working offline to working online.

Question

I still cannot get the offline off my computer to working online. I use the old outlook. I can get it off the online Google, but that doesn't have my contact information.

Answer 1

In classic (old) Outlook, the “Working Offline” state is controlled inside Outlook itself, not on Google or other webmail. Use these steps directly in classic Outlook on the PC that has the contacts:

1. Open classic Outlook.
2. Look at the bottom status bar of the Outlook window:
   • If it shows Working Offline, Disconnected, or Trying to connect…, Outlook is not connected to the mail server.
3. On the ribbon at the top, select the Send/Receive tab.
4. In the Preferences group, select Work Offline once.
   • If the Work Offline button background was shaded (offline), clicking it will unshade it and switch Outlook back online.
   • Check the status bar again; Working Offline should disappear and change to a connected status.
5. If messages are stuck, open any unsent message and send it again, or choose Send/Receive to force a sync.

If Outlook still will not connect:

1. Confirm the PC is online:
   • Open a browser and go to a site like http://www.microsoft.com or http://www.bing.com.
   • If those do not open, fix the network connection first.
2. If the status still shows Working Offline, repeat the Send/Receive > Work Offline click until the status changes to connected.
3. If Outlook shows Disconnected instead of Working Offline, there may be a server or account configuration issue. In that case, verify the account settings or contact the mail provider.

These steps affect only classic Outlook on the computer (where the contacts are stored) and are independent of Google’s web interface.

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References:

• Work offline in Outlook
• I can't send or receive messages in Outlook