Started working for a company and they initially installed a public folder but it has not been used at all. I would like to delete it as I could use that for another storage group on our exchange 2007 server standard edition and distribute mail boxes in a better fashion. Upon looking at it and wieghing up the costs of doing this, is there anything else that public folders do besides their main purpose as I would like to remove it.

Do you have outlook 2003 version being use by some users, If not then you can delete Public folder. Also check you have OAB distribution thru Web base not using public folder method. You can find lots of article to delete public folder over web. Let us know if you have any point later.Anil MCC 2011,ITIL V3,MCSA 2003,MCTS 2010, My Blog : http://messagingschool.wordpress.com

Outlook 2003 and Entourage 2004 / 2008 WebDAV clients won't be able to connect to Exchange 2007 without public folders. With Outlook 2007 or higher and Entourage 2008 EWS / Outlook 2011 for Mac, you're fine without public folders. Earlier Outlook clients can't connect to Exchange 2007 Server http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555851MCTS: Messaging | MCSE: S+M

Hi, Public folders, introduced in the first version of Microsoft Exchange, are designed for shared access and provide an easy and effective way to collect, organize, and share information with other people in your workgroup or organization. Public folders are hierarchically organized, stored in dedicated databases, and can be replicated between servers running Exchange. In Exchange Server 2010/2007, public folders are an optional feature. If all client computers in your organization are running Microsoft Outlook 2010 or Office Outlook 2007, there are no dependencies on public folders for features such as free and busy information and offline address book (OAB) downloads. Instead of using public folders for OAB downloads and free and busy information, in Exchange 2010/2007, these features are serviced by the Autodiscover service, the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, and the Microsoft Exchange File Distribution service. Until all client computers in your organization are running Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2007, you should continue using public folders.

Thanks very much for all your assitance.