Windows XP Hacks

Take Your Work on the Go with Offline Files and the Briefcase

Two ways that road warriors can more easily take files with them when they leave home or the office—and synchronize files back to their desktop PCs when they return.

If you use a laptop on a corporate LAN, you might sometimes store files on the network and forget to bring them home or with you on the road. This frequently happens to people who, like me, are absent-minded on occasion (or more than one occasion—after all, I once left my car keys in the refrigerator).

If you have XP Professional, you can use its Offline Files feature to automatically synchronize folders from the LAN to your notebook so that whenever you leave the office the latest version of your files will be available. To enable the use of offline files, choose My Computer → Tools → Folder Options → Offline Files tab (shown in Figure 3-21), and select the checkbox next to Enable Offline Files.

Figure 3-21. Enabling offline files

Tip

You won’t be able to use Offline Files if you have enabled Fast User Switching. To turn off Fast User Switching, choose Control Panel → User Accounts → “Change the way users log on or off,” uncheck the box next to Use Fast User Switching, and click Apply Options.

As you can see, there are a number of options on this tab for using offline files. Here’s what you need to know about each to take best advantage of offline file synchronization: ...