Overview

This article describes the different ways to increase Outlook Connector Synchronization Days Span. By default, the Outlook Connector synchronizes and keeps the last 365 days worth of email headers.

Diagnosis

Mails older than a set time period are not showing in the Archiver mailbox in Microsoft Outlook after installing the Outlook Connector. 

Prerequisites

Outlook Connector must be installed either via manual installation or the .msi package using GPO

Solution

Caution: Increasing the number of days which are synchronized by the Outlook Connector can have a negative impact on performance (especially on the server side).

The number of days can be configured in 2 ways:

Group Policy Object (GPO)

Configure the GFI Archiver Outlook Connector days span setting within the GPO as needed. GFI Archiver contains an adm-template which can be used in combination with a GPO to configure client-side settings including the number of days to synchronize. Please refer to Installing Outlook Connector via GPO for guidance on how to set this up.

GeneralSettings.xml (per Outlook Connector and per user)

1. Close Microsoft Outlook.
2. Navigate to the user Local Settings folder and locate the GFI\Archiver path:
   • Microsoft Windows Vista or newer: c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\GFI\Archiver
   • Microsoft Windows XP: c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\GFI\Archiver
3. Open the GeneralSettings.xml file using a text editor, such as Notepad.
4. Locate the SynchronizeDaysSpan element and change the value from 365 (default) to the number of days worth of emails you want to see in the Outlook Connector.

   For Example, To view the last 3 years worth of emails set the line as:

   <SynchronizeDaysSpan>1095</SynchronizeDaysSpan>

5. Save and close the GeneralSettings.xml file.
6. Delete the local cache from the same directory. This is typically a long number with FDB extension. If you are not sure which one you want to delete, open the StoreSettings.xml and locate the Store ID attributed with the user whose cache you want to affect.
7. Open Microsoft Outlook.
8. Leave Microsoft Outlook open until the GFI Archiver store synchronizes.

Testing

After configuring the SynchronizeDaysSpan, restart Microsoft Outlook and select Synchronize Now within the Outlook Connector ribbon to start a synchronization immediately. 

After the synchronization occurs view the mailbox in the navigation pane and confirm older mail is now visible.

NOTE 
If the SynchronizeDaysSpan value was edited via GPO it may be required to restart the device with a fresh logon for the value to be picked up by the GPO before performing this test. Alternatively launch a Command Prompt. Within the Command Line window, type gpupdate /force and then press Enter on your keyboard which will force the GPO to update within the current logon session.