Help: Public Folders Overview

Public Folders Overview

To display the Public Folders Viewer, click Public Folders on the Outlook Bar.

Outlook Bar

You can use public folders to share a wide range of information, such as project and work information, discussions about a general subject, or classified ads. Public folders are stored on Microsoft Exchange Server computers. Anyone who uses your mail server can read and post to your server's public folders. You can also view and post to public folders on other servers. Public folders can include forms for posting information and views for finding and organizing information. Public folders have access permissions to determine who can view, create, and modify items in the folders.

Important Log off after you finish using Outlook Web Access. By logging off, you close the session between the client and the server. If you close only the Web browser, there is no guarantee that your session is closed.

Working in the Public Folders Viewer

The Public Folders Viewer displays the folder list and folder contents list. The folder list appears on the left side of the Viewer (adjacent to the Outlook Bar). To display the contents of a folder, click it. Messages posted to the folder, and subfolders within it, are listed on the right side of the Viewer.

To open a folder, click the name of the folder.

To view the contents of a higher-level folder, click Up one folder .

To add the current folder view to your list of favorites (or bookmarks) in your Web browser, click Update page address . If your Web browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer, from the Favorites menu, choose Add to Favorites. If your Web browser is Netscape Navigator, from the Bookmarks menu, choose Add Bookmark.

To read a posted message, locate the message you want to read from the list of messages in the user area, and click on the sender's name in the From column.

To create a new item for posting in a public folder, click Post New Item. The Compose New Post form opens in a new window where you can compose a message.

To delete an item while in the Public Folders Viewer, select the check box adjacent to the item, and then click Delete marked messages .

To delete multiple items while viewing the Public Folders Viewer, select the check box adjacent to the each item that you want to delete, and then click Delete marked messages .

Note You must have appropriate permissions (assigned by the Microsoft Exchange Server administrator) to delete posted items.

To check for new items, click Check for new mail .

Changing the Viewer

Use the Outlook Bar to change the current viewer to the Mailbox Viewer or the Public Folders Viewer. You must supply valid logon credentials to gain access to the Mailbox Viewer. Other functions in the lower part of the Outlook Bar enable you to find names in the Address Book and to log off your current Outlook Web Access session.

Changing Pages

Often, the list of messages is longer than can be displayed on one page of the viewer. The Page box, located on the toolbar, lists the total number of pages of posted messages that are in the current folder and indicates which page is currently displayed.

To display a different page, you can do one of the following:

To display a specific page, click the first number (in the Page box), type the page number, and then click Page.

To display the previous page, click Previous Page .

To display the next page, click Next Page .

Checking for New Posted Messages

To check for new messages that have arrived since you opened your mailbox, click Check for new mail

on the toolbar. New unread messages appear with bold titles. Once you read a message, its title appears in plain text.

Creating, Deleting, Moving, and Copying Folders

You can organize your messages into a hierarchical file system, and continue to adjust it as your needs change. For example, you can have a folder called My Team with subfolders for each person on your team. If someone leaves your team, you can delete the folder. If someone moves to another team, you can move the folder to that team folder.

To create a new folder, click Create a new folder , type a name for the new folder, and then click OK. To cancel the operation, click Cancel.

To delete a folder, click the name of the folder to open it, and then click Delete the current folder . When you do so, the following message appears: "Are you sure you want to delete the current folder and its subfolders?" To delete the folder, click OK. To cancel the operation, click Cancel.

To move a folder, click the name of the folder to open it, and then click Move/Copy Folder . A new window opens, displaying the names of all the current folders. Click where you want to move the destination folder, and then click Move. To cancel the operation, click Cancel.

To copy a folder, click the name of the folder to open it, and then click Move/Copy Folder . A new window opens, displaying the names of all the current folders. Click where you want to copy the destination folder, and then click Copy. To cancel the operation, click Cancel.

Customizing the Message List

You can change the message list to display messages that have related information. You can also change the message list to display messages sent by the same person or that have the same title.

To change the message list display, choose a command in the View box. You can select any of these categories:

Messages displays messages as they are received, starting with the most recent message at the top of the list.

Unread Messages displays only unread messages.

By Sender groups messages sent by the same person. All messages in the folder are grouped alphabetically by sender.

By Subject groups messages according to text that appears in the Subject box. All messages in the folder are grouped alphabetically by the subject.

By Conversation Topic groups messages according to text that appears in the Conversation box. Each conversation group is displayed in the order received, starting with the most recent message at the top of the group. If there is no Conversation box in a message, the message is grouped by text that appears in the Subject box. If the message has neither a conversation nor a subject, the item is grouped under an empty heading.

Unread Messages by Conversation Topic groups unread messages by text that appears in the Conversation box. If there is no Conversation box in an unread message, the message is grouped by text that appears in the Subject box.