Outlook 2016 Policy Configurations - Cached Mode Sync Window Settings

Question

_{Thursday, June 16, 2016 1:21 PM}

Hello,

I am configuring the policies for my Office 2016 deployment and would like to configure the cached mode settings so they are defaulted to store 12 months of e-mails but leave the slider "unmanaged" so that users can adjust once deployed.  The GPO describes the "Cached Exchange Mode Sync Settings" setting to default to 12 months if "Not Configured" or "Disabled" however it appears to show All email is being cached if left unconfirmed or disabled.  Does anyone have any ideas how to set something other than All email while leaving the setting open for adjustment?

Thanks

Scott

All replies (2)

_{Friday, June 17, 2016 7:56 AM}

Hi Scott,

If you've never adjusted it manually, Outlook 2016 will by default synchronize only 1, 3, or 12 months of email to your Offline Outlook Data (.ost) file from the Exchange server depending on the size of your hard disk.

Refer to this article for more detail:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2733062

>>how to set something other than All email while leaving the setting open for adjustment

If you change the "Mail to keep offline" setting for everyone in the organization with the mentioned "Cached Exchange Mode Sync Settings" policy setting, users will lose the ability to adjust it afterwards, this is how Group Policy works.

A workaround here is to deploy the following registry key into users' computers by using Group Policy Preference. This way, the slide will not be disabled, and users can adjust the setting to their own liking:

Path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\outlook\cached mode
DWORD: syncwindowsetting

Use a decimal value equal to the number of months. Valid entries are 1, 3, 6, 12, or 24. Use 0 for All messages.

Note here we will configure the registry value in the non-Policies key, not this one: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\outlook\cached mode. And the change only applies to new created Outlook profiles.

Refer to this article for how to create registry key via GPP:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753092%28v=ws.11%29.aspx

Regards,

Ethan Hua

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_{Monday, June 20, 2016 2:24 PM}

Hi Ethan, thanks for the response.  I have been testing with the SyncWindowSetting value in the  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Cached Mode key and am not able to have it modify the position of the slider in the Outlook client.  When modifying this value, should I see the slider position change within Outlook 2016?

Thanks

Scott