Author: Jenny Flatoue

The OST file, which stands for Offline Storage table is a data file that makes it possible for users to work offline in Outlook. Later, once connected to the internet, the .ost file synchronizes messages with data available on the server.

Normally, you shouldn’t have problems with this synchronization process but on rare occasions, you may find some issues. If you encounter such a situation when synchronizing a .ost file with the Exchange Server mailbox, then this troubleshooting guide will help you resolve the problem.

Steps to Fix Error Synchronizing Folder in Outlook

First check if offline folders are being synchronized

Let’s first check whether offline folders are being synchronized.

• Right click on the offline folder and select Properties
• Click Synchronization and check the ‘Statistics for This Folder’ tab
• In the Statistics tab, check the following fields:
  • Last Synchronized On
  • Server folder contains # Items
  • Offline Folder Contains # Items

If the synchronization works properly, then the number of items in Server folder and Offline folder will be the same. If not, you need to verify the profile settings in the manner as discussed below.

Verify profile settings in Outlook

Verifying profile settings is different for various Outlook versions. Let’s look at them one by one.

In Outlook 2007,

1. Open Outlook and go to Tools menu
2. Select Account Settings > Data files > Email tab
3. In the Email tab, select Mailbox – account name > Settings > Advanced tab
4. Verify if ‘Use Cached Exchange Mode’ is selected and close the Account Settings window

In Outlook 2010,

1. Open Outlook and click File > Account Settings > Account Settings
2. Click Data Files > Email tab
3. In the Email tab, select Mailbox – account name and click Change
4. Verify if ‘Use Cached Exchange Mode’ is selected and close the Account Settings window

In Outlook 2013 and 2016,

• Open Outlook and go to File menu

• Then select Account Settings > Account Settings

• Select the appropriate Outlook account and click Change

• Check under Offline Settings, if ‘Cached Exchange Mode’ is selected

Automatically synchronize folders

After you check these settings, it is time to synchronize the folders. You can use the following procedure to synchronize folders automatically every time you go online in Outlook.

• Open Outlook and go to Send/Receive tab

• Click Send/Receive Groups > Define Send/Receive Groups
• In the Send/Receive window that opens, select ‘Perform an automatic send/receive when exiting’ option and close the window

• Now, the error should be resolved and your offline folders should be synchronized automatically every time you exit Outlook.

Use Remo OST to PST converter

Sometimes .ost files get corrupted or inaccessible due to failure in offline folder synchronization, issues with Exchange server or due to other reasons. If that happens, Outlook emails, contacts, calendars etc. become inaccessible.

In such cases, an OST to PST converter can be used to convert the OST file to PST, so all the Outlook contents can be accessed. For this purpose, Remo OST to PST converter is the best choice. It can convert your OST to PST by retaining the original content and OST file structure. Once converted to PST, you can import the file to Outlook and access its contents.

You may run the Mailbox Cleanup tool in Outlook to clear old and unwanted emails in Outlook. But after the running the Mailbox clean up tool, you look at the size of the folders and are surprised to see the 3 or 4 folders still remaining. The names of the folders are Sync Issues, Sync Issues\Conflicts, and Sync Issues\Local Failures and Sync Issues\Server Failures.

By default, these folders are hidden and generally not visible in the Outlook navigation pane, but if you are using the Mailbox cleanup tool, you can view them in View Mailbox size option.

Let’s understand what these Sync Issues folders are for, what does it contain and should they be deleted?

How to view Sync folders in Outlook?

In order to view the Sync folders, you can change the settings to make them visible in the navigation pane.

• To do so, click on the 3 dots in the bottom of the main Outlook window

• Select the Folders option

Now, the navigation pane will have all the mail folders including Sync issues folder and its sub-folders.

What do the Sync folders contain?

Sync folders usually contain message logs about issues encountered when syncing emails in Outlook using the copy on the mail server. This usually happens when you are working offline for a while and Outlook hasn’t been able to connect to the server.

Each of the sub-folder in the Sync folder contains information about a specific problem.

Sync issues folder – Outlook periodically synchronizes information with the mail server. So, the sync folder contains message logs about this synchronization process. Because of this, any delay/issue in the sync will be recorded.

Sync issues\Conflicts – This folder contains multiple copies of emails. For example, if you use Outlook on your laptop as well as on your mobile, it may sync with the server several times and multiple copies may get stored.

Sync issues\Local failures – If Outlook has trouble sending email, a calendar change, notes or any new update to the server, it will be recorded in this folder. It does not mean Outlook has still not sent it to the server, it only means the number of times Outlook tried to is recorded in this folder.

Sync issues\Server Failures – This is the opposite of the Local Failures explained above. This folder records logs when Outlook had issues syncing from the server. This folder rarely has messages in it, hence it is not even visible under the Sync folder in some cases.

Should you keep the messages in the Sync folders or delete them?

Although messages in the Sync folders may not make sense to you, it may be helpful for the admins to troubleshoot issues with Exchange Server. Moreover, since these are text-only messages, they might not release a lot of space when deleted. So it is better to let these messages as they will be of no harm to you.

However, if in case you decide to delete the emails in the Sync folders, it would be in the same manner as deleting any other file.

Recover Outlook data

Due to various reasons, Outlook data or folders may get deleted. For instance, deleting stuff accidentally is one thing, but there are also others like PST file corruption. If you’re wondering, a PST file is a data file in Outlook that contains all its data on a local computer. If this file is corrupted, Outlook data may be harmed and Outlook may not function properly.

In such situations, Remo Repair can be used to repair Outlook and recover all its attributes. It can also be used to recover deleted Outlook folders.

Mac users may find the need to import their Outlook to Microsoft Windows Outlook because of various reasons like they are moving from Windows to Mac platform, their organization wants them to use MS Outlook 2016, or they feel that Windows Outlook is much better than Mac Outlook, as it provides advanced features, etc.

But, how to import Mac Outlook 2011 or 2016 to Windows Outlook? Well, here are the 2 easy ways to import Outlook from Mac OS X to Windows.

Easy Guide to Import Mac Outlook 2011, 2016 to Windows Outlook:

Method 1: Import Mac Outlook to Windows using Gmail

1. Set Up Gmail in Mac Outlook

• Open Mac Outlook, select Outlook then Preferences.
• Under Personal Settings, click the Accounts button.

• Click on the + icon (present at the bottom) and choose Email.

• Enter your Gmail account credentials (username and password) and hit Add Account button.

2. Export Data from Mac Outlook to Gmail

• Launch Mac Outlook, right-click on the email account, choose New Folder and give a name for the New Folder.
• Go to File menu, select Import.

• Next, in the Import window, click on the Outlook Data File and go Next.

• Choose Outlook for Mac Data File (.olm).
• Select the OLM file generated in the previous step and hit Import.

After completion of the import process, Mac will give a confirmation message. Now, in the Mac Outlook, select all your messages and right-click.

• Click Move first, then Choose Folder option. Select the new folder created recently and click Move.

This moves all your selected emails to the Gmail account.

3. Configure the Exported Gmail in Windows Outlook

• Open your Gmail account on the Windows computer, meanwhile, open MS Outlook.
• Configure this Gmail account in your Windows Outlook. And, all your Mac data (moved to Gmail) will be exported to the Windows Outlook.

Method 2: Import Mac Outlook to Windows using OLM File

1. Export Data from Mac Outlook

• Open Mac Outlook, go to File and click the Export button.

• Next, select Outlook for Mac Data File (.olm) and choose your required attributes (Mac Outlook items) to export.
• If you wish you can preserve or delete exported data from the source Outlook (Mac Outlook).
• Specify the desired location to save your exported Mac Outlook data file and click the Save button.

2. Convert the OLM File to PST

You have to convert Mac Outlook data file into Windows Outlook compatible format i.e. PST, once your Mac Outlook data is exported. In order to safely convert Mac Outlook data file to PST, you can make use of any third-party professional software available online.

And, once you converted the Mac Outlook data file to Windows Outlook data file (.pst), import PST file into MS Outlook on Windows computer.

Suggested:

Be wise while choosing the OLM to PST converter program. Else, the converted PST file may end up in resulting error messages like Outlook PST cannot be opened, PST is not an Outlook data file, Outlook.pst is inaccessible, PST could not be accessed, data error, CRC error, Outlook cannot find your PST file and more.

In case, you are unable to import the converted PST due to file corruption, damage, error message, etc. then, repair Outlook PST using a trusted repair software, then proceed to import the healthy PST into your MS Windows Outlook.

3. Import PST File into MS Outlook

• Open Microsoft Outlook application and click Import/Export button from the File menu.

• Next, choose Import from another program or file option and click Next.

• Select Outlook Data File (.pst) in the select file type to import from: wizard.

• In File to import dialogue box, select the exported PST file by clicking the Browse button.

• Choose Replace Duplicates with Items imported and proceed Next.
• Select Outlook Data File and check Include subfolders check box.
• Go for Import items into the same folder from the drop-down menu.
• Click on the Finish button to start the import process.

Outlook is usually set to checking emails from the server every few minutes. But if you work in a time-sensitive job, then wouldn’t it be nice to configure it based on your requirement, say every 2 or 3 minutes. And this blog post addresses this situation. It explains how you can configure Outlook to check emails from the server based on what you prefer. Of course, the steps are slightly different in each Outlook version, but you should have no difficulty as we cover Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016 versions.

In Outlook 2013 and 2016

We have combined both Outlook 2013 and 2016 because the steps for changing the Send/Receive frequency in these versions are similar.

1. Open Outlook and click on the Send/Receive tab on the toolbar

2. From the menu that opens, select Send/Receive Groups > Define Send/Receive Groups

3. Here, you can customize groups based on one email address, multiple email addresses or all email addresses in your Outlook. You can also adjust the settings to all the accounts, which is what we are going to do now in this article.

4. So, under the section ‘All Accounts’, check the box corresponding to ‘Schedule an automatic send/receive every’ and select a number to set the number of minutes.

In Outlook 2010

Let’s see how to change send/receive frequency in Outlook 2010.

1. Open Outlook and click on the File menu
2. Then select Options to open the Options window. In the Options window, select Advanced
3. Under the Send & Receive section, you will see a button called Send/Receive, click on that button
4. In the Send/Receive window, check the box corresponding to ‘Schedule an automatic send/receive every’. Then choose an appropriate time, say for example every ‘5 minutes’.
5. Then click Close to save changes

This is one way to go to Send/Receive settings. However, you can also click on Send/Receive tab and then click on Define Send/Receive Groups.

By default, the Send/Receive frequency in Outlook is set to 30 minutes. For instance, if you change this frequency to 5 or 10 minutes, Outlook will check for emails once in every 5 or 10 minutes respectively.

In Outlook 2007

1. To change the Send/Receive frequency in Outlook 2007, follow the steps below.
2. Open Outlook and select Tools > Options
3. Click on the Mail Setup tab (second tab from left) and check the box corresponding to Send/Receive
4. Under the ‘All Accounts’ section, check the box ‘Schedule an automatic send/receive every’ and enter the desired minutes
5. Finally save changes and hit ‘Close’

Repair Outlook with Remo Repair  Outlook

Outlook is no doubt a fantastic email application with customizable options to set the frequency of sending and receiving emails like explained above. However, you may have trouble sometimes even with Outlook. For instance, if the Outlook PST file is corrupt, you may have issues sending and receiving emails. You may see issues like Outlook not responding when sending emails or emails not getting sent. In such cases, Remo Repair can be used to repair this error by repairing the corresponding PST file.

In other cases, you may also see issues like Exchange 2016 not receiving external email. If you are receiving such an error, the link provided may help you resolve the same.

“Outlook Sends Blank Emails Automatically!”

This is the most annoying issue with the Outlook application faced by numerous users. Since, these blank emails unnecessarily fill up your (receiver’s if you are a sender) Inbox and, increases the size of Outlook data file PST. So, recently several Outlook users reported in many forums that Outlook is sending blank emails (body with no content): what is the cause behind it and how to solve this problem?

Thus, in this blog article let’s try to know what are the reasons responsible for the issue Outlook sends blank emails and possible solutions to resolve the problem.

Why Outlook Sends Blank Emails?

Below are the possible causes for Outlook sending blank emails.

• Virus or malicious programs present on the system
• Wrongly configured Outlook settings
• Faulty add-ins
• Outdated antivirus software
• Issues with PST file

How to Resolve Outlook is Sending Blank Emails Problem?

If you are receiving blank emails in Outlook 2016 or any other version of MS Outlook, then might be a chance that antivirus prevented Outlook from downloading the content hence the email message is blank. This is true only when you received the blank email from a known sender.

If so, then try below techniques to recover and view contents of the blank email:

1. Uninstall the integrated virus scanner from Outlook application or prevent your antivirus software from scanning the Outlook

2. If you are using the Microsoft Outlook connector, then update it (make sure you are using the latest version of MS Outlook connector)

Note: To recover lost Outlook emails on Windows 10, 8.1, 7, XP or any version of Windows operating system, just give a try for Remo Repair Outlook. It restores all your lost or deleted Outlook items in just a matter of minutes, along with repairing the PST file effectively.

In case, you have received a blank email in Outlook with empty “From” and “Subject” fields then it is sure the email is spam. Or your Outlook sends automatic blank emails without your knowledge then, follow below methods.

Methods to Fix Outlook is Sending Blank Emails Problem:

1.  Update Antivirus

Faulty, outdated or incapable antivirus tool may fail to find and remove harmful virus or malware from your system. Hence, the Outlook may receive/send blank emails. So, try to install good antivirus software or update the existing one. Later, do a complete system scan using the AV tool.

2. Disable Add-ins

Sometimes, Add-ins installed in your Outlook may give rise to this tricky problem. So, try disabling the suspected add-in in Outlook using below steps.

Open Outlook and go to File tab.

Click on the Options button.

Select Add-Ins from the left side panel.

Under Manage, click Go.

Select the suspected Add-In and hit Remove.

Now, restart Outlook application.

3. Update Outlook

Steps to Update Outlook Application:

Open Outlook app and select File.

From the left sidebar, select Office Account.

Click the Update Options button.

Select Update Now.

Wait for the completion of the process.

4. Update Junk Email Filters

In the Outlook Home window, click on Junk.

Select Junk E-mail Options…

Choose the right option and hit OK.

5. Configure New Outlook Profile

Close Outlook program if, it is running.

Open Control Panel and click Mail button.

Select Show Profiles option.

Choose to Add.

Give a new name for the new Outlook profile and hit OK.

Mention the email address and type in the password.

Close all windows.

Now, launch Outlook and open File menu.

Select Account Settings then Account Settings…

Under Email tab, select your newly created Outlook profile and hit Set as Default.

Your newly created profile will be set up.

6. Repair PST File

Corrupt or damaged PST file also might be a reason for Outlook to send blank emails. So, repairing your PST file may solve the issue. To repair a PST file, you can make use of the Remo Repair Outlook (Inbox Repair tool) that comes as a free download.