You can also use filters in specific folders in Outlook so that not all information is cached offline.
For example, you can tell outlook that Deleted Items older than 3 months shouldn't be cached. Inbox older than 6 months shouldn't be cached, etc.
You can also set Outlook to download headers first, then full message bodies. For remote users, this setting makes it appear their mail all comes in at once. Most end users like it better, they read through the sender/subject before picking mail to actually read. You don't want a big joke message to hold up a ! message from the big boss.
But it sounds like you're having a hard time syncing the machine too. Just be sure to try:
- ping the exchange server by netbios name (exch)
- ping the exchange server by fqdn (exch.domain.local)
- check DNS settings and only use Internal DNS servers if possible
- then press F9 to try to sync Outlook
Steve