Public Folders

Public folders are just like the calendar, contacts and email folders in your mailbox, except they're available to everyone in your workgroup. 

This is one of the original features that made Microsoft Exchange the leader it is today.

Possible uses

Calendar
A public calendar folder can hold the schedule for a product rollout, trade show or any company event.  

Contacts
A Public folder of contacts can hold your customers, suppliers and associates. Consolidate all your phone lists into public folders on the server and give people just the permissions they need. Some of your people might need read-only access, so they can look up numbers, but not enter changes. This can solve so many problems. 

Outlook contacts can contain notes, activities and links to other items. Document things here and all your team members can see what's going on. Rethink your customer service based on this. 

Discussions
A discussion folder is a great place to kick around new ideas, and get everyone's input. It's like a bulletin board or an internet newsgroup. You create a posting just like you're creating an email. But it doesn't go to an individual, it is posted to the folder. You can post a new topic, or reply to someone else's posting.

Public Folder Permissions

Public folders aren't really public. They're accessible only to your workgroup. You set the permissions easily in Outlook. You can grant or deny access to any particular folder, to any particular member of your workgroup. Security is assured. Here is a screen shot from Outlook showing the permissions dialog for a public folder.

Using Public Folders Offline

Yes, you can use public folders offline, or online. If you set a particular public folder for offline use, Exchange will synchronize it when you check your mail. Everyone on your team will automatically get the latest information.

To use a public folder offline, follow the instructions in the public folders tech support page.

Public Folders vs. Delegates

Based on specific permissions that you control, "delegates" in your workgroup can access your mailbox directly from the server. This means your delegate can review and edit your calendar at any time. Delegates can also be granted access to your inbox, task list and other folders. 

But your calendar is still your calendar, even when you've given a delegate access to it. A public folder is normally available to everyone in your workgroup. For example, you might keep all your customers in a public folder of contacts, and keep your personal contacts, such as friends and relatives, in your mailbox contacts folder. 

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If you would like to know more about Exchange server, see www.microsoft.com/exchange 

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