How to Switch from Offline Mode to Online Mode in MS Outlook

Amrita Choudhary

Published On - October 12, 2022

Everyone uses Outlook daily to send and receive email messages, set up calendars, create tasks, and do many other things. But do you know where and how all those items are stored? For Microsoft 365, Exchange & Outlook.com accounts, all the information is saved on the server, but an offline copy of data can be saved on our local computer as an OST file (offline storage table)

Emailing is an essential part of MS Outlook. And Microsoft Outlook gives an option to work even in offline mode when you configure an IMAP account or Microsoft Exchange server account. According to the need, users can opt to switch from offline to online mode. Sometimes due to a disabled Outlook profile or damaged OST file, Outlook goes into disconnected or working offline mode.

Note: This feature is not supported in Outlook 2003 and previous versions.

Process of Switching from Offline to Online Mode in Outlook

When the Outlook profile is not connected to the server, Outlook displays the ‘Working Offline’ status or ‘Disconnected’ status.

When you see such a status, your Outlook profile is not connected to the Exchange Server or the mailbox is not synchronized.

Then how to switch from offline to online mode in Microsoft Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and 2007 versions? Here are the different ways.

Process 1: – Check the Internet connection

Due to a slow Internet connection, Outlook goes into offline mode. Sometimes this does not come to notice. But when Outlook is offline, it cannot send or receive new messages. So, when you face this situation, you need to check your Internet connection. If your Internet is working correctly and still ‘Working Offline’ or ‘Disconnected’ is shown in the Status bar, then follow the next process given below

Process 2: – Change from Offline to Online mode in Outlook

Follow the steps given below:

• Open Outlook.
• Then click on the Send/ Receive option.
• Now click on Work Offline to reconnect.

Note: – When the work offline box has a grey background, it indicates that Outlook is not connected to the Internet. If Outlook is running, check the Quick Launch Taskbar; if there is a cross on the Outlook icon, it indicates that Outlook is Working Offline.

Process 3: – Change the Cached Exchange Mode setting

Sometimes, it is possible that the Cached Exchange Mode setting is off.
Follow these steps to enable it.

• In Outlook, Open File.
• Now open Account Settings. Again, open Account Settings which comes under Account Settings.
• Then click on Change which comes under the Email tab.
• Now tick on the Use Cached Exchange Mode box under Offline Settings.
• Then restart Outlook.
• After completion, you need to check the status bar. It should indicate ‘Working Online’ If still not, you can try the method below.

Process 4: – Create a new Outlook profile

Sometimes a corrupt or damaged Outlook profile can also disconnect the server connection to Outlook. So now you create a new Outlook profile.
The steps are as follows:

• Open File in Outlook.
• Click on Account Settings.
• Now click on the Manage Profiles option.
• Then click on Show Profiles.
• Now click on the Add button.
• Now type your profile name and click on the OK box.
• Finally, restart the Outlook.
• You remove your current Outlook profile and add it to Microsoft Outlook. Now check that Outlook switches from working offline to working online or not.

Summary

If your OST becomes inaccessible, you can take the help of the automated solution Recoveryfix for OST to PST Converter to access and recover OST file data. It converts OST files to PST, MSG, DBX, and EML formats. It even converts large OST files to PST without any damage. So, it is a complete tool to convert OST to PST in all versions of Outlook.