Tip: how to make Outlook reconnect faster to an Exchange server

I have a problem.

In our company we use MS Exchange as a mail server and we’re away from the company network we can connect to Exchange via a special VPN software. This software disconnects pretty often. When I reconnect it takes quite a while for Outlook to figure out there a working connection. It does eventually but I have to wait for that to happen since I want to make sure a mail is being sent correctly.

I found out that setting “Work offline” on and off quickly makes Outlook connect a lot faster:

There’s this problem though – it’s tedious to go click on the menu and then on the menu item so many times per day. So a solution:

1. Right click somewhere on the toolbar –> Customize:
   
   
   
   
2. Make a new toolbar:
    
   
   
3. Then the most unnatural step – drag the menu item from the File menu to the new toolbar:
   
   
   
4. Press Ctrl while dragging, this way the button will be copied, not moved.
5. That’s pretty much it. Now pressing the button quickly is very easy: