Work offline in Outlook - Microsoft Support (2024)

Note:If the steps under this New Outlook tab don't work, you may notbe using new Outlook for Windows yet. Select the Classic Outlooktab and follow those steps instead.

Offline access in the new Outlook for Windows

You can use the new Outlook for Windows even when you’re not connected to the internet by enabling offline access. When turned on, the new Outlook for Windows saves a copy of your emails, calendar events, and people (previously contacts) to your device, providing access to these items when you're offline and improved performance when you're online.

Your offline settings determine which items are saved to your device and for how long. To set these, see the section belowUpdate offline settings. When you’re back online, new Outlook for Windows automatically updates the items that were saved to your device.

Note:For an enterprise user the People app can include company profile information in addition to any details you add or edit for each contact.

What to know before you go offline

You currently need a connection to the internet to open or restart new Outlook. Offline access described in this article is only supported when the app is already running and then goes offline. Opening and restarting the app while offline is planned and will be available in a future update.

What can I do when I’m offline?

Most actions you perform online are also available when you’re offline. These include, but aren’t limited to:

If you try to do something that’s not available offline, you'll get an error message, or the changes you made will revert back to what was previously saved.

Tip:For a list of what isn't available currently while offline, see the section belowUpcoming for offline access.

Update offline settings

Update these settings to choose which folders to save and how many days of items to save. If you have more than one account, select the account you want the settings to apply to:

Select which folders to save locally:

1. Select Settings > General > Offline > Folders to save.

2. From the dropdown, selectDefault (Inbox, sent, drafts, archive, deletedand snoozed), Default and favorites (this is set by default), or Default, favorites, and recently used.

Select the number of days to save emails locally:

1. Select Settings > General > Offline > Days of email to save.

2. From the dropdown, select 7 (this is the default value), 30, 90, or 180 days of email to save.

Important:Depending on how much space is available on your device, if your items don’t have enough local storage to save based on your settings, fewer items will be saved, or offline access may be disabled.

Turn offline access on or off

Offline is turned on by default in new Outlook for Windows. To turn it off or on, do the following:

1. Select Settings > General > Offline.

2. Select the toggle Enable offline email, calendar, and people to turn offline access on or off.

3. Select Save.

What else do I need to know?

The following aren’t currently available offline, but we plan to include in future updates:

• Create, delete, and move folders

• Reply to and forward emails

• RSVP to meeting invitations

• Search for items

• Sort and filter emails

• View and add attachments and images

• View and update settings for notifications, signatures, and calendars

• View shared and delegated mailboxes

Other capabilities that aren’t available when offline:

• View email and calendar groups

• View favorited people, categories, and search folders

• Create, update, and delete calendar events and people (previously contacts)

• View entire global address list

How do you know when you're working offline or online in Outlook? There are visual cues, starting with the status bar at the bottom of your Outlook window. If either of the following status indicators are shown, it means Outlook isn’t connected to your mail server.

or

You can’t send or receive email until you reconnect.

Status: Working Offline

Working offline usually is a choice. Returning to an online work mode is a simple process.

• In Outlook, on the Send/Receive tab, choose Work Offline to reconnect.

  

Status: Disconnected

There can be different reasons why you're disconnected from Outlook. What follows are just a few examples of some of the possible reasons.

• If your Internet connection is working, there might be a problem with the mail server.

• If you can log onto your email from a website—for example, http://outlook.com—check to see whether you can receive and send email that way. If email isn’t working on the website, call your technical support for your email service provider for help.

• If you can send and receive mail on the website, then your mail server is fine. But your computer might need updates or there might be a problem with your account settings.