Migrating public folders to Microsoft 365 or Office 365 and Exchange Online You must use Exchange Online supported Outlook client or later to access public folders in Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Exchange Online.
However, you can't create or delete public folders from Outlook on the web.Īlthough a full text search of public folder content is available, public folder content isn't searchable across public folders and the content isn't indexed by Exchange Search. You can add and remove favorite public folders and perform item-level operations such as creating, editing, deleting posts, and replying to posts. Outlook on the web is supported, but with limitations. ConsiderationsĪlthough there are many advantages to using public folders in Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Exchange Online, there are some things to consider before implementing them in your organization: Although a full text search of public folder content is available, public folder content isn't searchable across public folders (except when using the Content Search eDiscovery tool in the Microsoft 365 compliance center) and the content isn't indexed by Exchange Search. All users access the same public folder mailbox for the same set of content. The content is stored in the public folder mailbox but isn't replicated across multiple public folders mailboxes.
Public folder content can include email messages, posts, documents, and eForms.
The folder's position in the public folder tree, including its parent and child foldersīecause there's only one writeable copy of the hierarchy, folder creation is proxied to the hierarchy mailbox by the content mailbox users are connected to.įor more information, see Update the public folder hierarchy. For a specific folder, the hierarchy information is used to identify the following: There's only one writeable copy of the hierarchy, which is in the primary public folder mailbox. Each public folder mailbox contains a copy of the public folder hierarchy. The public folder hierarchy contains the folders' properties and organizational information, including tree structure. In Exchange Online PowerShell, use the *-Mailbox set of cmdlets.
In the Exchange admin center (EAC), navigate to Public folders > Public folder mailboxes. There are two ways you can manage public folder mailboxes: Secondary hierarchy mailboxes: Secondary hierarchy mailboxes contain public folder content as well and a read-only copy of the public folder hierarchy. The public folder hierarchy is copied to all other public folder mailboxes, but these will be read-only copies. Primary hierarchy mailbox: The primary hierarchy mailbox is the one writable copy of the public folder hierarchy. Both types of mailboxes can contain content: There are two types of public folder mailboxes: the primary hierarchy mailbox and secondary hierarchy mailboxes. The main architectural components of public folders are the public folder mailboxes. Public folder architecture uses specially designed mailboxes to store both the public folder hierarchy and the content. Looking for the Exchange Server version of this article? See Public folders in Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Exchange Online. Instead, we recommend that you use SharePoint Online as your documentation sharing solution.įor more information about public folders and other collaboration methods in Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Exchange Online, see Collaboration in Exchange Online.įor more information about public folder quotas in Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Exchange Online, see the service description articles Sharing and collaboration and Exchange Online limits.įor a list of public folder management tasks, see Public folder procedures in Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Exchange Online.įor more information about the public folder limits in Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Exchange Online, see Exchange Online limits. Public folders don't provide versioning or other document management features, such as controlled check-in and check-out functionality and automatic notifications of content changes. Instead, we recommend that you use In-Place Archiving as your archiving solution.ĭocument sharing and collaboration. This practice isn't recommended because it affects storage in public folders and undermines the goal of mailbox limits.
Users who have mailbox limits sometimes use public folders instead of mailboxes to archive data.
Public folders aren't designed for the following purposes:ĭata archiving. If you're using Edge incognito and this page isn't working, enable the third-party cookies. Public folders functionality of the Classic Exchange admin center experience is available in the new Exchange admin center as we continue to work on updated versions.