What Folder Is Used To Store Offline Files And Folders Managed By The Offline Files Utility?

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Content of this page:

Offline Files and Folders
- Offline Files overview
- Enabling Offline files
- Make files or folders available offline
- Offline Files for mobile users
- Treatment file conflicts

Introduction

Even with the nearly mod wireless engineering, your windows computer will sometime be disconnected from the network. Yet, all your work can continue ! A computer is considered offline when information technology is non connected to the (CERN) network. Windows has a number of features allowing for constructive use of portable computers while working offline. These features are non necessarily activated past default and are explained below.

Offline Files provides a style for mobile users to ensure that the about current versions of network files are available before disconnecting from the network, and that piece of work done offline volition be synchronized with the network when reconnecting. It is worth mentioning here that in the standard CERN Windows setup, the My Documents folder is always redirected to the user home directory. This feature is chosen �My Documents redirection�. The My Documents folder is therefore considered equally a network folder.

When users access their files sitting on servers on the network, these files are cached on the local disk. They remain usually available when the portable computer is asunder from the network. If the �Enable Web contents in folder" (Available from Tools->Folder Options in whatsoever Windows Explorer window) has been enabled, the user will be reminded that the folder is offline, as shown in the next figure.

Upon reconnection on the network, the modified files volition exist resynchronized with their copy on the servers (According to the Offline files settings available thru Tools->Synchronize->Setup in any Windows explorer window). This kind of files is called temporary offline files. They are temporary in the sense that the cached copy might be erased locally afterward use. Ordinarily files that have not been accessed recently will Not exist available while offline.

In that location is however a mechanism, chosen �permanent offline files�, which will enforce that a local copy of all files in network folders is made, assuasive for documents to be bachelor all the time, whether offline or online. This is enabled by right clicking the desired network folder (due east.thousand. My documents), and enabling the �Make available offline� menu item. You are then prompted to make the folder or the binder and its subfolder available for offline use. By enabling this feature on the My Documents folder and its subfolder, you lot can ensure to always accept a local copy of all your documents. The just caveat is that this uses local disk infinite hidden in the %SystemRoot%\CSC folder.

Offline Files overview

Using Offline Files, y'all can continue to work with network files and programs even when you are not connected to the network. If you lose your connexion to the network or undock your portable calculator, your view of shared network items that have been made available offline remains just every bit it was when you lot were connected. You tin can continue to work with them as yous normally exercise. Yous take the same admission permissions to those files and folders as you would have if yous were continued to the network. When the status of your connection changes, an Offline Files icon appears in the status area, and an informational balloon is displayed over the status surface area to notify you of the change.

When your network connection is restored or when you lot dock your portable computer, any changes that yous fabricated while working offline are updated to the network. When you and someone else on the network accept made changes to the same file, yous take the selection of saving your version of the file to the network, keeping the other version, or saving both.

Notes:

Synchronization can be initiated manually or Synchronization Manager can be set to control when offline files are synchronized with the network. Synchronization Managing director also controls whether a full or a quick synchronization is performed. A full synchronization ensures that you accept the near electric current version of every network file that has been made available offline. A quick synchronization is much faster than a full synchronization, only may not provide the most current version of every network file that has been made available offline. However, a quick synchronization does ensure that a consummate version of every file is available so that you lot can continue working.
Whatever shared files or folders on a Microsoft network can be made available offline. You can brand files available offline from whatsoever computer that supports Server Message Block-based (SMB) File and Printer Sharing, including Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT iv.0.
It is possible to ready shared folders so that either every network file you lot open in that shared folder is automatically made available offline , or just those network files you choose are fabricated available offline.
If a shortcut to a file is made bachelor offline, that file is fabricated available offline, simply if a shortcut to a folder is fabricated available offline, the contents of that binder will not be made bachelor offline.

Enabling Offline files

Your computer must be set up to apply Offline Files before you lot tin make files or folders available offline.

Open My Estimator . On the Tools menu, click Folder Options . On the Offline Files tab, make sure that the Enable Offline Files cheque box is selected. Select Synchronize all offline files before logging off to get a full synchronization. Exit information technology unselected for a quick synchronization.

Notes:

A full synchronization ensures that you lot have the most electric current versions of every network file that has been fabricated available offline. A quick synchronization ensures that y'all have consummate versions of all your offline files, though they may not necessarily be the almost current versions.
By default, the Enable Offline Files check box is selected in Windows 2000 Professional person but is cleared in Windows 2000 Server. Even if your computer is configured to use Offline Files, you must still select the network files and folders that you want to brand available offline.
To view a list of all of the network files that are available offline, on the Offline Files tab, click View Files.

Brand files or folders available offline

Shared network files or other items must be made available offline before the features of Offline Files can exist used

In My Figurer or My Network Places , right-click the shared network file or binder (or "My Documents") that you desire to make bachelor offline and select Make Available Offline (note: "Make Available Offline" will appear on the menu only if your computer was set up to use Offline Files and if the binder is located on the network).

Notes:

The starting time time y'all make an item available offline, the Offline Files wizard will guide you through the process. When the Synchronizing dialog box disappears, the item is available offline.
Individual files from a shared network folder or an entire shared network binder can exist made available offline. If an unabridged binder is fabricated available offline, whatsoever files placed in that shared folder will automatically be made available offline the adjacent time the computers are synchronized.
If a shortcut to a file is made available offline, that file is made available offline, only if a shortcut to a folder is made available offline, the contents of that folder will not be made available offline.
When the status of your network connexion changes, an Offline Files icon appears in the condition area, and an informational balloon is displayed over the status area to notify yous of the change. If the informational balloon notifies you lot that you are offline, y'all can continue to work with your files as you normally do, or you can click the Offline Files icon in the status expanse for more than information most the status of your connection.
To disengage making a file or folder available offline, correct-click the item and click Brand Bachelor Offline once again to remove the cheque mark.

The default response to disconnection from the network can be assigned, and the response can be assigned differently for each of the individual computers sharing files on the network. To do and then, Open My Computer . On the Tools menu, click Folder Options . On the Offline Files tab, click Advanced . Under "When a network connexion is lost", do one of the post-obit: Click Notify me and brainstorm working offline to receive notification of the lost connection and to continue working with offline files and folders. Click "Never let my computer to go offline" to make offline files and folders unavailable to you if you lot lose your network connectedness.

To ready private computers to respond differently from the default, click Add together. For instance, if you want to continue working offline by default but you do not want to work offline on whatever files from a item reckoner on the network, you can add together that computer's name to the exception list and select Never allow my computer to become offline every bit the behavior for that computer.

Offline Files for mobile users

If you travel ofttimes and rely on a portable computer to accomplish most of your work, Offline Files provides a mode to ensure that you are working with the most current versions of the network files and that your work will be synchronized with the network when you reconnect. Using Offline Files, you can navigate through shared folders and mapped network drives regardless of whether yous are connected to a network.

Sympathise the following points and you lot will get the virtually out of this faciity:

Before you undock/disconnect your portable computer, yous must kickoff select the shared network files or folders that you lot want to utilize when y'all are asunder from the network and make them bachelor offline.
Second, you should ready Synchronization Manager to reverberate the way y'all want your portable calculator to synchronize your files when you log on and off the network.
Once y'all have completed the previous tasks, you can undock/disconnect your portable computer and begin working offline.
While working offline, you tin all the same browse network drives and shared folders in My Figurer or My Network Places. You will be able to come across only those files that yous made available offline and any files that yous created afterwards the network connection was lost. A red X appears over whatever disconnected network drives. Your permissions on the network files and folders remain the aforementioned whether you are connected to the network or working offline.

Treatment file conflicts

Then, when you are finished working offline and dock your portable computer again, you must also synchronize your files again. Synchronizing your files updates the network files with changes that you fabricated while working offline. By having Synchronization Manager automatically synchronize your files when you lot log on, y'all ensure that your latest changes to the files are reflected on the network and that whatsoever file conflicts are handled properly.

When yous synchronize files, the files that you opened or updated while disconnected from the network are compared to the versions of the files that are saved on the network. Every bit long as the aforementioned files yous changed haven't been changed by someone else while yous were offline, your changes are copied to the network.

If someone else fabricated changes to the same network file that y'all updated offline, you are given a option of keeping your version, keeping the one on the network, or keeping both. To salve both versions of the file, give your version a different file name, and both files will appear in both locations.

If yous delete a network file on your reckoner while working offline but someone else on the network makes changes to that file, the file is deleted from your reckoner but not from the network. If you alter a network file while working offline just someone else on the network deletes that file, y'all can choose to save your version onto the network or delete it from your figurer. If you lot are disconnected from the network when a new file is added to a shared network binder that you lot have made bachelor offline, that new file will be added to your estimator when yous reconnect and synchronize