Sync basics - what you can and cannot sync

When you use a Microsoft Exchange accountAn account managed by Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft Exchange accounts are used by organizations with many users. They make it possible to synchronize e‑mail, calendars, and contacts between multiple computers. in Outlook, your e-mail messages, contacts, calendar events, and any other Microsoft Exchange folders are synchronized automatically. Your information is always up to date in Outlook and on the server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server. The following table lists the Outlook items that synchronize and do not synchronize with the Exchange server.

Your information is also available to any other applications that you use to connect to your Exchange server, such as Outlook for Windows. If you are using both Outlook for Mac and Outlook for Windows to access the same Microsoft Exchange account, you should be aware of some differences in how the two applications display information:

Sync Services is a central database on your Macintosh computer that keeps track of applications and devices that share information. You can use Sync Services to synchronize your Outlook calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes with other applications, such as the Apple Address Book, iCal, and Apple Mail.

After you turn on Sync Services for your Outlook data, you can use iTunes to sync that data with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. You can also use iSync, an application that is included with Mac OS X, to sync data with an iSync-compatible mobile phone or PDA.

With a MobileMe account, you can use Sync Services to share your Outlook mail and contacts with other people or with Outlook for Mac on another computer.

Note  MobileMe will no longer sync with Sync Services as of May 5th, 2011. As a result, Outlook for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1 calendars that sync with Sync Services on the Mac will not sync with MobileMe calendars. For more information about MobileMe, see Sync Outlook contacts and notes with MobileMe.

If you want to sync your IMAPA common type of Internet-based mail account such as Gmail, AOL Mail, and many others. Messages from these accounts appear in folders in the Outlook folder list, under the name of the account. e-mail, you first need to add the account to Outlook. For more information about how to add an account, see Add an e-mail account.

After that, there are two synchronizationWhen Outlook compares its information with the corresponding information in another location, such as in a different application, on a mobile device, or on a server and then updates both locations with the most recent information. options: using IMAP IDLE (also known as "Live Sync") and creating schedules for subscribed folders. You can use IMAP IDLE to maintain the connection to the IMAP server and apply changes that you make to the read, unread, or flagged status of messages on the server. But you can maintain the connection to only one folder at a time. You can also create schedules that synchronize your subscribed folders in Outlook with the IMAP mail server.

You can use IMAP IDLE and schedules to perform the following actions:

For more information about IMAP IDLE, see IMAP account server settings.

If you want to sync your POPA common type of Internet-based mail account. Examples are Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. After you add a POP account to Outlook, messages from the account appear in the folder list under On My Computer. e-mail, you first need to add the account to Outlook. For more information about how to add an account, see Add an e-mail account.

After that, you can use schedules to set when you want Outlook to synchronize with the POP mail server by sending or receiving mail messages.

You can also set your POP account's server options to leave a copy of each message on the server, delete messages after a set number of days, or delete messages after you delete them in Outlook.

You can use schedules or server options to perform the following actions:

For more information about POP server settings, see POP account server settings. For more information about schedules, see Create, change, or delete a schedule.