Offline Files Save the Day
Published: August 20, 2001
By Sharon Crawford
Editor’s note: Expert Zone Columnist Sharon Crawford takes a look at Windows XP Professional as she explains how to use the Offline Files feature to work with shared documents and encrypt them to secure data.
The trend today is toward online connections that are always on, always available. If you’ve ever used such a connection to the Internet, undoubtedly you love it. Unfortunately, not all of us live where always-on connections by DSL or cable are available. Or, when traveling, you don’t have an always-on connection for your laptop. This is where the Offline Files feature in Windows XP can save the day—or at least make a dial–up connection more bearable.
Using offline files, you can work on shared network files, even when you’re not connected to the network. And, if your drive is formatted as NTFS, you can encrypt those files to secure data on your local computer, particularly useful when you’re traveling with your laptop and leave it in your hotel room or car. Additionally, you can set up Outlook Express to read your mail offline and minimize the amount of time you have to stay connected. Even Internet Explorer can be configured to let you view Web pages while offline. But let’s deal with each of these different types of offline files one at a time.
Using Shared Files and Folders Offline
If your computer is frequently disconnected from the network, using offline files and folders is an easy way to connect intermittently and yet work as though you’re connected all the time. Before you can work with offline files, you need to be sure that both the network and your computer are prepared:
| • | First, the files and folders you need must be in a shared location on the network. If the items you want aren’t shared, the owner or network administrator will need to share them. |
| • | Next, your computer must be set up to use offline files. Open My Computer, on the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the Offline Files tab, and put a check next to Enable Offline Files. |
| • | Finally, select the files and folders you want to make available offline. In My Computer, click the shared network file or folder that you want to make available offline, click Make Available Offline from the File menu. The Offline Files Wizard opens, and then click Next. |
| • | Select automatic synchronization. This setting can be easily changed at any point if you later decide on another method of synchronization. Click Next. 
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| • | Make selections for reminders and a desktop shortcut. When you click Finish, the selected files will be synchronized. In other words, the files at the shared folder will be matched with files in your Offline Files folder. |
A drive, folder, or file set up to be available offline displays two arrows as part of its icon. The arrows are visible in every view setting—just very small in the Details view.
Offline files will be synchronized with the network files before you disconnect from the network and again when you reconnect. Changes you made to files while working offline are updated to the network. If you and someone else on the network made changes to the same file, you can choose to save your version of the file to the network, keep the other version, or save both.
Securing Your Offline Files
To protect files in your shared folders, you can decide if other users can change the documents or just view them. You can also control which shared files users can access. Right-click the shared folder, and click Properties. On the Security tab, specify the settings you want.
To encrypt offline files to protect the data from someone gaining unwanted access to your computer, open My Computer, on the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the Offline Files tab, and then place a check in the Encrypt offline files to secure data check box. When you open one of your encrypted files, you begin work immediately because the encryption is transparent to the valid user. (Your file system must be NTFS in order to support encrypted offline files.)
Taking Web Pages Offline
To make a page from the World Wide Web available offline, just click Favorites while you’re viewing the page in Internet Explorer. Select Add to Favorites, and in the dialog box that opens, select the Make available offline check box. To schedule updates for the page and specify how much content to download, click Customize.
Existing pages on your Favorites list can me made available offline by selecting Organize Favorites. Select the page, and then check Make available offline. To make sure you have the latest version of the pages selected for offline viewing, click Tools, and then click Synchronize before closing Internet Explorer.
Reading E–Mail Offline
To work with e–mail offline when using Outlook Express, click Tools, and then click Options. On the General tab, select the box for Check for new messages every, then look in the drop–down list under If my computer is not connected at this time. You want to select Connect only when not working offline.
If your e–mail is handled by an IMAP or HTTP server, select the server name in the list of folders. Check the items you want to view offline and then click Synchronize. On the File menu, click Work Offline.
Sharon Crawford is a former editor now engaged in writing books and magazine articles. Since 1993, she has written or co-written two dozen books on computer topics. Her books include Windows 2000 Pro: The Missing Manual, Windows 98: No Experience Required, and Windows 2000 Professional for Dummies (with Andy Rathbone).
