As part of your Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2003 deployment, you can define Send/Receive groups for Microsoft Exchange Server accounts and folders and specify the tasks that are performed on each group during a Send/Receive action in Outlook.

Send/Receive groups contain one or more user e-mail accounts or folders in Microsoft Outlook. (The Send/Receive group All Accounts is preconfigured and included with Outlook by default.) Users can specify different behaviors for each group, such as the frequency with which Outlook connects to the server to send and receive messages for it, or how messages are processed when Outlook is online or offline.

New to Outlook 2003 is the ability for administrators to configure Send/Receive settings for Exchange accounts. Administrators can configure the types of synchronization that will be performed on specific folders or the Offline Address Book (OAB) when a Send/Receive operation is executed. They can also specify when a Send/Receive action for each Send/Receive group will be performed normally and when users are offline. For example, a Send/Receive group can be configured to be synchronized every 10 minutes normally and every 30 minutes when users are offline.

You can also configure download options for the OAB, such as whether to download only updates to the OAB since the last OAB download.

Defining custom Send/Receive groups

You can define one or more custom Send/Receive groups for your organization that include the accounts and folders you want to be synchronized for users under different circumstances.

For example, you might define a new Send/Receive group to deploy to your users for offline synchronization and modify the default All Accounts group to not be scheduled for automatic synchronization when users are offline. The new offline Send/Receive group would include a subset of users accounts and folders configured to be automatically updated at certain intervals when users are working offline. By configuring only critical accounts and folders to update when users are working remotely, users can still access current data that is important to their work but spend less time waiting for large downloads over slow dial-up lines.

 Note    Using Cached Exchange Mode in Outlook 2003 improves the user experience when working remotely over a low-bandwidth connection. For more information about deploying this new feature, see Setting Up Outlook 2003 Cached Exchange Mode Accounts.

To create a new Send/Receive group for Exchange accounts and folders

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Specify Send/Receive Groups (Exchange Only) page, click New.
2. In the New Group Name box, enter a name for the group and click OK.
3. Click Modify.
4. In the Modify Group dialog box, select options for the group, such as synchronizing forms during a Send/Receive action.
5. In the Change folder options section, select a folder, and then select Include this folder in Send/Receive.
6. Choose download options for the folder (an option only relevant for folders that have the concept of “headers,” such as Inbox, Outbox, Deleted Items, Sent Items, and Drafts):
   • Download only headers
   • Download complete item including attachments
   • Download only headers for items larger than n KB

     Enter a size limit in kilobytes (KB). This setting only applies for accounts set up to use Exchange Server 2003 or later versions of Exchange Server.

7. Click another folder to include the folder in this Send/Receive group, and choose a download option.
8. When you have added all the folders that you want to include in this group, click OK.

Configuring Send/Receive settings for a Send/Receive group

After creating a custom Send/Receive group, you might want to specify certain Send/Receive behavior for the group — for example, to execute a Send/Receive action for this group every 10 minutes. You can also specify separate settings for how Send/Receive works when users are offline.

To specify Send/Receive settings for a Send/Receive group

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Specify Send/Receive Groups (Exchange Only) page, click a group in the Group Name list.
2. Specify any of the options available in this dialog box.

Configuring Offline Address Book download options

In addition to configuring Send/Receive behavior for each Send/Receive group, you can also specify whether or not to download the Offline Address Book (OAB) for each group. If you have a Send/Receive group designed for users who work offline and connect periodically over slow connections, for example, you might choose to configure the OAB not to be downloaded.

 Note    The Offline Address Book options (the Full Details or No Details OABs, and synchronization choices) apply to a specific profile; they cannot be specified differently for different Send/Receive Groups.

When deciding whether to download the Full Details OAB or a No Details OAB, consider factors such as the following:

• If you plan to deploy Cached Exchange Mode, a Full Details OAB will be required. If a No Details OAB is already on a user's computer, it is overwritten when Outlook creates a Full Details OAB for Cached Exchange Mode. For more information, see Setting Up Outlook 2003 Cached Exchange Mode Accounts.
• You cannot configure the information that is included in a No Details OAB.

To specify Offline Address Book download options for a Send/Receive group

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Specify Send/Receive Groups (Exchange Only) page, click a group in the Group Name list.
2. In the Exchange Address Book section, select Download offline address book to synchronize the OAB when this Send/Receive group is synchronized. This setting is configured for each Send/Receive group.
3. Click Address Book Settings.
4. Specify any of the options available in Modify Address Book Settings dialog box. These settings apply to all Send/Receive groups in this profile.
5. Click OK.