Windows 7 offline files do not sync real time while online?
I have network folders setup for use offline. When im online and another user deletes files from those folders, i dont see those deletions until i reboot or force a manual sync. How do you make that to show real time. So that when another user deletes files in folders i have set to use offline... however im online connected/authenticated to the network, i can see those changes real time. thanks,
May 5th, 2010 12:27am

If you are working offline and make changes to offline files from a network folder, Windows automatically syncs any changes you made to the files the next time you connect to that network folder. If you are working offline while someone else changes a file in a shared network folder, Windows syncs those changes with the offline file on your computer the next time you connect to that network folder. If you have also changed the file since you last connected to the network folder, a sync conflict will occur and Windows will ask you which version you want to keep.Arthur Xie - MSFT
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May 7th, 2010 10:36am

When im online and someone else deletes a file/folder on the network that is in one of my offline sync folders... that file/folder still shows up in my view. This behavior does not occur in windows XP. I verifed this.. I setup two test machines, one windows 7 machine and a windows xp machine. On each machine I configure offline folders for the same folders on the network. I then went to another computer and deleted files/folders on the network share while both test machines were online. On the windows XP machine, those files/folders that were deleted disapeared from the view and were no longer in the offline sync folders. On the Windows 7 machine those files/folders were still viewable and accesable.
May 7th, 2010 8:15pm

Just another note. When im offline everything works fine. When im ONLINE is what i have issues with. When im ONLINE, file/folder modifications that happen are not showing up REAL TIME on my Windows 7 machine.
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May 7th, 2010 8:19pm

The behavior changes since Windows Vista. Please see: Understanding offline filesArthur Xie - MSFT
May 10th, 2010 10:18am

The article basically says nothing that isn't already known and doesnt address the issues I have.
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May 10th, 2010 6:58pm

We are having the exact same problem in Windows 7. When a user is ONLINE working on a Network file, from an Available Offline folder, he saves his changes and see's the changes reflected on the Network file each time he opens it but other users who open that Network file, while ONLINE as well, do not see the changes until he MANUALLY selects Sync All. Did you ever get an answer bsumandig?
May 21st, 2010 1:14am

No, never got an answer. I have a case open with MS. I tried a few things however none of them worked. MS is gonna remote into my comp in the morning to try and look at some other options. Im suprised other people havent run into this issue yet. Its been very frustrating so far.
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May 21st, 2010 1:35am

This behavior is by design, as the article said.Arthur Xie - MSFT
May 21st, 2010 12:48pm

Hi bsumandiq. What did MS tell you after the remoting in to see for yourself?
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May 26th, 2010 6:42pm

We came across this page from technet http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749449(WS.10).aspx Quoting from the Online mode section: Online mode is the default mode of operation, and it provides the following: - Normal access to network files - Improved performance because read requests can be satisfied from the local cache if the file in the cache is synchronized with the server In online mode, all modifications to a file or folder (write, open, or create) are applied to the network server first and then to the local cache. When you are in online mode, the details pane in Windows Explorer shows Offline status: Online. Please post back if a fix is found.
May 31st, 2010 9:54am

Any update on this problem? I have the same problem with 2 Windows 7 Pro computer. The person has to do a manual Sync to see the update on the network files when he's ONLINE. Very annoying. Microsoft, please don't tell me it's by design, it was working on XP and Vista.
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June 7th, 2010 7:25am

I been "working" with Microsoft on the issue. I put that in quotes because the case has been transferred to different engineers so many times it feels like nothing has been acomplished except for me explaining the issue 100 more times. An engineer did send me this on friday so hopefully we get some results out of it. 1) As you have worked with our Performance Team and according to their Analysis, they are concluding it to be a bug. Which however still needs to be confirmed. I’m working on to get a confirmation. This will require us to reproduce the issue once again in a similar environment.
June 7th, 2010 11:42pm

i got same problems here too, unfortunatley i replaced 60 pc's from xp to 7 pro, the impact is everyday ther's always complaint to our division because this issue, they always complaint that they always losing their last saved files when they move to another computer. they've changed the files, but no synchronized at all, i assume the files only changed in offline files, but not synchronize to the network storage. really need solution for this problems, and sorry for my bad english regards from Indonesia,
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June 17th, 2010 8:16am

I have a similar problem. I have a laptop that is on windows 7. The laptop has folders that are available offline. When he work on our network, so live, some file changes do not appear on the network. For example. He is working on a file with his Secretary. She is on windows XP. He makes changes to the file. The modification time is 14: 00 pm on the laptop. On all other computers on the network the modification time is 10: 47. But he is working LIVE. No matter if it's a synchronization or not. Therefore, it is the only one to see its changes while everyone should see the changes. It begins to be a serious problem.
June 23rd, 2010 4:33pm

Hi, I have exactly the same problem. Configuration: a Windows-XP computer running as a "small business server" and a laptop running Windows 7. Prior Windows 7 and a full XP config, offlines files worked perfectly and if somebody changed the file while being online on the laptop, the file was immediatly synchronised and available on the server. But now when you change the file content on the Windows 7, the file is not synchronised, so the people on the server get the old version ! it is annoying and we are wondering about adopting another synchronisation software ! Can you please people of Microsoft revert to the previous behavior or put a setting to allow that while being online any change on an offline file is immediatly synchronised ? Thanks, Laurent.Laurent Ligeois
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July 14th, 2010 6:05pm

Hi to all, Just an additionnal thing for everybody: to workaround this problem, I configured a sheduled task to synchronise every x minutes. It works fine. Still completly idiot to have to synchronize all while it would be so simple to just work "online", but it's better than nothing ! LaurentLaurent Ligeois
July 17th, 2010 10:02am

Any updates on this? Having the same problem... tried to work it out for dayssss:(( @Laurent How do you exactly do that sync? with mobsync?? Thanx for help Severin
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July 24th, 2010 3:22pm

Windows automatically syncs any changes you made to the files the next time you connect to that network folder.Amolkumar Supe
July 24th, 2010 3:41pm

on Win 7 please try to stop windows search and indexing service open an elevated command prompt, type: net stop wsearch or you can stop it through services management console. check whether that solve the issue. thanks.
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July 27th, 2010 9:04am

btw, i was unable to reproduce the issue mentioned. i created XP, Vista and Win 7. created an shared folder with offline cache enable. on XP, Vista and Win 7, i made the folder always available offline. i copied about 10 files onto the share folder. then i delete the files for testing, but i did not see the issue occuring. on all the clients machine, the file/folder was updated immediately. fyi, all my clients are clean installed without any third party software installed or any GPO applied.
July 27th, 2010 10:26am

it depends what server you're running. If you're running 2008 it will work but if you're running 2000 or 2003 than you've got an issue.
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July 27th, 2010 2:17pm

I am having the same problem with Win 7 pro and Windows 2000 server. It seems that if the user is not granted Admin rights the folder does not sync. XP pro works fine!
July 28th, 2010 9:49am

Hi! I am having the same issue with server 2003 and win 7 pro. Any updates to this case??
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January 7th, 2011 2:46pm

I have not found a solution on this issue!!
January 19th, 2011 5:38pm

In a previous post you mention that Server 2000 & 2003 are a problem but not 2008. Is that still the case, or are you still having this problem. I ask, because we just went to Windows 7 and are experiencing the same issues. We are running a back end Win 2000 Server.
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February 17th, 2011 8:49am

Does this group policy solve your problem? http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/61328-offline-files-doent-update-files-changed-locally.html
February 24th, 2011 4:15am

Does this group policy solve your problem? http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/61328-offline-files-doent-update-files-changed-locally.html worked for me...
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February 27th, 2011 6:01am

Does this group policy solve your problem? http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/61328-offline-files-doent-update-files-changed-locally.html worked for me... Ryan, Did you update the group policy on the SBS 2003 server? Not only am I having this problem but when a user opens an AutoCAD file in a directory marked as "available Offline", the file disappears from the directory listing for the other users.
February 28th, 2011 2:19am

Hiya, If the files dissappear from the network for other users, are D5434(or there abouts).TMP files appear? If so, that's a separate bug, which can be fixed with either SP1 or the single patch, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2434932
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March 4th, 2011 7:09pm

I have network folders setup for use offline. When im online and another user deletes files from those folders, i dont see those deletions until i reboot or force a manual sync. How do you make that to show real time. So that when another user deletes files in folders i have set to use offline... however im online connected/authenticated to the network, i can see those changes real time. thanks, Hey All - Seems I'm not alone in my frustration!! Have been grappling this issue now for longer than I care to think about! I have tried everything - enabled transparent caching, checked the slow network settings, all sorts! My OS landscape is WIN7 (now with SP1) and Win 2K3 SP2 servers. I have tried building a 2k8 R2 files server but the problem still exists. I have seen some posts on DIR/Share perms which haven't cured. I've even tried with a test sand box environment having everyone set top full control in terms of folder permissions - alas to no avail. Indexing is running fine on the servers and folder re-direction works on the initial logon to re-direct Documents, AppData, Desktop, Favourites, etc The Problem - the users home directory perminatley sits in CSC-CACHE, however..... a curve ball for MS. When i put the users in the local admin group, the experience is as should be! Users data attaches back to NTFS vol fine and syncs perfectly in the background. So for this reason alone, i fail to conclude that this is "by design" I've even trying going off piste and tried hacking some DCOM stuff but alas.... no joy It's just so frustrating it works as a local admin but not a user - no matter what GP is applied/not applied - it's not even an option to have the users in local admins or anarchy would ensue! Any help/comments/direction would be most welcome It's just bizarre - used to work fine in XP!
March 18th, 2011 1:41pm

Hi there Guys I am having the very same issue, is there no quick fix for this problem? Santosh
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April 7th, 2011 6:46pm

Having exactly the same problem also. Win 7 Ent Ed. Have attempted all suggestions and Group Policy mods without success. What strikes me is how 'hard' this failure is - it's not at all intermittent, but fails on every newly imaged machine, but there does not appear to be an acknowledgement from MS on the issue as far as I can see. Laurent, Can you explain how you scheduled a sync? I don't see a command & switch combo to do this. Thanks.
May 5th, 2011 5:21pm

Neil-C: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2434932 That worked.. we've been seeing that exact issue for a while now. Server backend is not relevant ;-) It doesnt look like this was included in SP1 either. Sven.
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May 10th, 2011 7:47pm

Hi, We are having the exact same problem. Offline files in windows 7 do not sync when the computers are connected to our lan network. Have tested the solutions provided here, but no luck. The only solution is to sync manually each time before opening a network file :(. @Microsoft: please come with a proper solution for this issue. Thanks
May 16th, 2011 4:36pm

Hi, We are having the exact same problem. Offline files in windows 7 do not sync when the computers are connected to our lan network. Have tested the solutions provided here, but no luck. The only solution is to sync manually each time before opening a network file :(. @Microsoft: please come with a proper solution for this issue. Thanks Same issue here as well.
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May 16th, 2011 8:00pm

Hi, Same here. Basically fine using XP clients. If using 7 then changes made offline are not synced back to network drive when back on the network. Tried local admin rights. Using Transparent Caching with 1ms setting. Many other Group policy settings Only way it works is manual sync.... More than frustrating GB
May 18th, 2011 3:33pm

Did you ever get an answer on this bsumandig? I'm fairly sure we used to have this same issue, and the only thing I've patched is KB 2434932 (it's v2 of that KB that will download) to resolve an issue with Temp files appearing and stuff being stuck in Offline files on client machines. This did replace the CSC.sys file though, and a few others which I think has fixed other problems (network dropoffs, Auto caching of files etc). I tested against a 2003 server. I'll try a 2008 and a 2000 box too to see if there's any problem with them now.
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May 18th, 2011 6:15pm

I'm having the same problem with redirected offline enabled libraries. Win7Prox86 and Server 2008R2. Silly!
May 18th, 2011 11:28pm

Any updates on this here? We also are having the same problem for more than a year now and it's annoying!!! MICROSOFT, JUST DO SOMETHING!!!!!
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August 10th, 2011 12:04pm

I am also running into exactly the same problem: "Offlines files" fail to update on the server when I am *on line*. I have to manually force a sync to get these files udpated on the server. And contrary to what some clueless idiot stated earlier in this thread, this behavior is definitely *NOT* by disign!!! Microsoft, we need a fix, months ago!!!!
August 15th, 2011 9:34am

We just started having this problem. But we just migrated our share's file storage to be hosted on a Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise 64-bit server. We did not have this problem with Windows 2008 R2 Standard 64-bit. Is anyone using 2008 Standard R2 and still having the problem?
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August 24th, 2011 9:51pm

We are seeing the same issue with Win7Pro on server 2003. Very frustrating. I haven't replaced any more XP machines because of this problem. The few users I have on Win7 complain frequently.
August 24th, 2011 11:33pm

We have faced similar issues, but have managed to resolve it after alot of jiggery pokery... We had indications in the Event viewer-> Applications and Service Logs->Microsoft->Windows->Offliine Files->Operational :P log, that machines were jumping into Offline mode, even on the LAN. As far as our network was concerned, we didn't appear on the surface to have any issues. Since then, a combination of cleaning up the network (just tidying up vlans, IOS versions, clearing out old clusters, removing VTP,the list goes on) finding out we had a slightly broken peice of software (LANDesk Host intrustion prevention creating a log file and slowing the whole machine down, it wasn't even supposed to be running!) Clearing out (in Sync centre) Temporary Offline files Corrupt CSC - This was caused during the rollout process on a large number of machines.. The fix for that was to disable Offline Files, then adding the value of: FormatDatabase(DWORD) 1, in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Csc\Parameters Reboot, then renable Offline files, then reboot once more. After the 2nd reboot, you'll see that the Format Database line has been removed from the registry. Immediately after you've done this, set up the Offline files you want again, then retry your operation. We had this problem alot to start, but only suffer this problem now very rarely across 1500 users. If this does occur, it is nearly always the case that rebuilding the CSC resolves the issue. That would be a pain if it kept occuring, but it only occurs very rarely since we tidied up the network/machines. The problem was recurring until we tackled the other issues stated at the start of this article. Now everything runs very well. It has taken us 6 months to be able to say that though!!! We had so many issues, each one blended into each other. Still, We've all done very well on the over-time, thankyou MS! ;-)
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August 25th, 2011 11:57am

We have faced similar issues, but have managed to resolve it after alot of jiggery pokery... We had indications in the Event viewer-> Applications and Service Logs->Microsoft->Windows->Offliine Files->Operational :P log, that machines were jumping into Offline mode, even on the LAN. As far as our network was concerned, we didn't appear on the surface to have any issues. Since then, a combination of cleaning up the network (just tidying up vlans, IOS versions, clearing out old clusters, removing VTP,the list goes on) finding out we had a slightly broken peice of software (LANDesk Host intrustion prevention creating a log file and slowing the whole machine down, it wasn't even supposed to be running!) Clearing out (in Sync centre) Temporary Offline files Corrupt CSC - This was caused during the rollout process on a large number of machines.. The fix for that was to disable Offline Files, then adding the value of: FormatDatabase(DWORD) 1, in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Csc\Parameters Reboot, then renable Offline files, then reboot once more. After the 2nd reboot, you'll see that the Format Database line has been removed from the registry. Immediately after you've done this, set up the Offline files you want again, then retry your operation. We had this problem alot to start, but only suffer this problem now very rarely across 1500 users. If this does occur, it is nearly always the case that rebuilding the CSC resolves the issue. That would be a pain if it kept occuring, but it only occurs very rarely since we tidied up the network/machines. The problem was recurring until we tackled the other issues stated at the start of this article. Now everything runs very well. It has taken us 6 months to be able to say that though!!! We had so many issues, each one blended into each other. Still, We've all done very well on the over-time, thankyou MS! ;-)
August 25th, 2011 11:57am

How do you disable and renable offline Files prior to resetting CSC?
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September 9th, 2011 5:49pm

I am having exactly the similiar problem, and was happy to find this forum, however after reading through all the posts, there are no solution. I'm determined to find something, howevwer don't have the resources to engage Microsoft. One would think they would have a solution.
November 1st, 2011 10:15am

Bump. Any fixes to this as yet? Very, very, very Frustrating! Win7 sp1 client with W2k08 R2 file server (non DFS share). Users select entire home drive share by manually 'Make available Offline', GPO also sets all sub folders, but new folders/files created offline do not sync back automatically when on-line again.... has to have a manual sync (right click on the file that says 'Offline Status: Offline(need to sync)' .... btw Windows 7 SP1 contains the three KB's mentioned above already...
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January 29th, 2012 6:18pm

I can confirm this behaviour, too. The offline-functionality is working absolutely inconsistent in Windows 7. I'm on this topic since more a than a year now. When a file is modified / saved on/to an offline synced folder, the file appears on the server minutes to hours later. The other way around sometimes files aren't synced to the workstation when made available offline. In my case it's Windows 7 SP1 with a patch level from about November / 2011 with SBS2008. I also noticed problems with the (automatically) offline synced personal folders (moved to server share via GPO): sometimes files don't sync or sync hours later to the share. We almost lost user files during a migration because of that! In this case W7 SP1 with SBS2003.
February 9th, 2012 11:00am

I have the same issue. I've set folder redirection through GPO and the files never sync once the user reconnects to the network. They sit @ "Offline (need to sync)" What is even more annoying is that administrators can schedule the sync to happen at logon or when the PC is idle but regular users cannot. At least if we could schedule the sync policy through GPO.
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February 23rd, 2012 4:18pm

Wow, nearly two years since this question was posted and still no worthwhile contribution from Microsoft. We are also seeing behavior similar to this. We're running Windows 7 clients on a SBS 2011 network. We are not doing folder redirection, but rather we have users taking certain file shares offline to work from home or on the road (works much better/faster than the VPN). However, when they get back to the office occasionally they find themselves editing the same file another user is, or referring another user to check out a file they created while offline which is not actually in the share. Turns out their PC is using the local cache and not the network cache for some file access, but it insists that the user is working online. Typically if the user forces a manual sync and resolves any conflicts or errors that arise, they can be 99 percent sure they are working online for real, but without double-checking against open files on the server there's really no way to know for sure. This has absolutely destroyed user confidence in this technology which used to work OK (where this is concerned anyway - it still had some flaws) in Windows XP. I saw a post in the partner forum where a moderator basically said "oh yeah, I can totally reproduce that in my lab and that's a shame...try Sharepoint." Absurd. Seems like Microsoft is basically taking the stance that Offline Files is only worth using for folder redirection where only one user is likely to be using the files. If that's the case then as long as the data syncs eventually it's probably not a huge deal that this happens. If, however, you're using Offline Files to sync a shared directory this can have disastrous consequences with documents being edited simultaneously for hours or even days before finally someone realizes the problem and then one user or the other gets to redo their changes. If they can't make them work right, then they could at least give us more transparencey so the user can see what's going on. I hated the stupid "you are now working offline" popups in Windows XP as much as the next guy, but I'd kill to get them back now, if only to avoid this stuff. When a user browses to their share that's been made "always available offline" and it says "Offline status: Online" then it should be using files from the LAN, not the cache.
March 9th, 2012 10:20am

I've been experiencing this also, on a number of client sites. Looking through the policies, I noticed Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Network/Offline Files/Configure slow-link mode. From the details : When Offline Files is operating in the slow-link mode, all network file requests are satisfied from the Offline Files cache. This is similar to a user working offline. However, users can manually initiate synchronization by using Sync Center. After synchronization completes, computers running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 continue to operate in the slow-link mode until the user clicks the Work Online button on the toolbar in Windows Explorer. This transitions the shared folder to the online mode. While in the online mode, Windows periodically checks the connection to the server. If the connection is slow, Offline Files transitions the folder back to the slow-link mode. This setting is enabled by default in Windows 7. I've set the policy to disable this on one of my problem networks, to see if it resolves the issue. Wasn't mentioned throughout the thread, could be worth trying for those still struggling with this issue. I'll report back in a few days, after the settings had time to propagate to the various laptops that come and go.Nigel Benfell B.Sc. MCSA
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March 14th, 2012 11:06pm

I have just inherited this issue and was curious if you (Nigel) or anyone else who has tried his suggestion, because i was leaning toward testing the same things but am waiting for your results first.
April 3rd, 2012 11:29am

Unfotunately my results are inconclusive, I've not had any more complaints, but haven't been able to get onsite to verify whether the issue is resolved properly or not.Nigel Benfell B.Sc. MCSA
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April 3rd, 2012 4:19pm

After spending a lot of time in research and tests, here is my solution: Convert all your 2003 Office documents to 2007 formats (xls -> xlsx ; doc -> docx ; etc.) Let me explain how Ive discovered it! Lets say, we have 2 PCs: - PC_A (the one with offline folders) - PC_B (directly connected to shared folders) On PC_A, I created a TXT file in offline folder which was online. Then, on PC_B, I opened the shared folder and my TXT was there. On PC_A, I modified the TXT, saved and closed it. Back to PC_B, I opened the TXT and the modifications were there. I noticed I only had the issue with 2003 format Office documents (xls, doc, etc.). So I converted a doc file to docx and since then, any modification from PC_A has been instantaneously available for PC_B (its working both ways). I also have noticed that whenever I opened a 2007 office file from PC_A and then tried to open it from PC_B, I get the famous popup which informs you that the file is already open and you can open a read copy only. Im not getting this behavior with 2003 Office files, I can open the same file at the same time from PC_A and PC_B without any warning. So, I converted all my 2003 Office files to 2007 format and since, I never had a problem. I assume there is a dysfunction between W7 Offline files and 2003 Office format... Anyway, I hope this will help you folks!
April 6th, 2012 12:24pm

We've been struggling with a similar issue here - Nigel and Reese's answers helped to point me in the right direction. In our case the problem was specific to *.xls files - *.xlsx does not cause any issues. Nor it seems do any other Office file types. We're about to start migrating to Windows 7 SP1, Office 2010 SP1 from XP SP3/Office 2003. If a user has a *.xls file in their offline files cache on a Windows 7 machine (ie by default if that file is in a redirected documents folder) and they open/edit it, it looks like it's saved cleanly but in fact it is only saved in the local cache - even if the user is connected to the network. This is regardless of slow link detection settings. The registry fix in this KB article seems to have worked for us: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974070 (Obviously changing the reg path from 12 to 14 to reflect Office 2010 rather than 2007). Might help some of you?
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April 30th, 2012 11:17am

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