Abstract: A system and method for providing remote content access in portal environments operating on is provided. A portal environment executing in a web browser on a local computer (e.g., a laptop, PC, or PDA) allows access to local and remote applications and data. Local and remote applications from multiple vendors are integrated using an application integration service, and access thereto is provided in the portal environment. A portal services module handles requests generated by the user from the portal environment, and determines whether the user is online or offline. If the user is online, a remote portal catalog is downloaded from a remote server, and dates therein are compared to file dates of the requested content to determine whether the local content is out of date. If the local content is out of date, updated versions of the content are downloaded from the remote server to update the local content. The updated content is provided to the user, and is accessible when the user is both online and offline.