Public Folders, hierarchy, and e-mail addresses
For a long time, we've used shared IMAP folders as archives for mailing lists. So, if I send mail to it-systems-windows@myorg.com, that distribution list sends a copy to the shared IMAP folder teams.it.systems.windows. More specifically, a copy is mailed to sf+teams.it.systems.windows@myorg.com, and the message is routed to the right shared folder. We'd like to replace this mechanism with Public Folders. We know, for instance, that we can create public folders in a hierarchy like this: teams\it\systems\windows and mail-enable the "windows" folder. The trouble is that the e-mail address for that folder, by default, is windows@myorg.com. That's not good, because each "leaf node" isn't guaranteed to have a unique name. There might be another public folder called teams\it\systems\linux\loves\windows or something like that. Moreover, windows@myorg.com isn't specific enough. How can we get the email address (and Display Name and Alias) the way we want them while leaving the folder name alone? Having done some research since I started typing this message, I've concluded (tentatively) that the Set-MailPublicFolder command is the answer to my concerns. A command something like this would do what I want, as far as I can tell. Set-MailPublicFolder ` -Identity \teams\it\systems\windows ` -Alias "teams.it.systems.windows" ` -DisplayName "PF: teams.it.systems.windows" ` -EmailAddresses teams.it.systems.windows@myorg.com ` -EmailAddressPolicyEnabled $false ` -HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled $true ` -PrimarySMTPAddress "teams.it.systems.windows@myorg.com" ` -PublicFolderType mapi This approach maintains the folder hierarchy and preserves the current address scheme. The former is a big win for users, while the latter makes the transition easier for us. But is this Public Folder approach sensible? Am I missing a better solution, perhaps not involving Public Folders? Public Folders are particularly appealing, because they're visible in both Outlook and OWA with no effort or change on the client side. I thought about an Exchange shared mailbox implementation--with rules to file messages into the right subfolder--but opening a second mailbox in OWA (meaning: open a second window) is awkward and not automatic. We don't think that Sharepoint is a good solution to this particular problem, at least not in our organization. Any comments are welcome. Thanks.
August 20th, 2010 12:07am

That's the correct and the only way to do it. Although its bit of a headache for your users to type such a long email address.
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January 4th, 2011 12:50am

The other way round is changing the attribute value in ADSIEdit. If you need more info, let me know.
January 4th, 2011 12:50am

Thanks. In case I wasn't clear, the users aren't using the long name--a user would never submit anything directly to the public folder. The user sends to a dist group address, and one of the recipients on that dist group is the public folder. Most of our dist group names are fairly short, because lots of them don't have any hierarchy built into the name. My question, really, is whether Public Folders are the "right" solution, or at least good solution. Microsoft made lots of anti-Public-Folder noise when ES2007 first arrived, but I think that was mostly because PFs weren't (and still aren't) the right place for document management. But they're still a fine place for e-mail, especially for e-mail that users might not want to keep in their own mailboxes but still need to read.
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March 23rd, 2011 10:15am

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