Synchronization Filters
I’m not sure when you would want to use this feature, but Outlook allows you to use a filter to select what items you want to synchronize with the Exchange server. Right-click on any folder in your Exchange mailbox and select Properties. On the Synchronization tab, configure your filter as you would any other search filter in Outlook. When you click OK, Outlook will give you this warning message; read it carefully:
| The next time this folder is synchronized, any new or modified items in the offline copy will be uploaded, all items matching the filter will be downloaded, and items that do not match the filter will be removed from the offline copy. Client rules will not run while offline if there is a synchronization filter on the inbox. |
Four things are going to happen as long as this filter is in place:
- Any changes you make in Outlook will be synchronized to the server whether they match the filter or not.
- Anything on the server that matches the filter will be downloaded to Outlook.
- Anything already in Outlook that doesn’t match the filter will be deleted only from the cached data in Outlook. It won’t be deleted from the server.
- Any client-only rules will not run.
Another consideration: If someone isn’t seeing everything they expect to see in a mailbox folder, check for View filters and Synchronization filters. These can be applied to a primary and a shared mailbox.