# Microsoft Office Outlook synchronizing folders



## suzyandal

Everytime we download mail, we get an icon that appears in the toolbar by the clock. The icon is animated. Mousing over the icon it says:

*Microsoft Office Outlook is synchronizing folders*  .

This synchronizing causes the PC to hang.

Please can you tell us how to stop the synchronizing of folders. We are running Outlook with just POP3s. Not an exchange server. We've read a lot of links on how to do it, but it leads us to the same issues: unchecking things in the advanced settings. If you are willing to take the time to answer, please could you try the procedure out on PC that is running Outlook 2003 and just accesing POP3 accounts, but not on an exchange server? A lot of the aswers we have seen are from people using Excahnge servers. We are totally stuck on this one. Please... help...


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## ultraclassic

suzyandal said:


> Everytime we download mail, we get an icon that appears in the toolbar by the clock. The icon is animated. Mousing over the icon it says:
> 
> *Microsoft Office Outlook is synchronizing folders*  .
> 
> This synchronizing causes the PC to hang.
> 
> Please can you tell us how to stop the synchronizing of folders. We are running Outlook with just POP3s. Not an exchange server. We've read a lot of links on how to do it, but it leads us to the same issues: unchecking things in the advanced settings. If you are willing to take the time to answer, please could you try the procedure out on PC that is running Outlook 2003 and just accesing POP3 accounts, but not on an exchange server? A lot of the aswers we have seen are from people using Excahnge servers. We are totally stuck on this one. Please... help...


Greetings suzyandal,
In order to have this function enabled you must be using a Microsoft Server eMail account. Are you using Microsoft as your ISP?

If you are using Microsoft as your ISP here is the way to remove the Folder Synchronizing Filters:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP010391751033.aspx

Best of luck,
ultra_classic


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## cadditguy

I am running into the same problem but our email server is a linux all-in-one solution server running samba and qmail. The connections to the server are through a pop account on a local network.


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## JakinW

I am using Outlook 2007. This is POP3 not exchange server. The general suggestion has been to point to a folder in Outlook- right mouse click, select "properties" and uncheck "Automatically Create Exchange Views". That worked for a time but no no longer works. The processor locks up while retreiving and sorting e-mails for 20 seconds to several minutes. This is a software killer for me and as I read for many others. I have spent countless hours trying all options available to solve this. The next step for me is to say good bye to PCs and Microsoft. If you have another solution I would gratefullly try it.


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## kellykennedy

I too am suddenly having my machine seize up and be paralyzed while "outlook is synchronizing folders." I too suspect the AT&T server to be the problem, as I know they are preparing to move to some kind of new email platform by December 07.
I am using MS Outlook 07 on a brand new toshiba laptop, not Exchange, AT&T server with pope mail settings. My inbox is not very full, and my outlook.pst folder is a fraction of the size my old one was.

Having just spent a maddening summer trying to move to Mac - and moving back - my advice is that Mac is no panacea either unless all you want to do is surf, email, watch movies & play games. If you have serious business to do involving spreadsheets and databases, Mac may not be for you either. As I discovered, there's a reason it's not established in corporate America. I couldn't run Parallels on my new Mac, and I found both the Mac and Office for Mac programs to be stripped down versions of the original - kind of like Microsoft Works. Having taken giant strides *backwards* in terms of user friendliness, Windows Vista and Office 2007 are *almost* equally maddening, , as trying to do real work on the Mac, so it's pretty much a lose-lose situation at this point. Boo hoo.


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## davidj406

kellykennedy said:


> I too am suddenly having my machine seize up and be paralyzed while "outlook is synchronizing folders." I too suspect the AT&T server to be the problem, as I know they are preparing to move to some kind of new email platform by December 07.
> I am using MS Outlook 07 on a brand new toshiba laptop, not Exchange, AT&T server with pope mail settings. My inbox is not very full, and my outlook.pst folder is a fraction of the size my old one was.
> 
> Having just spent a maddening summer trying to move to Mac - and moving back - my advice is that Mac is no panacea either unless all you want to do is surf, email, watch movies & play games. If you have serious business to do involving spreadsheets and databases, Mac may not be for you either. As I discovered, there's a reason it's not established in corporate America. I couldn't run Parallels on my new Mac, and I found both the Mac and Office for Mac programs to be stripped down versions of the original - kind of like Microsoft Works. Having taken giant strides *backwards* in terms of user friendliness, Windows Vista and Office 2007 are *almost* equally maddening, , as trying to do real work on the Mac, so it's pretty much a lose-lose situation at this point. Boo hoo.


Okay, I (was?) absolutely going to move to MAC for EXACTLY this reason. I STILL have yet to find a fix. Anyone? Anyone? XP system. Outlook 03. All updates installed. NON Exchange. POP folders only.


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## gking

As with the posting #4 above, I am on a POP3 -Comcast mail server. No Microsoft Mail involved. The Outlook 2007 icon on the tray changes to a double envelope while doing its synchronizing of folders. This paralizes my computer at times for several minutes.
The process occurs with no mail coming or going.
So far the suggestions do not apply to my situation.
This never occurred with XP or Outlook 2002.
Clicking on a folder and right click to turn such service does not work with my setup.


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## gringolalo

I wouls like to hear from gking to determine if an answer was received. My Outlook does not hang up but slows down regularly with the synchronizing folders icon in the lower right corner. From other forums I found what appears to be good informaiont. The synchronizing function is normal but when it finds any one of many problems like: "Virus Checker, Firewall, Corrupt Outlook database, Stuck outgoing email, More then one user is logged on to a computer and their Outlook is active to.,Using wireless adversely effecting sending and receiving email, etc that is the problem. The message is a catch all. Gking. did you get an answer here at Tech support guy?


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## gking

I did not get a "solution-answer" yet. The system is still showing the double envelope and it refers to "syncronizing folders" but I am not on a Mail Server, or receiving mail at the time, or use any mobile device that would need to be sync.
The system gets paralized while the sync goes on.


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## jmcginnis

For the last month I have also seen my PC start to hung when Outlook is synchronizing folders. If you bring up task manager, it will show Outlook as Not Responding. It seems to have started when I downloaed some new Microsoft patches at the start of May and any attempts to restore out the patches has failed. I did have a very large Archive PST (9GB) so I renamed it and started with a new one. My Outlook PST is 1.1GB. I am running XP with Office 2007 Professional and I stay current on all Microsoft and Norton patches. This has been driving me nuts for 3 weeks. I even turned off as much of Norton as I could and it still occurs. I have also seen IE go to not responding even though Outlook is running.

Has anyone had any luck getting this resolved? I opened a problem with Microsoft and of course they want me to restore back to before May 1st and see if the problem goes away. Since I have not been able to successful restore, that has obviously created a another problem for me.


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## gking

Although is still doing it, but not as much. I suspected that Indexing of documents has something to do with it. I did not stop indexing e-mails but I eliminated indexing on many other files that I do not believe helps me.
I did not have the problem until I moved to Vista. Never noticed if there were syncs while using XP.
It seems to be a hit and miss situation and I cannot blame it on receiving or sending messages.
So, the mistery is still on.


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## jmcginnis

When I read up on Synchronizing Folders it has to do with synching the pst to the POP3 folders. Since I see some issues with IE and some News links I think it is actually a network issue causing the problem. That is why I turned off Norton as much as possible. It appears that when I installed the patches, my network processes are being single threaded thereby causing the hang/not responding conditions on my other tasks. I have the funny feeling (and hope) that I will get some more patches and the problem will be suddenly fixed, but I would not be surprised if it is Norton patch. Do you run Norton and what version? I am using Norton 2007.


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## gking

For several years I stopped using Norton. What really incensed me is the way the make it so difficult to remove Norton if you decide to remove it. 
They show you "removed" but they leave behind dozens of links, dlls, cookies and when you think your are cleared, Norton pops up with some reminder, etc.
There are many anti-virus programs that do as good or better job at blocking the bad guys from damaging your system.
At this time I only use one that is not free - BitDefender 2008- and I have the free version of ZoneAlarm firewall. Just in case, I run manually SpyBot and Adaware 2007.
Don't you wonder why 90% of new computers come with Norton pre-installed?


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## bmcw

I have Vista - but ONLY started having these problems with the Outlook synchronizing folders - locking up my computer - AFTER I downloaded the Vista SP1. I waited for a llllooooonnggg time before downloading Vista SP1 (because of past issues) and now look what it gets me....

I wish there was a quick fix but I guess I need to get in touch with Microsoft - BUT these NEVER occurred before downloading the SP1.


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## docbigsky

Sorry to muddy the waters, but it's not limited to Vista or Exchange. I had the same problem for years at my previous job with Outlook 2003 on XP (POP3 email, no MS Exchange).

Here's an interesting thing, though. When I left that job I was on Hotmail only for several months, with Outlook (Outlook 2007 on Vista) configured as my client for Hotmail. I used Outlook every day with no sign of this problem. I recently started a new job with a concommittant new POP3 email account and Bingo--it's back with a vengeance. It must be related to some kind of attempt to sync with POP3 servers. Maybe it's attempting to see them as Exchange servers?

This is obviously quite a common problem, and has been for years. In researching this I have never come across any evidence that Microsoft is aware of it or cares.


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## bmcw

OK - now that that therory was blown out - how about this.... I use Outlook 2007 and bellsouth is my ISP. I use their server to save some outlook mail... Could it be a Bellsouth issue?


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## Ali_B

I have the same problem on my Vista Home pc with MS Office 2007 version (12.0.6316.5000) + SP1 MSO (12.0.6213.1000)
After doing some research, I found this interestering newsgroup message posted by a Microsoft employeee.

-------------------------------------------------------
Based on my research, there is a known issue in Windows Vista and Outlook 2007.

*Such an issue may begin after you install the update/hotfix 950282 or 950485. The bug number is "OfficeQFE.21944 OL2007 - Notification icon not updating properly (regression from 21309)". Our product team is working on it.*

When it is available, it may be a Office update, you can install it via the Microsoft Update site.

Thanks so much for your understanding.
If anything is unclear or if you have any other concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Regards, 
Emily Lin
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

====
Greetings,

_The Netherlands_


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## goshawk

I have the same problem with synchronizing and am using XP. I have downloaded all the Outlook 2007 updates and tried (what seems to be) every possible combination of settings.

As the online traffic for this problem grows, it would seem that a 'fix' would be forthcoming. Outlook is rapidly becoming unusable and just a vestigial remnant of a once useful suite of products.


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## jsmart10821

I've had this issue 2 times before. The first time it took me 3 hours researching the internet and trying untold number of changes. Nothing helped. THE SOLUTION: When sending emails to multiple addresses, if one is not-deliverable, it will get caught in the 'OUTBOX' and the sync process will run constantly. You simply need to do is delete the item in the OUTBOX.


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## JohnAR

This is not the "solution." This syncing problem occurs even when no item has been sent and when the outbox is empty.

This is a problem with Outlook that will require a Microsoft fix.


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## goshawk

Correct. The previous email is 'one' cause. There is also 'no' cause - Outlook just does it repeatedly, all day long.


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## Sopwith

I recently started having this irritating problem. After reading a few descriptions of what Sincing is and recalling that my ISP (AT&T, Yahoo) recently underwent some security upgrades I logged onto my ISPs Home Page, clicked the My Mail tab and noticed a Microsoft Outlook folder had been created for me under My Folders. I deleted this folder and the constant syncing problem quit immediately. 

I dont know if this will solve your problems but it worked for me, so far. 

Maybe someone can tell me why this stopped the problem, or why it should not have made any difference. Was my Outlook 2007 mail syncing with my ISPs online Outlook Mail folder? Is it as simple as that to disconnect the sync problem?


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## 13hockey

it isn't an extra folder on the server either.


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