WhenWhen a user configures a Microsoft Exchange mailbox account in MS Outlook, an OST file is automatically generated with the .ost extension. This .ost file, commonly referred to as an Offline folder, enables users to access their Exchange emails even when there is no network connection with the server or when it is unavailable.
At times, when the network connection transitions from being unavailable to accessible, the server may encounter difficulties in syncing all the emails in the .ost file. This can impede essential email functions such as sending and receiving messages, as well as deleting emails. In other words, synchronization issues may arise, potentially leading to the sudden crash of the Microsoft Outlook application or causing it to hang or slow down significantly.
Quick Workarounds to resolve synchronization issues with your Exchange mailbox server
Here are some of the quick workarounds to resolve synchronization issues with your exchange mailbox server –
First of all, make sure to find out whether the offline folders are correctly synchronized or not. This can be done by following the below steps –
- Right click the folder that needs to be verified and go to Properties.
- In the Properties window, search for the synchronization tab and click it. If you don’t find the synchronization tab, chances are that you might not have set up your profile to use offline folders.
- Under the “Statistics” of the folder, verify the “Last Synchronized” field that displays the date and check the number of items that the server folder and the offline folder possesses.
Note:
- If the synchronization is working properly, you will figure out that the number of items in both the server folder and the offline folder will be same.
- If the synchronization is not working properly, it means that you have some problem in profile settings.
The OST Integrity Check tool is an integrated utility designed to work exclusively with .ost files. This tool is capable of swiftly resolving synchronization issues by recovering lost information through a scan of the .ost file on your system. It then compares mailbox items and folders using the scan log, which can be found in the 'Deleted Items' folder.
If you’re having Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 running in your system, you need to use the OST Integrity Check tool – Scanost.exe file to verify whether your .OST file has synchronization problems.
If you have Outlook 2010 or other latest MS Outlook version installed in your system, you may not find the OST Integrity Check tool. If a particular folder has synchronization issues, you just need to synchronize that folder again in the Microsoft Outlook application that you’re running. For doing this, simply right click on the folder and go to Properties. And after that, click Clear Offline Items and click ok. Look out for the Send/Receive tab in the Outlook 2010 ribbon and click it. Next, click Update folder option.
3. Reconstruct your .ost File
Another option to resolve synchronization issues is to recreate your .ost file from the beginning. To do this, you'll need to delete the existing .ost file and then instruct Outlook to download the information once more from the Exchange Server for offline usage.
Recently, one of our valued clients approached our team of technical experts with a query. They encountered an error message while attempting to perform OST file synchronization in Microsoft Outlook, which read, 'The operation failed due to a registry/installation problem.
Promptly, our team advised the client to download the trial version of Kernel for OST to PST Converter tool. This software not only assisted the client in recovering their lost data but also proved effective in extracting information from damaged or corrupt databases while preserving the hierarchy of mailboxes and data integrity.
If you are seeking to recover your valuable business emails lost for any reason, consider acquiring the fully licensed version of this software. Additionally, the OST to PST converter tool offers users the opportunity to try it for a limited time at no cost.
