Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Outlook 2011 - Stop Account from Syncing

C

CoMoMacUser

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 28, 2012
1,150
541
Some of my clients give me an email account with their domain. I recently stopped working with one of them, so my credentials no longer are valid. I don't want to delete that account in Outlook in case I ever need those messages one day and in case I resume working for them.

How can I stop Outlook from trying to sync that account? I tried changing the schedule, but Outlook still syncs it and all of my other accounts every 7 minutes. It's annoying to have the Outlook icon bouncing out of the dock.
 
If the account is either IMAP or Exchange, simply Move the messages to a folder under "On My Computer". Delete account after moving.
 
Thanks. It uses IMAP (Gmail). So can I just drag the folder in Outlook onto my desktop?
 
You can drag a folder to the Desktop as .mbox file. Be sure it's less than 2GB or all the messages will not be exported. This is usually between 6000-10,000 messages depending on attachments. I have seen it much less if there are lots of big attachments.

"On My Computer" is used in Outlook's folder list to indicate the messages are in Outlook only and not on a server like IMAP or Exchange. If you don't see "On My Computer", check Preferences > General and uncheck "Hide On My Computer folders.

Exporting as .mbox will allow you to save the messages if needed but they would not be accessible unless you imported into Outlook, Mail or other email client.

Even if you save under "On My Computer" folders in Outlook, also saving the .mbox file will assure these messages would not be lost if your Outlook Identity was corrupted and failed to rebuild.
 
Thanks. I don't see "On My Computer" on the left, although I could have sworn I'd seen it there before. In Preferences, that box was already unchecked. Unfortunately checking it and unchecking it didn't cause "On My Computer" to appear.

Unless there's another option, I'm going to have to delete the account and lose the messages. The log-in prompt pops up so frequently that it's rendered Outlook unusable, and I need to get on with my life.
 
Maybe create a new Office / Outlook Identity, migrate your other email account/s over to the new identity and then set that to be your default identity?

Seems like that would allow you to keep the old client's IMAP account active in a dormant identity. If you ever need to dig through it you could always switch over to it or migrate your other accounts back to it.
 
CoMoMacUser said:
How can I stop Outlook from trying to sync that account? I tried changing the schedule, but Outlook still syncs it and all of my other accounts every 7 minutes. It's annoying to have the Outlook icon bouncing out of the dock.
Click to expand...

I too would like to stop the syncing of an Outlook account.

My reasoning is that I use my laptop at work & home. When at work I am behind a firewall and Outlook works as expected. When I get home - it tries to sync my work account - but can't.

Any help appreciated...

Thanks,

SparkyCanada
 
CoMoMacUser said:
Thanks. I don't see "On My Computer" on the left, although I could have sworn I'd seen it there before.
Click to expand...

Add a POP account and "On My Computer" will show up.

----------
SparkyCanada said:
When I get home - it tries to sync my work account - but can't.
Click to expand...

At home you'll have to open the Account then click on Advanced > Server. Set to 999 minutes or higher. This way it won't connect while you are at home.
 
Create an Identity without the Exchange account with only your home account. If it's POP then you won't be happy with the results when you switch back to your main Identity.

You might consider using Apple Mail for the personal account and Outlook for work only. Mail is more stable for POP accounts and any data stored under "On My Computer" folders.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back