Using Offline Files in Windows XP Professional

Offline files and folders allow you to store the contents of your personal network share (M:\) on your notebook. You don’t have to ‘offline’ the entire share, you can select specific documents, spreadsheets, or folders to use when you are not connected to the network. This is a great feature for those that travel with a laptop, or users wishing to occasionally work from home. Users can work with documents while disconnected from the network in the same manner they do when they're connected.

When the user connects the laptop back to the network, the files that have changed on the laptop are automatically synchronized so that the files in the network share (M) are up-to-date.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that certain steps be in place before you can use this Online feature with your notebook.

1. You need to read through this documentation and then enable Offline Folders using Windows Explorer. *Don’t select your files and folder for Offline access until you’ve called the Help Desk.
2. Contact the Help Desk at x2309 and request that they configure your laptop for Offline files and folders. *SEE NOTE

*NOTE: The hard drive in a desktop or laptop is commonly labeled the “C” Drive. Windows XP, by default will store your Offline folders on your C:\ drive. When notebooks and laptops are purchased and prepared for UW - Green Bay users, CIT divides the hard drive on the laptop into 2 partitions. The first section (the C drive) is used for system files and configuration settings. It is important that you NOT save files or install software to your C drive. The second section (D drive) is very large and this is the partition your files and folders should be stored to. If your laptop is not configured properly you will run the risk of filling this small partition and causing corruption to the system files and configuration settings on that drive.

Configuring Offline Files in Windows XP Professional

Three steps are involved in setting up your computer to use Offline Files:

1. Enable the Offline Files feature.
2. Configure Offline Files settings to control disconnection response.
3. Make one or more files or folders available offline.

1. ENABLING OFFLINE FILES

Before you can make any content available offline, you must enable the use of Offline Files on your computer.

• Open My Computer or Window Explorer
• From the menu select the Tools, Folder Options.
• Select the Offline Files tab.
• Check the box to Enable Offline Files.
  
  

2. CONFIGURE OFFLINE FILES SETTINGS

This page is also used to configure Offline Files settings, you can also specify:

• Reminders , which will cause a notification balloon to appear over the system tray when a computer goes offline.
• Whether a shortcut icon for the Offline Files folder should be created on the desktop. (recommended)
• Whether to encrypt offline files as an extra security precaution for the user who has sensitive data on his or her hard drive.
• The amount of disk space allocated for storing offline files.

Other Settings:

• Delete Files : Use this button to remove selected offline files from the local computer. (Versions on the network will not be deleted.)
• View Files : Use this to view the contents of the Offline Files folder, which shows all files that have been made available offline, along with their type, synchronization information, availability, access, location, size in kilobytes, when last modified, and the status of the server.
• Advanced: With this, you can choose what will happen if you’re working online (connected to the network) and the connection is lost. Your choices are to have the system notify you that you’re offline and allow you to continue working with network resources offline or to never allow the computer to go offline. (most users select the first choice – continue working offline)

3. MAKING FILES AND FOLDERS AVAILABLE OFFLINE

To select a file or folder for availability Offline simply navigate to the share (M: drive), highlight the files or folders names, then right-click the file or folder, and choose Make Available Offline. When you make files available offline, they are displayed in the "Shortcut to Offline Files" folder.

1. Because we use roaming profiles here at UW - Green Bay, we also suggest that you enable M:\Settings\Desktop to be available offline. This will eliminate problems we’ve seen where Desktop icons have disappeared when initially logging into the network again.
2. Once you’ve selected a file or folder to be available offline the Offline Files Wizard will step you through the process of configuring how the files from your offline and the network are synchronized.

We recommend that you match the settings in the following images:

NOTE for Database Users: The synchronization manager will refuse to allow you to make database files (*.slm, *.ldb, *.mdw, *.mde, *.db?, *.mdb or *.pst) available offline.

The files and folders that you have selected appear with a small symbol (similar to a shortcut). Notice that if you select a folder that Offline availability will include all subfolders and files within the folder you selected.

Some users create a separate folder on the network for folders and files they always want available offline and then create their own subfolders/data structure within this folder.

WORKING OFFLINE – MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

If the Offline Files feature is configured to display a balloon notification when the network connection is broken, the user will see an Offline Files icon appear in the status area to the right of the taskbar buttons on the Windows XP taskbar.

Sychronization is Automatic . When the network connection is restored (for example, when you plug your laptop back into the docking station or plug a live Ethernet cable into its PC Card NIC), the status-bar information will change, and modifications that you have made to offline files since the disconnection will be updated to the network files automatically.

* To manually synchronize an individual file or folder :

• Select the file and\or folder navigate to the file using Windows Explorer or My Computer
• Right-click on the file or folder and select Synchronize.

UNDERSTANDING AND RESOLVING FILE CONFLICTS

A conflict in Offline Files occurs when you mark a file for offline usage, take the file home on a laptop computer, make changes to the file, return to work and reconnect to the office network, and find that you’ve also made changes to the network copy. When this occurs, you are prompted to make a decision regarding what version of the file to save:

• Keep Your Version Of The File
• Keep The Version On The Network
• Keep Both Versions

If you elect to keep both versions, you’ll need to give your version a different name. Both versions will be saved to your local disk and the network server.