Do you know the best way to take SharePoint data offline?

<introEmbed body={<> In SharePoint 2010, there are quite a few tools that we can use to take SharePoint data offline. Let’s look at our options: - use Outlook to synchronize document libraries, calendar and contacts offline. - use Excel to take read-only copies of list data offline. - use Access to take list data offline – Access also lets you edit offline and synchronize back. - use SharePoint Workspace (this was Groove) to take entire Site offline, unfortunately this doesn’t work for calendars. </>} />

We think the best way is to use Workspace instead of Outlook:

1. SharePoint Workspace synchronize an entire site
   a. So when lists are renamed it knows about it.
   b. It also knows about new lists that are added to a SharePoint site Figure: SharePoint Workspace synchronizing an entire site
2. Outlook can be quite busy when synchronizing to Exchange server; it is good to not burden it with more work.

While SharePoint Workspace is quite good, we don’t like to store lists in it:

1. Access has better filtering, sorting options when offline