Posted on 03/26/2016 10:47:59 AM PDT by ducttape45
I need an expert on Outlook 2013 and Exchange Server. Here is the reason why.
I work for the federal government at a local military base (hey, put those rocks down, right now!) and just recently Outlook 2013 was hoisted upon us. No one wanted it, no one asked for it, and everyone is complaining about it. Story for another time.
Outlook 2013 and 2016 has dropped a vital feature. If you go File, Account Settings, Account Settings, the very first tab is called "Email." At the bottom of that screen, at least versions 2010 and earlier, there is a method to have all incoming email routed to a local .PST file. That feature is no longer available. All incoming email is now put into an account on the Exchange server. That might be fine and dandy for normal users but for those who routinely send 50-100 MBs of data daily it's just not feasible, especially when you consider we only have 90 MB of data space available to each user. The email server is likely have a meltdown soon.
To get around that limitation, a rule could be set up to route all incoming email from the user's account on the Exchange server to a local .PST file. It couldn't entirely fix the problem Microsoft created because copies of sent emails, deleted emails and conversation history are all still directed to the users account on the Exchange server. More problems to work through.
I drafted up a tutorial based on this knowledge and what I found on the Internet and passed it along to folks. Well, wouldn't you know it, someone must have found out it because now we've been thrown another curveball.
The only way the rule to transfer emails could be set up is through the Rules and Alerts feature in Outlook. You click Rules, Manage Alerts and the menu to create alerts come up. At the top of that screen there is a dialog box called "Apply changes to this folder" and that is where we would indicate the Exchange server location in order to set up the rule.
Someone in their infinite wisdom is disabling that context menu. Without it, no one can set up the rule. And here's what's even stranger. That feature is not disabled on every computer. That tells me that perhaps there is something with a policy somewhere that enables the user to turn that feature on and off. I could be wrong but I'm hoping I'm not.
After all that, my priority is this:
1. I need to find out why "Apply changes to this folder" is active on some computers and not on others.
2. Is that a feature somewhere within Windows and/or Outlook that can be turned on.
Can anyone out there help me with this? It is causing great consternation (yes, that is a word) amongst my cohorts in crime and while I despise the government hierarchy as much as you do, I work with some very good people and I want to help fix this problem.
That's someone else's problem to deal with. When storage becomes full, they'll have to deal with it. If they don't know what they are doing, that's their problem, not yours.
How do we marry state and federal law in this case?
That's for the lawyers to worry about. Generally, they will be able to argue the supremacy clause, unless the federal law recognizes room for state regulation.
I'm trying to maintain what has been practiced for years.
E-discovery had changed a lot over the last 10 years. For an example, which do you think would cost more and take more time - pulling data from everyone's hard drive, then trying to de-duplicate to comply with discovery demands, or to run a search and de-dupe from a single database.
And finally, do you delete old information from your PST in compliance with data preservation standards, or do you keep things past their expiration date, and/or delete things you don't need, either of which could cause significant problems.
Again, these are legal issues, not computer science issues.
Sounds like someone else here has learned by experience as well as academically.
I've never had to do it personally, but I've had to watch probably thousands of man-hours wasted.
Depends on the expiration date. There are records that my shop is REQUIRED to keep as long as the base is open. Therefore many of our records go back 70 years plus. Environmental records have to be kept 50 years, electronic and paper! Again, state law.
E-discovery had changed a lot over the last 10 years. For an example, which do you think would cost more and take more time - pulling data from everyone's hard drive, then trying to de-duplicate to comply with discovery demands, or to run a search and de-dupe from a single database.
To use your words, their problem, not mine.
You know, this is amazing. All I asked for was how to turn on the "Apply changes to this folder" context menu, and I get all this. Again, I'm saying to myself, "Looks like I could have been wrong to ask for help here."
Thanks to ShadowAce for the ping!!
Before any more comments come in, I would like to refocus this thread on what it takes to get the "Apply changes to this folder" dialog box to appear in Outlook 2013. That's it.
Let's put all this hubbub about whether or not emails belong to the user or the government aside. All I want to do is find out what it takes to turn that on so rules can be set up.
A few of the previous posters have been very helpful, some indifferent, and one I suspect of being a fellow government employee and not liking what I'm wanting to find out. To each his/her own, but all I need is information, and even a written process on how to fix the problem we are having would be great. All "useful" information is appreciated.
Thank you.
This smells like group policy imposed upon your domain.
You should have local cache mode turned on (by default)
If it is turned on, you profile will hold a *.ost file that you can copy or move to another location (when all Outlook processes are stopped)
There is a utility that can convert your ost file to a pst file. Other than that, the auto-archive is your best bet.
Without local administrator permissions, you are stuck.
That's what I'm thinking, but what needs to "set or reset" in order to get the "Apply changes to this folder" turned on? If it's the local cache mode as others have mentioned that's great, I have something to tell our helpdesk. If not, I need to find the magic switch that turns it on.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
However, if the restriction is already applied, that would just push it down again.
Look under the "My Documents" folder for Outlook Files and see of you find a .ost file.
If it is not there, look at C:\users\\Appdata\local\Microsoft\Outlook\XXXX.ost
The ost file extension may be hidden by your folder settings.
appdata folder is always hidden.
If you can copy it to another flash drive and then to another computer, you may be able to convert it to a .pst file with one of the converters.
There is a registry setting for the local cache. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179175.aspx
You may be able to create a .reg file to change the cache mode.
Good luck.
All I need to know is how to make the "Apply changes to this folder" visible again. That's all. I'm hoping there is a magic switch or button I can push to make it appear.
A couple of other things....
I know .PSTs are discouraged from being used, but when the amount of data traded back and forth is in the gigabytes, a way of storing them on the local machine has to be found. I know dragging them one at a time is a way of doing that, but I'm trying to automate the process a bit.
Also, we can't use the auto archiving because too much data is lost when that is done. Attachments, links, phffft, gone.
I hope you see our dilemma.
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