How to Prevent Outlook from Synchronization Logs Error

Situation becomes even worse when you find your mailboxes get disarranged with external logging messages that gather gradually, and can’t be removed without manual techniques. These Outlook synchronization logs are being pushed away in the Sync Issues folder.

This synchronization log error is generally found in the Outlook 2007 and 2010 when clients synchronize local replica copies (inside the OST file) of cached server folders. Indeed, when Outlook is configured in cached Exchange mode these synchronization and log generation errors occur.

Below are several reasons when the synchronization error occurs in Outlook-

        1)  Network problem: When you try to connect Outlook to Exchange Online then the network established between the PC client and Microsoft datacenters might experience network errors.

        2)  Multiple users at a particular time: When several clients try to use the same item over a specific time period. The execution of different activities by different client generates conflicts. For example: when you try to view a particular item using Outlook from your PC and also through your mobile phone, simultaneously. 

It has been a decade for the users experiencing this problem until Microsoft hadn't introduced cached Exchange mode. But now this problem seems to be more critical because the combination of Outlook 2010 and Exchange 2010 seems to generate more logs than ever before.

To resolve this critical issue, configure a new DWORD value in the registry to control synchronization logs generated by Outlook.  Now the value EnableConflictLogging,14.0 for Outlook 2010, and ‘15.0’ for Outlook 2013 is inserted at:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Options

The values can be set up in the following manner:

a          1)   0 (zero) for : Never save modification resolution logs

             2)   1 for : always save modification resolution logs

c          3)    2 for : saving only critical modification resolution logs

Note: Outlook’s default setting is ‘2’ when the value doesn’t exist in the registry.

Now, set the value to 0 in the registry on your system and run Outlook 2010 for couple of days to observe the process. It has been noticed that fewer synchronization logs were generated during the procedure. However, there might be few more reason for less synchronization logs generation like better server connection, lesser network glitches, or may be due to more awareness from the users end.

In-case if above method doesn't seems to be useful, then try another approach in which you need to manage synchronization logs with retention policies. Through this approach, the Exchange will do the task of removing out the Sync Issues folder with the help of MFA (Managed Folder Assistant). These retention policies work for on-premises Exchange 2010 and Exchange Online in office 365.

Using the above mentioned methods doesn't guarantee the resolution of synchronization logs problem. Therefore, the better and most trusted way could be the manual removal of these logs by opening Sync Issue folder on a regular basis.