Keep Working When You'e Not Online
How to read e-mail, browse the Web without Net access.
Mon, March 09, 2009
Macworld — Although the Internet seems to be everywhere these days, there are still times when it's beyond your reach—on a plane, for example, or anyplace that lacks a handy hotspot. But you can still do two things that typically require a Net connection—use e-mail and browse the Web—even when you're offline. All you need to do is be prepared ahead of time.
E-mailYou obviously can't send or receive e-mail without an Internet connection. But you can read messages you've already received and compose replies and new messages; those last two will simply wait patiently until you're online again.
Before You Leave: If you use just one Mac for e-mail, and if you access all your accounts using POP, your incoming messages are automatically downloaded to your computer. If you set your e-mail client to skip or partially retrieve large messages, you should change that before you go offline.
In Mail, choose Mail -> Preferences, click on Accounts, and select your POP account in the list on the left. On the Advanced tab, make sure the Prompt Me To Skip Messages Over field is empty.
In Entourage, choose Tools -> Accounts, click on the Mail tab, and double-click your POP account. In the Edit Account window, go to the Options tab and make sure the Partially Receive Messages Over box is deselected.
If you have one or more IMAP, MobileMe, or Exchange accounts, your e-mail client still likely downloads local copies of your messages--but you should check a few settings to be sure.
In Mail, choose Mail -> Preferences, click on Accounts, and select your IMAP, MobileMe, or Exchange account in the list on the left. On the Advanced tab, make sure the Keep Copies Of Messages For Offline Viewing pop-up menu is set to All Messages And Their Attachments.
Entourage syncs Exchange accounts automatically. If you have an IMAP account, choose Tools -> Accounts, click on the Mail tab, then double-click the IMAP account name. In the Edit Account window, go to the Options tab. Make sure Always Download Complete Message Bodies is selected, and that In Inbox Only and Partially Receive Messages Over are deselected. Also select Live Sync and Connect Immediately On Launch; deselect Only Connect To Inbox and Disconnect From Server After X Minutes.
To make sure Entourage downloads all IMAP messages in their entirety and keeps them in sync automatically, configure your account settings as shown here.
