For organizations wishing to put greater emphasis on OWA use for their employees, network connectivity has always been a concern.  “How can I read my email if the Internet is down and I only have OWA?  I need Outlook for Cached Mode.”  That is no longer true with Exchange Online.  OWA can now be put in to Offline Mode, allowing for the Inbox, Drafts and 5 other folders to be accessible even in the event of a network outage.  Offline Mode can be enabled for any user by clicking through the following setup:

1. Click Offline settings in the user settings

2. Turn on offline access and then move through the 4-step setup/verification by clicking OK

3. Step 1 is verification of that other users can see your email if they access a computer storing your offline files

4. Step 2 is information on how to handle browser requests for more storage

5. Step 3 is a “tip of the day” on how to easily access OWA in an offline state

6. Step 4 is a final confirmation

If you then go back in to your Offline settings, you’ll also find the option to dictate which 5 folders are synched alongside your Inbox and Drafts.  By default, the 5 most recently used folders will be synchronized, but you have the ability to customize this view:

And that’s it!  OWA could potentially replace Outlook as a full-featured tool many years ago, but now it can also withstand a network outage.