I'm newish to Exchange and so I'm hoping you can help with this issue. Here are the details: - Persistent "Outlook is trying to retrieve data from the Exchange Server..." messages on one specific in-office wired workstation. 5-30 second delays make working on this workstation annoying - though it's a small network, the 3 other pc's all connect with this message appearing very rarely - the problematic workstation runs Windows 7 Pro x64, Office 2010, has 8gb of RAM, and is connected through a small 8-port switch, which then connects to the server through a second 8-port switch. I've taken the first 8-port switch out of the equation, with no results - the problematic workstation is assigned an IP by the server and uses the server for DNS. It experiences no issues with it's internet connection, or with access to files on the server - the problematic workstation stores it's Outlook ost file on a local data drive and not on the local Windows system drive - the ost file is just under 1gb in size - one of the other 3 workstations (a laptop running Windows 7 Pro x64 and Office 2010) references the exact same account, and moves in and out of the office without issue - as far as I can tell, the problematic workstation and the roaming laptop (both referencing the same account) both use the same settings, but this can be confirmed if you feel it could be the cause of the issue (I believe the laptop is set to use Outlook Anywhere, whereas I've tried with and without Outlook Anywhere on the workstation, with no notable difference So there you have it...I've tried to provide all necessary information, but any help would be appreciated. Hopefully we can find an answer to this annoying issue! Thanks to anyone who can help :)

"Outlook is trying to retrieve data..." messages can literally be caused by anything from the storage on the Exchange, to the server itself, to the network, to name resolution, to the client machine, to the client machine's disk, to Outlook itself, or any number of other factors. It's just telling you that connectivity is slow, but it's up to you to figure out where that slowness is. If it's just one machine, then you might focus on that machine. If it happens for just one mailbox and you can reproduce the issue on more than one client machine, it could be something wrong with the client, like a huge number of messages in the Inbox.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Thanks. I'll try to set up the same account on another in-office workstation to see if I can see any difference in behaviour. This should help me see if the problem is specific to that workstation. Will post back when I've got some results, thanks.

I agree with Ed that focus on one problematic machine to find the cause. You may try the steps below: Try in OWA with the affected user acocunt, It will help us isolate the fault from Mailbox or Exchanage server; If the issue disappears, it is best if you submit the question in Outlook ITpro forum http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/outlook/threads. Your understanding would be appreciated. Logon as the affected user account in another computer that has not been affected by thsi issue, and try to see if the issue continues. IT will help isolate the fault from client side related issue, like Windows profile, application conflict or Outlook profile. Test in Outlook Safe mode. It helps to isolate the fault from third party addins; Test in Windows in Safe mode with network connection. It will help isolate the fault from start up applications. Hope it is helpful.Best Regards Fiona Liao E: v-fiolia@microsoft.com

Very helpful Fiona, thanks. I'll keep working on this, trying to narrow things down, and will post back.

I agree with Ed that focus on one problematic machine to find the cause. You may try the steps below: Try in OWA with the affected user acocunt, It will help us isolate the fault from Mailbox or Exchanage server; If the issue disappears, it is best if you submit the question in Outlook ITpro forum http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/outlook/threads. Your understanding would be appreciated. Logon as the affected user account in another computer that has not been affected by thsi issue, and try to see if the issue continues. IT will help isolate the fault from client side related issue, like Windows profile, application conflict or Outlook profile. Test in Outlook Safe mode. It helps to isolate the fault from third party addins; Test in Windows in Safe mode with network connection. It will help isolate the fault from start up applications. Hope it is helpful.Best Regards Fiona Liao E: v-fiolia@microsoft.com

Any update? I hope the issue is resolved.Best Regards Fiona Liao E: v-fiolia@microsoft.com

Thanks for the follow-up. Unfortunately I have been tied up with a project and haven't had the time necessary to troubleshoot this. The problem still exists and is still terribly annoying! I will get some time this week to work on this and will post back. Thanks again.

Some things that might help is to keep the deleted items flders cleared out. Limit the size of the mailbox. I believe that a mailbox with a large number of items will run very slow. You might try in putting outlook in cache mode. I had the problem and found that it was my storage. I moved my mailboxes to a more robust storage device and almost a 100% improvement.norman mattox

Downsizing the deleted items hasn't helped. With two other systems accessing the same mailbox (without the same problem) it seems to be this particular workstation. Will spend more time on this during the next few days.

Well I'm finally getting back to this, and have realized that starting Outlook on that machine seems to resolve the issue. From here I'll whittle things down and figure out exactly what add-in is causing the issue. Thanks for the help!

Thanks for your update and confirmation. Have a good day:)Fiona Liao TechNet Community Support