Elements of the Public Folder Management Console

The public folder tree is located on the left side of the console and is organized by nodes that are based upon the public folder hierarchy. Exchange Server 2003 supports the use of a non-MAPI folder tree, otherwise known as an Application folder tree or General Purpose folder tree. Exchange 2007 supports only the default MAPI folder tree.

The MAPI folder tree is divided into the following subtrees:

• Default Public Folders (also known as the IPM_Subtree)   Users can access these folders directly by using client applications such as Microsoft Outlook.
  
  
• System Public Folders (also known as the Non IPM_Subtree)   Users cannot access these folders directly by using conventional methods. Client applications such as Outlook use these folders to store information such as free and busy data, offline address books (OABs), and organizational forms. Other system folders contain configuration information that is used by custom applications or by Exchange itself. The public folder tree contains additional system folders, such as the EFORMS REGISTRY folder, that do not exist in general-purpose public folder trees. System folders include the following:
  
  
  • EFORMS REGISTRY and Events Root   By default, one content replica of each of these folders resides in the default public folder database on the first Exchange 2007 server that is installed in the first administrative group. This is the location where organizational forms are stored for legacy Outlook clients (clients that use an Outlook version earlier than Office Outlook 2007).
    
    
  • Offline Address Book and Schedule+ Free Busy   The Offline Address Book folder and the Schedule+ Free Busy folder automatically contain a subfolder for each administrative group (or site) in your topology. By default, a content replica of a specific administrative group folder resides on the first server that is installed in the administrative group. These folders are used to store legacy free and busy information and OAB data for legacy Outlook clients. Legacy Outlook clients do not support the new features in Exchange 2007 that manage free and busy information and OAB data. (These features include the Availability service, the Autodiscover service, and OAB distribution on Client Access servers).
    
    
  • OWAScratchPad   Each public folder database has an OWAScratchPad folder, which is used to temporarily store attachments that are being accessed by using Outlook Web Access. Do not modify this folder. Outlook Web Access running on Exchange 2007 Client Access servers does not use these folders to store attachment data. However, this folder is created during a pure installation of Exchange 2007.
    
    
  • StoreEvents   Each public folder database has a StoreEvents folder, which holds registration information for custom Exchange database events. Do not modify this folder.
    
    
  • Other folders   To support internal Exchange database operations, a tree may contain several other system folders, such as schema-root. Do not modify these folders.
    
    

The result pane is located in the center of the console. This pane displays public folders based upon the public folder that is selected in the public folder tree. The following columns are displayed by default:

• Name   This column lists the name of the public folder.
  
  
• Parent Path   This column lists the public folder path to the parent public folder. If a backslash (\) is displayed, the parent public folder is the top-level public folder for that tree.
  
  

The following columns are hidden by default:

• Mail Enabled   This column lists the mail-enabled status of the public folder.
  
  
• Age Limit in Days   This column lists the age limit (in days) of the public folder.
  
  
• Local Replica Age Limit in Days   This column lists the local replica age limit (in days) of the public folder.
  
  
• Hidden From Address List   This column lists the true or false status of whether the public folder is hidden from address lists in your organization.
  
  
• Replicas   This column lists the server name on which this public folder is replicated.
  
  

For more information about how to view these columns, see How to Customize the Exchange Management Console.

The result pane will display up to 10,000 objects. You can create filters to reduce the number of objects that are displayed. For detailed instruction, see How to Filter the Result Pane.

Note:
If you have more than 10,000 objects, the objects that are not displayed in the result pane before you apply the filter never display. The filter only applies to objects that are currently displayed in the result pane.

The action pane is located on the right side of the console. The action pane lists the actions based upon the object that is selected in the public folder tree or the result pane. The action pane is an extension of the shortcut menu, which is the menu that appears when you right-click an item.

Public Folder Node Actions

Public Folder Tree Actions

Public Folder Actions