Hi, Running Exchange 2007 and I have been asked if I can access a user's mailbox, read their email, from the backend. Are there any utilities for doing this? Alternatively, my understanding is that the mail datastore is a database isn't it? If so, is it a MS SQL database, can it be queried from the SQL Server Management Studio? I tried Googling a solution but didn't have any luck. Thanks in advance, Linn

Check out Lucid8's DigiScope it can do all you want and more http://www.lucid8.com/product/digiscope.asp No you cant use SQL to do this type of action, the Exchange database is not an open format Troy Werelius Lucid8

It is a database, but it is not SQL - it is jet. You won't find anything to help you on the SQL side. If you want to programmatically open and read / process email from an Exchange 2007 mailbox I recommend using the EWS Managed API. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd637749(EXCHG.80).aspx http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c3342fb3-fbcc-4127-becf-872c746840e1[string](0..33|%{[char][int](46+("686552495351636652556262185355647068516270555358646562655775 0645570").substring(($_*2),2))})-replace " "

Well I'm not sure how low-level you wanted to go, but if you want to get mailbox contents from a running database but without using Outlook, you have some options: - exmerge utility (from Microsoft- doesn't ship with newer versions of Exchange but it still works against 2007) - export-mailbox cmdlet (check help or technet) - build an app with Exchange Web Services :) - access the mailbox with an IMAP client (enable IMAP on your CAS server)