What is cached Exchange mode?

This is a setting within Outlook which determines how many days' / weeks' / months' worth of data (mainly emails and calendar events) are stored on your PC for faster, off-line access. The more data you store locally, the faster the Outlook search function may operate, as it doesn't have to refer the search to on-line servers. However, if you send / receive a lot of emails, have numerous calendar events and / or have Outlook items containing multiple or large attachments, this may have a significant impact on hard drive space on your computer. Cached Exchange mode offers users the ability to set the right balance between speed / convenience and hard drive space used.

How do I alter my settings?

• Open Outlook
• Click File on the top menu bar
• Click Account Settings, then Account Settings again
• 
• In the Email tab of the window that opens, either double-click the relevant account or hightlight the account and click the Change button
• 
• Use the slider bar in Offline Settings / Mail to keep offline to select the appropriate level of local storage
• Click Next
• Click Finish

Once this process is completed, the size of your Outlook storage file will change accordingly over the course of several minutes, dependent on how much data has to be trimmed or downloaded, and the speed of your Internet connection.