Offline Files: Doesn't sync files modified while offline

One of my most popular articles for Google searches has been Folder Redirection of database files causes corruption! Well, it turns out that the Offline Files feature isn't finished providing us with surprises.

The Offline Files feature is supposed to cache network files locally so that users still have access to them when the network is unavailable. This is invaluable for Laptop users who may wish to work on projects while traveling. Users are able to modify the documents in their local cache and have them synchronize automatically when they return to the office and connect to the network. -- That's the theory at least. 90% of our laptop users have reported failures synchronizing their files. The Sync Center reports "Access Denied" for some files and refuses to sync them.

Further investigation revealed that Offline Files was able to sync newly created files but was unable to sync pre-existing files that were modified while offline. This was traced to yet another bug in the Offline Files feature. Here is Microsoft's KB article for the bug:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935663

The Offline Files feature won't be usable until you incorporate the hotfix described in the article. The hotfix is expected to be part of SP1. (It's starting to look like SP1 will fix a lot of Vista bugs after all - Bravo!)