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.