Will making a network folder "Always available offline" increase file access speed?

You can enable Transparent Caching to define the round trip delay before Windows will use the local copy on a read.

Normally, Windows will use the network copy unless you go offline.

There is a TechNet article on Windows 7 File Sharing and Offline Files Enhancements.

Making a folder “Always available offline” creates a local copy of the folder’s files, adds those files to the index, and keeps the local and remote copies in sync. Users can manually sync locations which are not indexed remotely and are not using folder redirection to gain the benefits of being indexed locally.

if i read this correctly, the user will be working with a local copy and the folder will be synced (automatically or manually) when the network connection is available.

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