but to make sure a setting did not get changed, can you please check the following:
(1) Open "My Computer "
(2) Click on "Tools "
(3) Click on "Folder Options "
(4) Click on "Offline files "
(5) Make sure the "first 5 little white boxes" have check marks in them

Thank you...

 

will do , thanks