Prevent Windows Mail from checking for new emails on the server (work offline)

While staying connected with your colleagues and / or friends by email can be rather practical, it can also become quite a drag on your productivity. So, the best of both worlds is to combine harmoniously the convenient connectivity of email messaging with high productivity levels. There are two ways you can achieve that in Windows Mail: the first one is one was only covered in another tutorial which consists in increasing the amount of minutes that pass before Windows Mail checks for new emails on the server. Another, explained in this tutorial, is simply to "work offline" - by essentially preventing Windows Mail from seeing your internet connection.

Switch to offline mode in Windows Mail

When you are in offline mode, Windows Mail will not check for new emails on the server, regardless of the settings you have customized the determine how often it should check for new emails. Working offline is essentially like working with at an Internet connection.

Let's first show you how to go offline with Windows Mail, and then we will clarify the implications of it on both sending and receiving emails.

• If you are not already inside Windows Mail, open it
• Once inside, go to the File menu
• Choose "Work Offline"
• As soon as you do, Windows Mail will switch to offline mode
• Click again on the File menu, and look at the "Work Offline" menu item: notice the checkmark displayed next to it - this is an easy way to check or confirm if you are currently online or offline - as far as Windows Mail is concerned, since this does not affect any other "non-Microsoft" programs.
  
  An unfortunate side effect is that Internet Explorer is placed in offline mode at the same time - meaning no web surfing possible. But if you turn off "offline mode" in Internet Explorer, it will turn it off in Windows Mail, and undo your going offline for email peace!
• To "switch off" offline mode in Windows Mail, and go back to normal (online) mode, just go back to the file menu and click Work Offline again, to uncheck it and restore your normal email connectivity.

This is all it takes to go online or offline with Windows Mail. Let's now explain what the implications are.

Working offline with Windows Mail and emails - You can override your "offline mode" at any time simply by clicking on the "Send/Receive" dropdown menu in the toolbar (or under Tools > Send/Receive), and manually sending emails you just composed, or checking the mail server for new emails. As long as you have the disciple to stay offline, this trick will make you much more productive!