How information is synchronized between Outlook for Mac 2011 and Exchange Server

Office for Mac 2011 will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see these resources.

 

Applies to: Office for Mac 2011

Topic Last Modified: 2012-06-08

When Outlook for Mac 2011 connects to a server running Microsoft Exchange Server, all e-mail messages, contacts, calendar items, tasks, notes, and categories are synchronized between the computer that is running Microsoft Exchange Server and the Microsoft Exchange account in Outlook for Mac.

However, Outlook does not synchronize items in the folders under On My Computer, including the contacts that were created in the local Address Book. Because not all types of data are synchronized with the Exchange server, any complete plan for backing up data must include a provision for backing up the unsynchronized data on users' computers in addition to backing up the Exchange Server database. All Outlook database files, including the unsynchronized data, are stored in /Users/username/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 Identities/identityName/Database/ for each identity. These database files can be backed up as part of a procedure that backs up the user's home folder.

Personal and Microsoft Exchange distribution lists are not supported in Outlook for Mac. All Outlook for Mac groups are local and are not synchronized.

After you set up your Exchange account, Outlook connects with the Exchange server through the Client Access server to access your mailbox. Outlook synchronizes messages, events, contacts, tasks, notes, and categories when one or more of the following actions occur:

• An Exchange account is set up.

• Outlook connects to the Exchange server.

• A user creates or changes an Exchange item on a client computer that is connected to the Exchange server. Outlook waits one minute before it begins synchronization.

The following steps occur when Outlook synchronizes a folder:

 

Outlook synchronizes a folder

1. Outlook identifies changes to the local PIM data and the server since the last sync.

2. Outlook reflects the server changes locally by downloading new or updated items. Also, it locally deletes any items that were deleted remotely.

3. Outlook pushes the local changes to the server by creating, updating, or deleting remote items.

   Note

   All synchronization happens on a per folder basis. Outlook communicates with the Exchange server every minute to identify changes and can synchronize up to four folders at a time. Outlook pushes changes to a folder one minute after the first change was made. Outlook immediately synchronizes the Sent Items folder with the Exchange server. Also, certain public folder actions, such as creating an item or changing the public folder, are synchronized immediately.