Synchronize Outlook with FolderShare

If you have to use Microsoft Outlook on more than one computer you may want to keep the data synchronized to  always work with the latest emails. This is something that can't be accomplished in Outlook which means that we have to rely on third party tools to synchronize the mails between several Outlook installations.

One way to sync mails between different Outlook clients is to use a free software called Folder Share which helps you synchronize files and folders using peer to peer connections. This essentially means that you can use it to sync any data and not only the data from Outlook.

FolderShare has to be installed on all computers that you use and one account has to be created as well if you do not have one already. The software will ask you during installation if you have an account, if you select No it will automatically ask for registration. You can later on use the data from that account on the other computers as well.

You do need to install FolderShare to at least two computers to be able to sync files which should be pretty obvious. Once it is installed on two computers you click on the 'Sync My Folders' button on the master computer and navigate to your Outlook.pst file which can be found in C:\ Documents and Settings\ USERNAME\ Local Settings\ Application Data\ Microsoft\ Outlook if you kept the default path.

Now create a new folder for each other device that you want to sync and name it accordingly (Outlook Sync perhaps). You can select to automatically synchronize the data which is recommended. FolderShare needs to be running on at least two devices to sync the data.

Update: Foldershare has been bought by Microsoft and integrated into Windows Live products. The program is not available anymore as a standalone software to synchronize Microsoft Outlook.

An alternative that you have at your disposal is to connect only IMAP accounts to Outlook instead of Pop3. While this may not always be possible, depending on whether that is supported by the email provider. IMAP mails (both incoming and outgoing) are stored on the server so that they are accessible by any client or version of Outlook that you connect with regardless of location or time you do so.

If IMAP is not supported, you can use file synchronization software such as Dropbox or SkyDrive to sync your Outlook PST file across systems. You do need to modify the location of the PST file in Outlook on the other hand so that all versions of Outlook load it automatically on start.

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