Hi

We are having an issue on our network at the moment with 3 of our users. We run Exchange 2010 with all updates applied, and Office 2010 Standard 32 bit with all updates. Client PCs all run Windows 7 Professional x64 with all updates applied. The 3 users all have their own logins and are on seperate PCs. They all have access to a shared mailbox. On one of the PCs, the user has got Cached mode disabled in Outlook. This is due to the user not going off site. The other 2 PCs have Cached mode enabled, as they both travel and need access to the contents of the shared folder when away from the office.

One of the users creates a new folder in the shared mailbox. The new folder shows up fine on all 3 PCs pretty much instantly. They can rename it and this shows up instantly on all 3 machines. However, we get some problems if the folder is moved. It shows up fine in its new location on the Non Cached PC. On the Cached mode machines, it disappears from the source folder but does not appear in the destination folder. This happens regardless of which of the 3 users moves the folder. If a user on one of the cached mode machines tries to create a folder using the same name inthe destination folder, they get an alert saying a folder already exists with the same name. This is correct, but they are unable to see this folder. If these users log in to OWA and open the shared mailbox, it appears fine. The changes seem to syncronize very slowly, and it can take anywhere between an hour and a couple of days for the folder to appear in its new location on the Cached mode machines.

I have tried several things to try and track down the problem. I have rebuild the machines, and tried it with only Office on there. This made no difference. The shared folder seems to sync up initially, but further updates seem reluctant to come through. I have tried rebuilding user profiles and outlook profiles, this made no difference. I have even tried with different users, and if they use cached mode, they also seem to be afflicted with the same issue. The only thing that seems to solve it is to use Non Cached mode, but this is not an option due to the amount of off site work the users do. I have tried more or less everything I can thing of and got nowhere.

Is this something that anyone has come across before, and has anyone come across a solution for the issue? Please let me know if clarification is needed on any of the points above.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,
The users with Cached Mode, do they have "Download Shared Folders" enabled in the Outlook Profile? (=Default setting)
If that is the case, then uncheck that setting and see if that helps.

 

Hi Martina

Yes, the affected users do have this option selected. When I remove this, it shows up correctly. As the users affected need to view the folders when off of the network, am I correct in thinking that this option needs to be ticked?

Thanks

Iain

Hi Iain,
Personally I think that is a setting that creates more problem than it solved and I always suggest to my customers to turn it off.

Since the users is using Outlook 2010, a better solution for them could be to create a new Exchange Account into their existing Outlook Profile. That way, the Shared Mailboxes will have its own OST-file.

Hi Martina

I am very much of the same opinion.

I have created a new Exchange account under the same user profile. I have set it touse a different ost file, with a unique name. When I open Outlook it seems to look happy, but it does not cache the new Exchange account. I have the Cached mode option selected for the account, but the OST does not seem to be populating. Do I need to do something additional to get this working? I know that Exchange will automatically open any additional mailboxes to which the logged on user has full permissions. Could this be clashing?

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Iain

Hi,
Yes, AutoMapping can be the problem so remove this users from the attribute msExchDelegateListLink on the Shared Mailbox.

Hi Martina

Sorry for not replying sooner. Thank you very much for that screenshot, pinpointed. I have tried this out on a couple of test machines and this seems to fix the issue. I am getting in contact with the affected users to try it on their machines, hopefully it will work fine on there. I will post back the results as they come in.

Thank you for your advice on this.

Iain

Hi Martha,

Can you clarify what should be set in this window?  Should a user be listed in the ListLink or should it be empty?

I am have experienced the same syncing issues and would like some clarification about this resolution.

Thanks, p