Offline Address Book Errors

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This is for Exchange 2003 ONLY. For the version for Exchange 2007, click here: Offline Address Book Errors - Exchange 2007

With the introduction of cached mode in Outlook 2003 and higher, the Exchange offline address book has become more critical.

This has caused a number of new issues to be seen, or old ones more regularly:

Changes made to accounts or lists and not being seen in the global address list on the Outlook 2003 clients.
Error messages being logged in Exchange or Outlook.

Changes to the GAL not being seen

Verify that the GAL is up to date on the server

Before starting to find out why the GAL updates aren't being seen, you can check on the Exchange 2003 server itself that the GAL is updating correctly.

In Exchange System Manager, Go to "Recipients", "All Global Address Lists".
Right click on "Default Global Address List" and choose "Properties".
On the first tab there is a button marked "Preview". Click that This will show you the complete address list.

If your updated entry is shown then the GAL on the Exchange is up to date.

Getting those changes to be seen by the client

Outlook 2003 and higher cached mode and Offline Folders in older versions of Outlook use the offline address book (OAB). This is downloaded from the Exchange server.

If Outlook is running all the time, then it is downloaded every 24 hours. This cannot be changed.
It is also downloaded when Outlook is started.

If you want the changes to be seen more quickly, then there are two things that you need to do:

Rebuild the Address Book

If you have had to make any changes then you need to rebuild the address book. This has also been known to fix some of the problems.

Open Exchange System Manager then Expand Recipients, Offline Address Book.
Right click on the default and choose Rebuild.
Wait. Depending on the size of your GAL, the address book rebuild may take some time.

Ask the clients to download their address book again.
To manually download the address book:
1. Tools, Send/Receive
2. Choose "Download Address Book...".
3. Click OK to the option.

Automatically Updating the Offline Address Book

If you make frequent changes to the domain which need to be reflected in the GAL faster than the scheduled update time, then you can change the frequency that the offline address list is updated. While changing rebuild schedule for the OAB isn't recommended by Microsoft, but you may wish to make the change.

Start ESM.
Open Recipients, then Offline Address Lists.
Right click on "Default Offline Address List" and choose "Properties".
On the first tab, adjust the "Update Interval" to "Use Custom Schedule".
Click on Customize.
Select which hours you want the update to run. The frequency should depend on the size of your address book and how frequent the changes are made.
A good suggestion would be to run the update three times a day - approx 6am to ensure that early starters get their updates - approx middy to catch any changes made in the morning - approx 6pm to catch any changes made during the afternoon.

Exchange Server Errors:

Event ID: 9331 - OALGen encountered error 80040107 (internal ID 501023d) accessing the public folder store while generating the offline address list for address list '/' - Default Global Address List
Event ID: 9335 - OALGen encountered error 80040107 while cleaning the offline address list public folders under /o=<Organization name>/cn=addrlists/cn=oabs/cn=Default Global Address List. Please make sure the public folder store is mounted and replicas exist of the offline address list folders. No offline address lists have been generated

Outlook Errors:

16:00:12 Synchronizer Version 11.0.6352
16:00:12 Synchronizing Mailbox 'John Smith'
16:00:12 Synchronizing Hierarchy
16:00:12 Done
16:00:12 Microsoft Exchange offline address book
16:00:12 0X8004010F

Resolutions

There are a number of resolutions to these problems.

Replicas

The first thing to check is the replicas for the Offline Address Book on the Exchange server itself.

Open Exchange System Manager then expand Admin Groups, <your admin group>, Folders, Public Folders.
Right click on Public Folders and choose "Show View System Folders".
Follow the Instructions below.

Replication Check

Find the folder "Offline Address Book".
The main folder and each of its sub folders should be checked to ensure that there is at least one server listed. If you only have one Exchange server then there will be just one listed. If you have more then it should be replicated to them all. None of the replica tabs should be blank.
If there is an invalid server listed, remove it.

Global Address Book Assigned to the Offline Address Book

The Offline Address Book uses the Global Address List (GAL) to build its content. If you have been customising the GAL, then you may have an invalid address book listed.

Open Exchange System Manager then Expand Recipients, Offline Address Book.
Right click on the default and choose Properties.
On the first tab (General) make sure that a valid GAL is listed under "Address Lists".

Offline Address Book errors after Upgrade to Exchange 2003: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817377
Error 9031 and you cannot rebuild the offline address book: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842032
Administering the Offline Address Book in Outlook 2003:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841273

Exchange 2003