The offline files feature lets users of Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise "pin" files stored on network shares, making those files available on their own computers, whether or not the network is online. When you mark a folder or file as always available offline, Windows copies that item to a cache on your own computer. When you take your computer offline, you can go on working with the cached items as though you were still connected to the network. When you reconnect, Windows automatically synchronizes the cached items with their network counterparts. The offline files feature is useful even if you never intentionally disconnect from the network.

If the network goes down (or simply slows down significantly), Windows begins using cached items instead of their server-based counterparts; when the connection is restored or the logjam breaks, your files are synchronized. You can also simply opt to work with cached files instead of network-based files even when the network is online.

Synchronization of offline files normally occurs whenever you reconnect to the network-or, if you choose to work offline while you're connected to the network, whenever you return to online status. Background synchronization, by default, occurs approximately every six hours while you are connected. You can also perform ad hoc synchronization, synchronize on a schedule of your choosing, or set up an event-driven synchronization schedule- for example, stipulate that Windows should synchronize whenever you lock or unlock your Windows account. The option to synchronize on demand is particularly important; to ensure that your offline cache holds the latest versions of any files you intend to use when you go offsite, you should perform an ad hoc synchronization right before you disconnect.

Files cached for offline access are indexed by default, so you can search for them the same way you would any other indexed file.