Microsoft KB Archive/917176

= Information about how Groove workspace synchronization works when a user is inactive for a long time =

Article ID: 917176

Article Last Modified on 10/29/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office Groove 2007
 * Groove Virtual Office 3.1 File Sharing Edition
 * Groove Virtual Office 3.1 Professional Edition
 * Groove Virtual Office 3.1 Project Edition
 * Groove Virtual Office 3.1 Trial Edition
 * Groove Virtual Office 3.0 File Sharing Edition
 * Groove Virtual Office 3.0 Professional Edition
 * Groove Virtual Office 3.0 Project Edition
 * Groove Virtual Office 3.0 Trial Edition
 * Groove Workspace 2.5 Preview Edition
 * Groove Workspace 2.5 Professional Edition
 * Groove Workspace 2.5 Project Edition
 * Groove Workspace 2.5 Standard Edition

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INTRODUCTION
This article describes how workspace synchronization works in Microsoft Office Groove 2007 or in an earlier version of Groove when a user is inactive for a long time.



MORE INFORMATION
When an active manager's synchronization file for a workspace has changes that are more than three weeks old, the manager will see a synchronization message. Additionally, the manager is given the option to clear the synchronization file.

This behavior may occur if a member is offline for a long time. For example, this may occur if a member is offline for three weeks or longer. Alternatively, this behavior may occur if a member never stays online long enough to receive all the changes for that workspace.

If a manager chooses to clear the synchronization information for a member, that member must be reinvited to the workspace to become active in the workspace again.

In Groove Virtual Office 3.0f and in later versions of Groove, this behavior occurs only for workspaces that are larger than 100 megabytes (MB). In earlier versions of Groove, this behavior occurs for workspaces that are any size.

For more information about how to manage workspace synchronization problems, see the &quot;Managing workspace synchronization problems&quot; topic in the Groove Help files. If you are running Groove 2007, see the &quot;Managing workspaces&quot; topic in Microsoft Office Online. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/HA102155341033.aspx

Consider the following scenario. Britta Simon, the manager of a vacation camp's horseback riding program, belongs to the following workspaces:
 * Staff
 * Extended Programs
 * Camper Alerts

She goes on a 25-day leave of absence. While she is gone, the Staff workspace has daily entries in the Discussion tool. On the third day of her absence, the Extended Programs workspace has its first change: a proposed revision for their brochure in the Files tool together with potential graphics in the Picture and Sketchpad tools. On the tenth day of her absence, the Camper Alerts workspace has its only entry, a note that a new camper is allergic to bee stings.

On the twenty-first day of Britta's leave, the managers of the Staff workspace see a synchronization message next to the Staff workspace. A manager of the Staff workspace selects the workspace and then accepts the prompt to clear the synchronization file and suspend Britta from the space.

On the twenty-third day of Britta's leave, twenty-one days after the first change in the Extended Programs workspace since Britta left, a manager of the Extended Programs workspace adds a file to that workspace. Later, the manager sees a synchronization message next to Extended Programs in his workspace list. He selects the workspace and then sees the prompt to clear the synchronization file. Because Britta is a manager of one of the three extended programs and is required to reach a decision on the proposed brochure, the manager ignores the synchronization message. Therefore, the storage resources that are consumed by the workspace continue to grow and occupy more disk space on every member's computer. The manager decides that this is tolerable for another three days.

The Camper Alerts workspace never shows a synchronization message because the oldest change is only sixteen days old when Britta returns.

When Britta returns and starts Groove, Groove fetches the changes for the Extended Programs and Camper Alerts workspaces. When those changes are fetched, she sees that she has a synchronization message next to the Staff workspace. She selects the Staff workspace and receives a message that informs her that she must be reinvited to the workspace to synchronize with it. She clicks Send Message to request an invitation. As soon as another member reinvites her, she receives the updated Staff workspace.

As this scenario demonstrates, synchronization messages depend not only on time, but also on activity. Workspaces that receive regular use are likely to become unsynchronized earlier than less active workspaces. Workspaces will first display a synchronization message when the oldest unsynchronized change is queued for twenty-one days.

Note There are risks to leaving an unsynchronized member as part of a workspace. If the unsynchronized member invites anyone to the workspace when the member is unsynchronized, members who were synchronized can become suspended. Additionally, the workspace data could take a long time and lots of disk and network resources to stabilize. If you leave an unsynchronized member as part of a workspace, make sure that the member understands that he or she should not invite anyone to the workspace until the member comes online and receives all changes.

Additional query words: TCN-00549 Groove2007

Keywords: kbtshoot kbexpertiseinter KB917176

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