Public folders are one of the most underused and least understood aspects of Microsoft Exchange Server. Administrators often avoid using public folders because they think they’re difficult to configure and impossible to manage, but nothing could be further from the truth. Public folders add great value to any Exchange organization, especially if users need to collaborate on projects or day-to-day tasks.
If you want to learn to use and replicate public folders, this chapter shows you how. Unleashing the power of public folders is what it’s all about.
Public folders are used to share files and messages within an organization. To maintain security, each public folder can have very specific usage rules. For example, you could create public folders called CompanyWide, Marketing, and Engineering. Whereas the CompanyWide folder would be accessible to all users, the Marketing folder would be accessible only to users in the marketing department and the Engineering folder would be accessible only to users in the engineering department.
Public folders are stored in a hierarchical structure referred to as a public folder tree. There is a direct correspondence between public folder trees and public folder stores. You can’t create a public folder store without first creating a public folder tree, and users can access public folder trees only when they’re part of a public folder store. The only public folder tree accessible to Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) clients, such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, is the default public folder tree. You can access other public folder trees in compliant Web browsers and Microsoft Windows applications. You can also access public folders through the Exchange Information Store.
You can replicate public folders to multiple Exchange servers. These copies of folders, called replicas, provide redundancy in case of server failure and help to distribute the user load. All replicas of a public folder are equal. There is no master replica. This means that you can directly modify replicas of public folders. Folder changes are replicated automatically to other servers.
Public folder trees define the structure of an organization’s public folders. Each tree has its own hierarchy, which you can make accessible to users based on criteria you set. Whereas public folder trees are replicated to all Exchange servers in the organization, folder contents are replicated only to designated servers that host replicas of public folder data. Two types of public folder trees are used with Exchange Server 2003:
Default. This tree, referred to as the MAPI Clients tree in System Manager, is the only tree accessible to MAPI clients. Each Exchange server in the organization has a default public folder store that points to this tree. In System Manager, the default name for this tree is Public Folders. In Outlook, you access this tree through the All Public Folders node.
Alternate. Alternate trees provide additional public folder hierarchies for the Exchange organization but are accessible only to compliant Web browsers and Windows applications. In System Manager, alternate trees are referred to as General Purpose trees. One way to access alternate trees is to use Microsoft Outlook Web Access.
Web browsers and other applications can remotely access public folder trees using Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV). Another way to access a public folder is to use the Exchange Information Store. The next section of this chapter explains how to access public folders using WebDAV and the Exchange Information Store.
Exchange Server 2003 makes it possible to access public folders just about anywhere. You can do the following:
Access public folders through e-mail clients.
Access public folders on the Web or the corporate intranet.
Access public folders through the Information Store.
The following sections explain each of these techniques.
You can access public folders from just about any e-mail client, provided the client is MAPI compliant. The recommended client is Outlook 2003. When Outlook 2003 is configured for Exchange Server, users have direct access to the Public Folders tree but not to alternate trees. When Outlook 2003 is configured for Internet-only use, users can access public folders only when their client is configured for IMAP.
If Outlook is configured properly, users can access public folders by completing the following steps:
Start Outlook 2003. If the Folder List isn’t displayed, click Go, and then select Folder List.
In the Folder List, expand Public Folders and then expand All Public Folders to get a complete view of the available top-level folders. A top-level folder is simply a folder at the next level below the tree root.
Note
Chapter 2, discusses techniques you can use to configure Outlook. Refer to the section of that chapter entitled "Configuring Mail Support for Outlook 2003 and Outlook Express."
You use WebDAV to access public folders over the World Wide Web and the corporate intranet. WebDav is an extension to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Using HTTP and WebDav, clients can create and manage public folders and the items they contain. One way to do this is to access a public folder through an HTTP virtual server hosted by Exchange Server 2003. Simply type the folder’s Uniform Resource Locator (URL) into the browser’s Address or Location field.
To access the public folder tree in a browser, type the URL http://servername/public, where servername is a placeholder for the HTTP virtual server hosted by Exchange Server 2003 and public is the default name of the Public Folders Web share. You can access alternate public folder trees through their Web share as well.
Exchange Server 2003 automatically configures Web sharing and access controls. You can check the configuration by completing the following steps:
In System Manager, expand the node for the Exchange server you want to manage and then expand the Protocols node for this server.
Expand HTTP and then expand Exchange Virtual Server.
You should now see a list of Web shares for the Exchange virtual server. Right-click Public, and then select Properties from the shortcut menu.
Click the Access tab, as shown in Figure 11-1. You can now check the access and application permissions for the share. By default, Exchange Server grants certain access permissions. To allow reading, writing, and directory browsing, you should make sure that these permissions are granted as well. The default permissions granted to the folder are the following:
Read
Write
Script Source Access
Directory Browsing
Because all application permissions are denied, Application Permissions should be set to None.
Real World
Most problems with Web sharing of public folders can be traced to individuals who inadvertently change the access settings. If you restore the original settings, users should regain access to the public folder. Note that only Exchange Server can initialize Web sharing for public folders. If Exchange Server isn’t sharing public folders correctly, you might have incorrectly configured Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) or Outlook Web Access. For details on working with IIS and HTTP virtual servers, see Chapter 16.
Another way to access a public folder is to use the Exchange Information Store. The network path for the Exchange Information Store is \.BackOfficeStorage and you can work with folders within the Information Store in much the same way as you work with network shares.
The BackOfficeStorage path to the Exchange Information Store has the following basic features:
A domain folder for each available domain
A mailbox (MBX) folder that is the root for all mailboxes on the Exchange server
A Public Folders folder that is the root of the default public folder tree
At a command prompt, you can examine the contents of the Information Store using the DIR command. For example, if you are working in the Adatum.com domain and want to see the contents of the Public Folders folder, you could type dir"\.BackOfficeStorageAdatum.comPublic Folders". The quotation marks are required because of the space in the folder name.
Note
In Exchange 2000, the Information Store was accessible using the M drive. The Information Store is no longer mapped to a drive. Virus checkers, backup software, or other programs that perform file-level checks on the M drive could cause corruption of the Exchange Information Store. If users need to access public folders in the Exchange store, they should use an e-mail client or the Web.
The sections that follow discuss key creation and management tasks for public folder trees. The only type of tree that you can create, change, or delete is an alternate tree. You can’t create, change, or delete the default public folder tree. The default tree is created automatically when Exchange Server 2003 is installed and it is managed by Exchange Server 2003.
When you create a new public folder tree, Exchange Server creates an object in Active Directory that represents the tree. The directory object holds the properties and attributes of the tree and must be stored in a specific container. A default container is automatically created in the Exchange organization. If you want to use a different container, you must create the container before you create the public folder tree.
You need to create additional containers for public folder trees only when you use administrative groups. With administrative groups, each group that you create after the first group can have a public folders container. To create this container, follow these steps:
Start System Manager. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
Expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with. If the group already has a Folders node, a public folder tree has already been created and you can’t create another. If the group doesn’t have a Folders node, right-click the group, point to New, and then choose Public Folders Container.
You can now create public folder trees in the container.
To create a public folder tree, follow these steps:
Start System Manager. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
If administrative groups are displayed, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
In the left pane (the console tree), right-click Folders, point to New, and then click Public Folder Tree.
Type a descriptive name for the public folder tree. To make the tree easier to access in Web browsers, don’t use spaces in the tree name. Some browsers don’t understand spaces, and users might have to type the escape code %20 instead of a space.
Click OK. To make the new tree available for use, create a public folder store that uses the tree. See the section of Chapter 10, entitled "Creating Public Folder Stores."
Once you’ve created a public folder tree and added it to a public folder store, authorized users can create subfolders within the tree that can be used to meet different collaboration requirements. These additional folders can contain other folders, items, and messages.
By default, all users can create folders in the public folder tree. To change these security settings and allow only specific users or groups to make changes, you’ll need to perform the following tasks:
Use the procedures outlined in the section of Chapter 8, entitled "Setting Exchange Server Permissions" to designate users and groups who can do the following:
Create public folders
Create top-level public folders
Create named properties in the Information Store
Remove security permissions for the Everyone group
Confirm that the changes are appropriate by testing the security controls.
You can manipulate public folder trees in much the same way that you can manipulate other objects. To rename a public folder tree, follow these steps:
In System Manager, right-click the public folder tree you want to work with.
Select Rename, type a new name, and then press Enter.
If the tree is associated with a public folder store, Exchange Server needs to update all references to the tree. Click Yes when prompted to allow the update to occur.
To copy a public folder tree, follow these steps:
In System Manager, right-click the public folder tree you want to work with, and then select Copy.
In the administrative group node in which you want to create the tree, right-click Folders, and then select Paste.
You’ll see a prompt that says the tree isn’t unique within the Exchange organization. Click OK.
Type a new name for the tree, and then click OK. Exchange Server creates the new tree.
To move a public folder tree, follow these steps:
In System Manager, right-click the public folder tree you want to work with, and then select Cut.
Expand a different administrative group. Right-click Folders in this group, and then select Paste.
Moving the tree changes the directory path to the tree and as a result, the tree might become disconnected from the store it’s associated with. When you click it in System Manager, you’ll see an error stating that the tree is no longer available.
To reconnect the tree with its store, right-click the tree, and then select Connect To. In the Select A Public Store dialog box, select the store that the tree should be connected to, and then click OK.
You can delete public folder trees only when they contain no other objects and aren’t associated with a public folder store. Therefore before you try to delete a public folder tree, you must delete the other objects it contains as well as the public folder store in which it’s placed. Afterward, you can delete the tree in System Manager by right-clicking it and then selecting Delete. When prompted, confirm the deletion by clicking Yes.
Similarly, you can delete public folder containers only when they contain no other objects. Once you empty the container, you delete the container in System Manager by right-clicking it and then selecting Delete. When prompted, confirm the deletion by clicking Yes.
Caution
You can’t recover a public folder tree or container once it has been deleted. You can, however, restore the tree or container from backup. To do this, you’ll need to restore the administrative group in which the tree or container was created (which might overwrite changes to other items in the administrative group). See Chapter 12, for more information on restoring Exchange from backup.
The following sections examine techniques you can use to create and work with public folders within public folder trees. Keep in mind that although the Public Folders tree is accessible to MAPI clients, Windows applications, and Web browsers, other trees have limited accessibility.
Administrators can create public folders within public folder trees in several ways. One key way is to create the necessary folders in System Manager. To do that, complete the following steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders. Right-click the public folder tree in which you want to create the public folder, point to New, and then click Public Folder. You’ll see a Properties dialog box.
Type a name for the public folder in the Name field, and then enter a description in the Public Folder Description field. The name you specify is used to set the e-mail address for the public folder. You can use the e-mail address to submit messages to the public folder.
Click the Replication tab, as shown in Figure 11-2. The Replicate Content To These Public Stores list includes the default public store for the public folder tree. To replicate the folder to other servers in the Exchange organization, click Add, select an additional public folder store to use, and then click OK. Repeat this process for other servers that should have replicas.
Replication message priority determines how items placed in folders are replicated. The available priorities are the following:
Urgent. Messages in folders with urgent priority are replicated before messages with other priorities, which can reduce delays in updating folders. Use this priority setting judiciously. Too many folders with urgent priority can degrade performance in the Exchange organization.
Normal. Messages in folders with normal priority are sent before messages with not urgent priority. This is the default replication priority.
Not Urgent. Messages in folders with this priority are sent after messages with higher priority. Use this priority when items have low importance.
On the Limits tab, select Use Public Store Defaults in each instance or enter specific defaults as described in the section of this chapter entitled "Setting Limits on Individual Folders."
Click OK. Complete, as necessary, the following tasks as explained in the section of this chapter entitled "Managing Public Folder Settings":
Set folder, message, and Active Directory rights.
Designate public folder administrators.
Propagate public folder settings.
Both administrators and authorized users can create public folders in Outlook. To do this, complete the following steps:
Start Outlook 2003. If the Folder List isn’t displayed, click Go, and then select Folder List.
Expand Public Folders in the Folder List, and then right-click All Public Folders or the top-level folder in which you want to place the public folder.
Select New Folder. You’ll see the Create New Folder dialog box.
Enter a name for the public folder, and then use the Folder Contains drop-down list box to choose the type of item you want to place in the folder.
Click OK. Complete, as necessary, the following tasks as explained in the section of this chapter entitled "Managing Public Folder Settings":
Control replication and set messaging limits.
Set client permissions and Active Directory rights.
Designate public folder administrators.
Propagate public folder settings.
If a public folder tree is configured for Web sharing, administrators and authorized users can create public folders through Microsoft Internet Explorer. To do this, follow these steps:
In the Address field of Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, type the URL of the public folder tree, such as http://mymailserver/public.
If prompted, type your network user name and password. Click OK.
You should see a folder view in the browser window. Right-click Public Folders or the top-level folder in which you want to place the public folder.
Select New Folder. You’ll see the Create New Folder-Web Page dialog box.
Enter a name for the public folder, and then use the Folder Contains drop-down list box to choose the type of item you want to place in the folder.
Click OK. Complete, as necessary, the following tasks as explained in the section of this chapter entitled "Managing Public Folder Settings":
Control replication and set messaging limits.
Set client permissions and Active Directory rights.
Designate public folder administrators.
Propagate public folder settings.
In Exchange Server 2003, you can quickly and easily browse, search, and check the status of public folders using System Manager. To do this, follow these steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders, and then select the public folder you want to work with.
As Figure 11-3 shows, the right pane provides five quick-access tabs:
Details. Shows the folder name and creation date.
Content. Shows the content of the public folder using Outlook Web Access, and allows you to manage the folder and its contents. Select a post to view its contents. Right-click a post to reply, flag, delete, or mark the post. Click New to create a new post.
Find. Use to search the public folder hierarchy for folders with specific names, permissions, replicas, and creation or modification dates.
Status. Shows the status of the selected public folder, including the folder size, number of items, the date and time last accessed, and the date and time the last update was received.
Replication. Shows the replication status for the folder, including the server from which the replica was received, the last received time, and the average transmission time.
Exchange administrators can post items to any public folder to which they have access using System Manager. To do this, complete these steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders. Select the public folder you want to work with and then click the Content tab.
Click New to display the Post dialog box.
Type a subject for the message, and then type your message text. Add any necessary attachments.
Click Post.
Authorized users can post items to public folders through any compliant application. Let’s briefly look at how you could use Outlook, Internet Explorer, and plain old e-mail to perform this task.
In Outlook, authorized users can post items to public folders by completing these steps:
Start Outlook 2003. If the Folder List isn’t displayed, click Go, and then select Folder List.
Expand Public Folders and then All Public Folders in the Folder List. Afterward, select the folder you want to use.
Click New or press Ctrl+Shift+S. Notice that when a public folder is selected, the New button automatically changes to public folder post mode.
Type a subject for the message, and then type your message text. Add any necessary attachments.
Click Post.
In Internet Explorer, authorized users can post items to public folders by completing the following steps:
In the Address field of Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, type the URL of the public folder tree, such as http://mymailserver/public.
If prompted, type your network user name and password. Click OK.
In the Folders view, select the folder you want to use, and then click New.
Type a subject for the message, and then type your message text. Add any necessary attachments.
Click Post.
Unlike previous editions of Exchange Server, public folders are not mail-enabled by default. If you want authorized users to be able to submit items using standard e-mail, you can mail-enable the public folder by right-clicking it, pointing to All Tasks and then selecting Mail Enable.
Once mail-enable the public folder, users simply address an e-mail to the public folder and the message is received as a posting. The default e-mail address is the same as the folder name (with any spaces or special characters removed). For example, if the public folder name was Operations and Adatum.com is the e-mail domain, the email address of the public folder would be <[email protected]>.
Administrators can check the e-mail address and alias for a public folder by completing the following steps:
Right-click the public folder, and then select Properties. You’ll see a Properties dialog box.
The folder’s e-mail addresses are displayed on the E-Mail Addresses tab. Note the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) address, because this is the one most e-mail clients use.
The folder’s e-mail alias is displayed in the Alias field of the Exchange General tab.
All public folders are mail-enabled by default. Mail-enabling allows authorized users to submit items using standard e-mail. Simply address an e-mail to the public folder and the message is received as a posting. The default e-mail address is the same as the folder name (with any spaces or special characters removed). Administrators can check the e-mail address for a public folder by completing the following steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders, and then expand the public folder tree that contains the public folder you want to examine.
Right-click the public folder, and then select Properties. You’ll see a Properties dialog box.
The folder’s e-mail addresses are displayed on the E-Mail Addresses tab. Note the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) address, because this is the one most e-mail clients use.
You can search public folders in two key ways. You can search the public folder hierarchy for folders with specific names, permissions, replicas, and creation or modification dates. You can also search for a particular posting to a public folder using the subject, sender, and sent-to fields as search criteria.
To search the public folder hierarchy for a particular folder, complete the following steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders. Select the public folder you want to work with and then in the right pane, click the Find tab (as shown in Figure 11-4).
In the Name Contains field, enter the name or partial name of a public folder to search. If you leave this field blank, all subfolders of the currently selected folder are searched.
To search for folders for which users are granted or denied permissions, click Permissions. The Select Permissions dialog box is displayed. Use the following options in this dialog box to set the permission criteria and then click OK:
User. Limits the search to a specific user or group. Click User. Enter the name of the specific user or group to search for. Click Check Names and then click OK.
Granted Any Of These Permissions. Select this option to search for folders for which users or groups are granted the designated permissions.
Denied Any Of These Permissions. Select this option to search for folders for which users or groups are denied the designated permissions.
To search for folders replicated to a specific server, click Replicated To. In the Select Servers dialog box, select the servers that have replicas of the folder you are looking for and that you want to search. Click OK.
To search folders by creation or modification dates, click the Specify Folder drop-down list and then select either Created or Modified as appropriate. Afterward, use the Begin Date and End Date drop-down lists to set the creation or modification date range to match.
Click Find Now to begin the search. Any matching folders are shown in the Folder Name list. Right-click a folder and select Properties to manage its properties.
To search for a particular posting rather than a particular folder, complete the following steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders. Select the public folder you want to work with and then in the right pane, click the Content tab.
Click Search on the Content tab toolbar to display the Search dialog box shown in Figure 11-5.
To search subfolders in addition to the currently selected folder, select the Search Subfolders check box.
To limit the search by the Subject field, type the subject keyword or words that you want to match. You can search for phrases in the subject by enclosing the words in quotation marks. To search for individual words in the subject, don’t use quotation marks.
If you know the sender’s name, type the name in the From field. You can enter a partial name that could potentially match multiple users, or a full name that is enclosed in quotation marks to limit the search to a specific user.
If you know the name of any user or group in the To or Cc fields of the post, type the name in the Sent To field. Again, you can enter a partial name that could potentially match multiple users, or a full name that is enclosed in quotation marks to limit the search to a specific user.
Click Find Now to begin the search. Keep in mind that Outlook Web Access looks for messages that match all the specified criteria, so if you entered more than one search parameter, this might limit the search. When Outlook Web Access completes the search, you’ll see a list of all items (if any) that match your search criteria. Double-click a message to open it so you can view the message, post a reply, print the message, or delete it.
You should actively manage public folders. If you don’t, you won’t get optimal performance, and users might encounter problems when reading from or posting to the folders. Each folder in a public folder tree has its own settings and each time a folder is created you should review and modify the following settings:
Replication options
Messaging limits
Client permissions
Active Directory rights
You might also want to designate folder administrators and propagate the changes you’ve made. This section of the chapter explains these and other public folder administration tasks.
Each folder in a public folder tree has its own replication settings. By default, the content of a public folder is replicated only to the default public store for the tree. You can replicate the folder to additional public stores by following these steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders, and then expand the public folder tree that contains the public folder you want to replicate.
Right-click the public folder, and then select Properties.
Click the Replication tab. The Replicate Content To These Public Stores field shows where replicas of the folders are currently being created.
To replicate the folder to other servers in the Exchange organization, click Add, select an additional public folder store to use, and then click OK. Repeat this step for other servers that should have replicas.
The replication interval determines when changes to public folders are replicated. Use the Public Folder Replication Interval selection menu to choose a replication time. You can use a custom schedule by selecting Use Custom Schedule, clicking Customize, and then creating your own custom schedule. You can use the public store’s settings by selecting Use Public Store Schedule.
The replication priority determines how items placed in folders are replicated. The available priorities are urgent, normal, and not urgent. Messages in folders with a higher priority are replicated before messages in other folders.
Click OK.
Tip
In most cases, you’ll want to use the normal priority, which is the default. However, if a folder contains items that need to be replicated quickly throughout the organization, you might want to use the urgent priority setting. Watch out, though—too many folders with urgent priority can degrade performance in the Exchange organization.
In most cases you’ll want to set storage limits and deleted item retention on a per-store basis rather than on individual folders. If this is the case, see the section of Chapter 10 entitled "Setting Public Store Limits." On the other hand, if you want to set a limit on an individual folder, follow these steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders, and then expand the public folder tree that contains the public folder you want to work with.
Right-click the public folder, and then select Properties.
Click the Limits tab. If you want to set storage limits on the folder, clear the Use Public Store Defaults check box in the Storage Limits panel, and then configure these options:
Issue Warning At (KB). Sets the size, in kilobytes, of the data that a user can post to the public folder before a warning is issued to the user. The warning tells the user to clean out the public folder.
Prohibit Post At (KB). Sets the maximum size, in kilobytes, of the data that the user can post to the public folder. The restriction ends when the total size of the user’s data is under the limit.
Maximum Item Size (KB). Sets the maximum size, in kilobytes, for postings to the public folder.
If you want to set deleted item retention separately for the folder, clear the Use Public Store Defaults check box in the Deletion Settings panel, and then use Keep Deleted Items For (Days) to set the number of days to retain deleted items. An average retention period is 14 days. If you set the retention period to 0, deleted postings aren’t retained and you can’t recover them.
If you want to set age limits separately for the folder, clear the Use Public Store Defaults check box in the Age Limits panel, and then use Age Limit For Replicas (Days) to set the number of days to retain postings distributed to other servers.
Click OK.
You use client permissions to specify which users can access a particular public folder. By default, all users (including those accessing the folder anonymously over the Web) have permission to access the folder and read its contents. Users who log on to the network or to Outlook Web Access have additional permissions. These permissions allow them to create subfolders, to create items in the folder, to read items in the folder, and to edit and delete items they’ve created.
To change permissions for anonymous and authenticated users, you need to set a new role for the special users Anonymous and Default, respectively. Initially, anonymous users have the role of Contributor and authenticated users have the role of Publishing Author. These and other client permission roles are defined as follows:
Owner. Grants all permissions in the folder. Users with this role can create, read, modify, and delete all items in the folder. They can create subfolders and can change permission on folders as well.
Publishing Editor. Grants permission to create, read, modify, and delete all items in the folder. Users with this role can create subfolders as well.
Editor. Grants permission to create, read, modify, and delete all items in the folder.
Publishing Author. Grants permission to create and read items in the folder, to modify and delete items the user created, and to create subfolders.
Author. Grants permission to create and read items in the folder as well as to modify and delete items that the user created.
Nonediting Author. Grants permission to create and read items in the folder.
Reviewer. Grants read-only permission.
Contributor. Grants permission to create items but not to view the contents of the folder.
None. Grants no permission in the folder.
To set new roles for users or to modify existing client permissions, complete the following steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders, and then expand the public folder tree that contains the public folder you want to work with.
Right-click the public folder, and then select Properties.
On the Permissions tab, click Client Permissions. You’ll see the Client Permissions dialog box shown in Figure 11-6.
The Name and Role lists display account names and their permissions on the folder. If you want to grant users permissions that are different from the default permission, click Add.
In the Add Users dialog box, select the name of a user who needs access to the mailbox. Then click Add to put the name in the Add Users list. Repeat this step as necessary for other users. Click OK when you’re finished.
In the Name and Role lists, select one or more users whose permissions you want to modify. Then use the Roles selection list to assign a role or select individual permission items.
When you’re finished granting permissions, click OK.
Client permissions allow users to manipulate folder contents, but they don’t let users manage the permissions on the folder itself. Only administrators can set folder permissions and modify public folder properties. If you want other users to be able to set permissions, grant the users directory rights to the folder. If you want users to be able to administer a public folder as well, grant them administrative rights to the folder.
To set a folder’s directory and administrative rights, follow these steps:
Start System Manager. If administrative groups are enabled, expand Administrative Groups, and then expand the group you want to work with.
Expand Folders, and then expand the public folder tree that contains the public folder you want to work with.
Right-click the public folder, and then select Properties.
On the Permissions tab, click Directory Rights, and then use the Permissions dialog box to set the folder’s Active Directory permissions as described in the section of Chapter 8 entitled "Controlling Exchange Server Administration and Usage."
When you’re finished setting directory rights, click Administrative Rights on the Permissions tab. Then use the Permissions dialog box to grant or deny administrative privileges.
Click OK when you’re finished modifying the folder’s rights.
Any property changes you make to public folders aren’t automatically applied to subfolders. You can, however, manually propagate setting changes if you need to. To do this, follow these steps:
Right-click the public folder for which you want to propagate settings to subfolders, point to All Tasks, and then click Propagate Settings.
You’ll see the Propagate Folder Settings dialog box shown in Figure 11-7. Select the type of settings you want to propagate, and then click OK.
Exchange Server performs any necessary preparatory tasks, and then propagates the settings you’ve designated.
In Exchange Server 2003, public folders are not mail-enabled by default. If you mail-enable a folder (by right-clicking the folder, pointing to all tasks and then selecting Mail Enable), you’ll find that the public folder has new characteristics that you can access in the folder’s Properties dialog box, including:
An address list name. Set by default to be same as the folder name but not displayed in the Global Address List. You can set a new name with the Use This Name field found on the General tab. You can reveal the folder in the address list by clearing the Hide From Exchange Address Lists check box on the Exchange Advanced tab.
An Exchange Server alias. Set by default to the name of the public folder. You can view and change it using the Alias field on the Exchange General tab.
One or more e-mail addresses. Set by default for SMTP and X.400. Viewable and changeable in the E-Mail Addresses tab.
A display name. Not set by default, but you can configure it by using the Simple Display Name field on the Exchange Advanced tab.
Delivery options. Set by clicking Delivery Options on the Exchange General tab. Delivery options are covered in the sections of Chapter 6, entitled "Permitting Others to Access a Mailbox" and "Forwarding E-Mail to a New Address."
Because public folders are stored as objects in Active Directory, you can manipulate them using standard techniques, such as cut, copy, and paste. Follow the procedures outlined in this section to manipulate, rename, and recover public folders.
To rename a public folder, follow these steps:
You can copy and move public folders only within the same public folder tree. You can’t copy or move a public folder to a different tree.
To create a copy of a public folder, follow these steps:
In System Manager, right-click the public folder you want to work with, and then select Copy.
Right-click the folder into which you want to copy the folder, and then select Paste.
To move a public folder to a new location in the same tree, follow these steps:
When you delete a public folder, you remove its contents, any subfolders it contains, and the contents of its subfolders. Before you delete a folder, however, you should ensure that any existing data the folder contains is no longer needed and make a backup of the folder contents just in case.
You delete public folders and their subfolders by completing the following steps:
You can recover deleted folders from public folder stores, provided you’ve set a deleted item retention period for the public folder store from which the folders were deleted and the retention period for this data store hasn’t expired. If both of these conditions are met, you can recover deleted folders by completing the following steps:
Log on to the domain using an account with administrative privileges in the domain or with an account with full control over the public folders you need to recover.
After starting Outlook, access the Public Folders node, and then select the All Public Folders node or the node that contained the public folders.
Select Recover Deleted Items from the Tools menu. You should now see the Recover Deleted Items From dialog box.
Select the folders you want to recover, and then click Recover Selected Items.
Each top-level folder restored by the recovery operation has "(Recovered)" appended to the folder name. After you verify the contents of the folder, you can complete the recovery operation by doing the following:
Restoring the original folder name. Right-click the folder, select Rename, type a new name, and then press Enter.
Restoring the folder’s e-mail addresses. Right-click the folder, and then select Properties. In the Properties dialog box, click the E-Mail Addresses tab. Edit each e-mail address so that it’s restored to its original value.
Public folder replicas are copies of public folders that have been created through replication. You can use the replicas to check the status of replication and to perform other basic replication tasks.
To create replicas on other Exchange servers, follow the steps listed in the section of this chapter entitled "Controlling Folder Replication." Later, if you want to remove a replica of the folder, follow these steps:
In System Manager, right-click the public folder you want to work with, and then select Properties.
Click the Replication tab. The Replicate Content To These Public Stores field shows where replicas of the folders are currently being created. To stop replication to a public folder store, select the store, and then click Remove.
The Information Store tracks all instances of a public folder. By examining these instances, you can find information about public folders, including their size and the deletion information.
To view public folder instances, follow these steps:
In System Manager, select the Exchange server you want to manage, and then click the plus sign (+) next to the storage group you want to work with.
You should see a list of available data stores. Click the plus sign (+) next to the public folder store you want to examine, and then select Public Folder Instances.
As Figure 11-8 shows, information about all public folder instances in the store is displayed in the Details pane. The default view provides basic logon information about the folder instance, with the most important information being the folder size and the Removed Older Than time stamp.
The age limit is the key property that affects public folder replicas. The age limit determines when (if ever) the replica is deleted. By default, there’s no age limit on replicas and they’re maintained as long as the folder is being copied. If you set an age limit, the replica is deleted if it isn’t updated by the time the replica expires.
You can view and set the age limit for a replica by completing these steps:
In System Manager, select the Exchange server you want to manage, and then click the plus sign (+) next to the storage group you want to work with.
You should see a list of available data stores. Click the plus sign (+) next to the public folder store you want to examine, and then select Public Folder Instances.
Replicas are shown in the Details pane. Right-click the replica you want to examine, and then select Replica Properties.
The Properties dialog box displays any applicable age limits. If you want to set an age limit, select Age Limit Of This Folder On This Public Store (Days), and then enter the age limit in days.
Click OK.
The replication status is the best way to keep track of public folder replication, and you’ll want to periodically check the status of replication on each public folder store. To do this, access the public folder store in System Manager, and then click Replication Status. In the Details pane, you’ll see the following columns:
Name. The name of the affected public folder store
Last Received Time. The time the last replica was received
Number Of Replicas. The number of replicas received
Replication Status. The status of the replication, either completed or failed
Another way to check replication status is to examine replication for individual public folders. Through this process, you can confirm that an individual folder was replicated and check the average amount of time it took to complete the replication. To check replication status for an individual public folder, select the folder you want to work with in System Manager and then click the Replication tab. You should now see the detailed replication status of the folder.