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<title>Working Offline</title>
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<h1 id="working_offline">Working Offline</h1>
<p>&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups includes advanced features to help
you manage your messaging needs when you are not connected to the Internet.
You can download mail and news messages before going offline for later
reading, and you can defer sending mail messages and newsgroup posts until
you get back online. All of these features are explained in this
document.</p>
<div class="contentsBox">In this section:
<ul>
<li><a href="#setting_up_mozilla_mail_and_newsgroups_to_work_offline">Setting
Up &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups to Work Offline</a></li>
<li><a href="#downloading_all_messages_for_offline_use">Downloading All
Messages for Offline Use</a></li>
<li><a href="#downloading_an_individual_folder_for_offline_use">Downloading
an Individual Folder for Offline Use</a></li>
<li><a href="#downloading_selected_or_flagged_messages_for_offline_use">Downloading
Selected or Flagged Messages for Offline Use</a></li>
<li><a href="#downloading_directory_entries_for_offline_use">Downloading
Directory Entries for Offline Use</a></li>
<li><a href="#setting_up_your_accounts_for_working_offline">Setting Up Your
Accounts for Working Offline</a></li>
<li><a href="#selecting_items_for_offline_viewing">Selecting Items for
Offline Viewing</a></li>
<li><a href="#downloading_and_synchronizing_your_messages">Downloading and
Synchronizing Your Messages</a></li>
<li><a href="#working_offline_and_reconnecting_later">Working Offline and
Reconnecting Later</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2 id="setting_up_mozilla_mail_and_newsgroups_to_work_offline">Setting Up
&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups to Work Offline</h2>
<p>&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups' offline feature lets you
download your mail and read it offline (while disconnected from the
Internet). If you use a dial-up (modem) connection to access your mail and
you want to reduce the time you are connected, or, if you need to temporarily
disconnect from your company's network while traveling or switching
locations, you can download your mail so that you can read it offline. The
offline feature can automatically download incoming messages and then later
send all your outgoing messages when you reconnect.</p>
<p>Note that for POP accounts your mail is already downloaded by default, so
most of these offline features aren't relevant for POP accounts.</p>
<p>If you occasionally want to work offline, &brandShortName; Mail &
Newsgroups lets you easily:</p>
<ul>
<li>Download your Inbox for offline use.</li>
<li>Download an individual folder for offline use.</li>
<li>Download only selected or flagged messages for offline use.</li>
<li>Download directory entries in your address book for offline use.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you frequently work offline, &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups also
lets you:</p>
<ul>
<li>Set up one or more of your accounts for offline use.</li>
<li>Set offline and disk space preferences for each account.</li>
<li>Select the folders and newsgroups that you want to view offline.</li>
</ul>
<p>[<a href="#working_offline">Return to beginning of section</a>]</p>
<h2 id="downloading_all_messages_for_offline_use">Downloading All Messages for
Offline Use</h2>
<p>You can tell &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups to automatically
download your messages for offline use. Later, when you go back online,
&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups automatically synchronizes your
messages with the server.</p>
<p>Note that the Inbox for POP accounts is downloaded by default, so this
section does not apply for POP accounts.</p>
<p>To automatically download your messages for offline use, begin from the Mail
window:</p>
<ol>
<li>Open the Edit menu and choose Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings. You
see the Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings dialog box.</li>
<li>In the left side of the dialog box, under the name of the account you
want to use offline, select Synchronization & Storage. (This category
is not available for POP accounts.)</li>
<li>Check the box labeled <q>Keep messages for this account on this
computer</q>.</li>
<li>Click OK.</li>
<li>Click the Online/Offline indicator <img src="images/online.png" alt=""/>
in the lower right corner of the Mail window (to the left of the Cookie
icon) to go offline. You will be asked to download messages for them to be
available while offline. Click on <q>Download</q> to proceed.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: This setting also applies to any new folders
created. While the per-account setting can be overridden for an
<a href="#downloading_an_individual_folder_for_offline_use">individual
folder</a>, those per-folder settings are <em>removed</em> when the
<q>Keep messages</q> box is toggled.</p>
<p>&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups automatically downloads all messages
in your Inbox so you can read and respond to them while working offline.
After disconnecting, &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups remains open so
you can continue to work with your messages.</p>
<p>To reconnect to the Internet so you can work online:</p>
<ul>
<li>Click the Online/Offline indicator <img src="images/offline.png"
alt=""/> in the lower right corner of the Mail window (to the left of the
Cookie icon) to go back online.</li>
</ul>
<p>When you go back online, &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups
automatically synchronizes your Inbox messages with the server, by
replicating any changes you made while working offline.</p>
<p><strong>Tip</strong>: &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups saves any
messages that you send while working offline in the Unsent Messages folder
under Local Folders. To have &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups
automatically send your unsent messages when you reconnect, use the
Preferences command on the <span class="mac">&brandShortName;</span>
<span class="noMac">Edit</span> menu to change the
<a href="mailnews_preferences.xhtml#network_and_storage_preferences">offline
preferences</a> for all your accounts.</p>
<p>[<a href="#working_offline">Return to beginning of section</a>]</p>
<h2 id="downloading_an_individual_folder_for_offline_use">Downloading an
Individual Folder for Offline Use</h2>
<p>Note that POP accounts don't allow you to manage folders on the POP
server, so this section does not apply to POP accounts.</p>
<p>To download a specific folder for offline use, begin from the Mail
window:</p>
<ol>
<li>In the left side of the Mail window, select the folder that you want to
download for offline use.</li>
<li>Open the Edit menu, and choose Folder Properties. You see the Properties
dialog box.</li>
<li>Click the Synchronization tab.</li>
<li>Check <q>Select this folder for offline use</q>.</li>
<li>Click Download Now if you want to immediately begin downloading the
folder's messages. Alternatively, you can continue working, and when
you are ready to go offline, proceed to the next step.</li>
<li>Click the Online/Offline indicator <img src="images/online.png" alt=""/>
in the lower right corner of the Mail window to go offline.</li>
<li>In the Work Offline dialog box, click Download.</li>
</ol>
<p>&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups automatically downloads all messages
in the selected folder so you can read and respond to them while working
offline. After disconnecting, &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups remains
open so you can continue to work with your messages.</p>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: Message headers that have been downloaded for reading
offline display a darker gray envelope or newsgroup icon.</p>
<p>To reconnect to the Internet so you can work online:</p>
<ul>
<li>Click the Online/Offline indicator <img src="images/offline.png"
alt=""/> in the lower right corner of the Mail window (to the left of the
Cookie icon) to go back online.</li>
</ul>
<p>&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups automatically synchronizes the
offline folders with the server, by replicating any changes you made while
working offline.</p>
<p><strong>Tip</strong>: &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups saves any
messages that you sent while working offline in the Unsent Messages folder
under Local Folders. When you reconnect, choose Send Unsent Messages from the
File menu to send all your saved messages at once. To have &brandShortName;
Mail & Newsgroups automatically send your unsent messages when you
reconnect, use the Preferences command on the
<span class="mac">&brandShortName;</span> <span class="noMac">Edit</span>
menu to change your <a
href="mailnews_preferences.xhtml#network_and_storage_preferences">offline
preferences</a>.</p>
<p>[<a href="#working_offline">Return to beginning of section</a>]</p>
<h2 id="downloading_selected_or_flagged_messages_for_offline_use">Downloading
Selected or Flagged Messages for Offline Use</h2>
<p>Note that messages are downloaded by default for POP accounts. However, if
you have enabled the <q>Fetch headers only</q> setting in the POP account
settings, then only the headers will be downloaded, and you will need to use
the commands in this section to download the complete messages.</p>
<p>To download selected messages for offline use, begin from the Mail
window:</p>
<ol>
<li>Select a Mail or Newsgroup folder to display its messages.</li>
<li>Select the messages you want to download, as follows:
<ul>
<li>To select a group of adjacent messages, click the first message, and
then Shift-click to select the last message in the group.</li>
<li>To select messages anywhere in the message list, hold down the
<kbd class="mac">Cmd</kbd><kbd class="noMac">Ctrl</kbd> key and click
each message.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Open the File menu, choose Offline, and then choose Get Selected Messages
from the submenu. &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups downloads the
selected messages.</li>
</ol>
<p>To download flagged messages for offline use, begin from the Mail
window:</p>
<ol>
<li>Select a Mail or Newsgroup folder to display its messages.</li>
<li>Click in the flag column of each message you want to download. A flag
appears where you clicked to indicate that the message has been marked. If
the flag column is not visible, click the Show/Hide Columns icon
<img src="images/columns.png" alt=""/> and select Flag from the list.</li>
<li>Open the File menu, choose Offline, and then choose Get Flagged Messages.
&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups downloads the flagged messages.</li>
</ol>
<p>Once downloading is complete, click the Online/Offline indicator in the
lower right corner of the Mail window (to the left of the Cookie icon) to go
offline. After you disconnect, &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups remains
open so you can continue to work with your messages.</p>
<p>Note that the <q>Get Selected Messages</q> and <q>Get Flagged Messages</q>
menu items are also available in the pop-up thread context menu, for faster
access.</p>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: Message headers that have been downloaded for reading
offline display a darker gray envelope or newsgroup icon.</p>
<p>To reconnect to the Internet so you can work online:</p>
<ul>
<li>Click the Online/Offline indicator <img src="images/offline.png"
alt=""/> in the lower right corner of the Mail window to go online.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Tip</strong>: &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups saves any
messages that you sent while working offline in the Unsent Messages folder
under Local Folders. When you reconnect, choose Send Unsent Messages from the
File menu to send all your saved messages at once. To have &brandShortName;
Mail & Newsgroups automatically send your unsent messages when you
reconnect, use the Preferences command on the
<span class="mac">&brandShortName;</span> <span class="noMac">Edit</span>
menu to change your <a
href="mailnews_preferences.xhtml#network_and_storage_preferences">offline
preferences</a>.</p>
<p>[<a href="#working_offline">Return to beginning of section</a>]</p>
<h2 id="downloading_directory_entries_for_offline_use">Downloading
Directory Entries for Offline Use</h2>
<p>You can download (replicate) the entries in a directory server to your
computer so that they are available when you work offline. Once you've
downloaded directory entries, you can use the same procedure to update your
local copy of the entries with the latest entries on the directory
server.</p>
<p>To download or update an address book LDAP directory for offline use:</p>
<ol>
<li>Make sure you're online.</li>
<li>Open the Window menu, and choose Address Book.</li>
<li>In the Address Book window, select the directory that you want to
download (replicate).</li>
<li>Click Properties in the Address Book toolbar. The Directory Server
Properties dialog box appears.</li>
<li>Click the Offline tab.</li>
<li>Click Download Now to start copying the entries to your computer.</li>
<li>If prompted, enter your network user name and password, and click OK to
start the download.
<p>Depending on the number of directory entries, the download process may
take a while, so please be patient.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>After the download finishes, you can work offline and search the directory
or use it for address autocompletion when composing messages. After
you've been using your local copy of the directory for a while, you may
wish to update it to get the latest entries from the directory server. To
update your local copy, use the procedure described above.</p>
<p>[<a href="#working_offline">Return to beginning of section</a>]</p>
<h2 id="setting_up_your_accounts_for_working_offline">Setting Up Your Accounts
for Working Offline</h2>
<p>To set up one or more accounts for working offline, you use the Offline and
Disk Space preferences in the Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings dialog
box. Once set, you don't need to change these preferences each time you
want to work offline. The offline and disk space preferences you can set for
an account depend on the type of account (IMAP, POP, or Newsgroup).</p>
<p>Here's a summary of the steps you will follow to set up your accounts
for offline use:</p>
<ol>
<li>For each account that you want to work with while offline, use the Mail
& Newsgroups Account Settings dialog box to set the Synchronization
& Storage preferences for that account. You must select the items
(folders and newsgroups) that you want to download for offline use. See
<a href="#selecting_items_for_offline_viewing">Selecting Items for Offline
Viewing</a> for more information.
<p>Once set, you don't need to change these settings. See the sections
below for information on setting offline and disk space preferences for
<a href="mailnews_account_settings.xhtml#synchronization_and_storage_settings_imap">IMAP</a>,
<a href="mailnews_account_settings.xhtml#disk_space_settings_pop">POP</a>,
<a href="mailnews_account_settings.xhtml#disk_space_settings_blogs">Blogs</a>, and
<a href="mailnews_account_settings.xhtml#synchronization_and_storage_settings_nntp">Newsgroup</a>
accounts.</p>
<p><strong>Tip</strong>: To set the Synchronization & Storage
preferences for the current account, open the File menu, choose Offline,
and then choose Offline Settings.</p>
</li>
<li>Open the File menu, choose Offline, and then choose Download/Sync Now
from the submenu.</li>
<li>Select the type of messages (mail or newsgroup or both) that you want to
download.
<p><strong>Important</strong>: You must select at least one category (mail
messages or newsgroup messages) in order for the download to work.</p>
</li>
<li>Select <q>Work offline once download and/or sync is complete</q>.</li>
<li>Click OK to download the selected items and then go offline. See
<a href="#downloading_and_synchronizing_your_messages">Downloading and
Synchronizing Your Messages</a> for more information.</li>
</ol>
<p>For subsequent offline sessions, you can skip step 1.</p>
<p>[<a href="#working_offline">Return to beginning of section</a>]</p>
<h2 id="selecting_items_for_offline_viewing">Selecting Items for Offline
Viewing</h2>
<p>Before you can read mail and newsgroup messages while offline, you must
first select them for downloading. You can set up an entire account for
offline use. You can also choose which folders and newsgroups that you
want to use offline.</p>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: Keep in mind that selecting more items may increase
download time and disk space used.</p>
<p>To select accounts, folders, and newsgroups for offline viewing, begin from
the Mail window:</p>
<ol>
<li>Open the Edit menu, choose Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings. You
see the Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings dialog box.</li>
<li>Choose the Synchronization & Storage category for the account you
want to change.</li>
<li>Click <q>Advanced</q> to see your IMAP folders, or <q>Select newsgroups
for offline use</q> for your subscribed newsgroups.
<p><strong>Note</strong>: You see only the newsgroups and folders that
you've already <a
href="mailnews_newsgroups.xhtml#subscribing_to_newsgroups">subscribed</a>
to. POP accounts and local mail folders don't appear in the
list.</p>
</li>
<li>Select the items (folders, newsgroups) that you want to make available
for offline use.</li>
<li>Click OK.</li>
</ol>
<p>Once set, you don't need to change these settings each time you want to
go offline. However, if you do want to change them, you can easily do so
before going offline, since the same Select button is available when using
the <a href="#downloading_and_synchronizing_your_messages">Download and
Sync</a> command.</p>
<p>[<a href="#working_offline">Return to beginning of section</a>]</p>
<h2 id="downloading_and_synchronizing_your_messages">Downloading and
Synchronizing Your Messages</h2>
<p>If you have already selected mail folders and newsgroups for offline use,
you are now ready to download and synchronize them. If you haven't yet
selected items to download, you can choose them before you go offline.</p>
<p>If you are not already viewing the Download/Sync Now dialog box, follow
these steps:</p>
<p>To download and synchronize your messages, begin from the Mail
window:</p>
<ol>
<li>Open the File menu, choose Offline, and then choose Download/Sync
Now.</li>
<li>Select the categories (mail messages or newsgroup messages) that you want
to download.
<p><strong>Important</strong>: You must select at least one category (Mail
messages, Newsgroup messages) in order for the download to work. If the
checkboxes are disabled, it means that you haven't yet selected
items to download. Use the Select button to select items to download.</p>
</li>
<li>To send messages in your Unsent Messages folder before going offline,
check <q>Send Unsent Messages</q>.</li>
<li>To go offline immediately after &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups
finishes downloading, select <q>Work offline once download and/or sync is
complete</q>.</li>
<li>To set or change the items to download, click Select. See
<a href="#selecting_items_for_offline_viewing">Selecting Items for Offline
Viewing</a> for more information. You can skip this step if you've
already selected items for download.</li>
<li>Click OK. &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups begins downloading the
selected items.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you chose to work offline once the download completes, then
&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups immediately switches to offline mode.
Otherwise, when you are ready to go offline, click the Online/Offline
indicator <img src="images/online.png" alt=""/> in the lower right corner of
the Mail window to go offline.</p>
<p>[<a href="#working_offline">Return to beginning of section</a>]</p>
<h2 id="working_offline_and_reconnecting_later">Working Offline and
Reconnecting Later</h2>
<p>To work offline and reconnect later, begin from the Mail window.</p>
<p>When you are ready to work offline:</p>
<ol>
<li>Click the online/offline indicator <img src="images/online.png" alt=""/>
in the lower-right corner of the Mail window. Mail & Newsgroups prompts
you to download messages, if you want, before going offline.</li>
<li>Click Download to download messages before going offline. If you want to
work offline without downloading messages, click Don't Download.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: Message headers that have been downloaded for reading
offline display a darker gray envelope or newsgroup icon.</p>
<p><strong>Tip</strong>: To set &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups'
download behavior when going offline, open the
<span class="mac">&brandShortName;</span> <span class="noMac">Edit</span>
menu, choose Preferences, and then under the Mail & Newsgroups category,
select Network & Storage (if no subcategories are visible, double-click
Mail & Newsgroups to expand the list). You can choose to have
&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups prompt you to download messages when
going offline, to automatically download messages, or to not download any
messages.</p>
<p>To reconnect and synchronize your messages:</p>
<ol>
<li>Click the online/offline indicator <img src="images/offline.png"
alt=""/> in the lower-right corner of any &brandShortName; window.</li>
<li>Open the File menu, choose Offline, and then choose Download/Sync
Now.</li>
</ol>
<p>&brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups synchronizes your messages with the
server by replicating any changes you made while working offline.</p>
<p><strong>Tip</strong>: To set &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups'
behavior when going online, open the
<span class="mac">&brandShortName;</span> <span class="noMac">Edit</span>
menu, choose Preferences, and then choose the Synchronization & Storage
category. You can choose to have &brandShortName; Mail & Newsgroups
prompt you to send unsent messages, to automatically send unsent messages,
or to not send unsent messages.</p>
<p>[<a href="#working_offline">Return to beginning of section</a>]</p>
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