Creating and Managing Custom Folders

Managed custom folders are folders that you define as the administrator and then assign to users' mailboxes. As you saw in Figure 12.1, the managed custom folders are created in the user's mailbox in the Managed Folders folder. Creating a managed custom folder is very simple. While you are viewing the Managed Custom Folders tab, simply click the New Managed Custom Folder task in the Actions pane. Figure 12.5 shows the New Managed Custom Folder Wizard.

Figure 12.5: Creating a new managed custom folder

There are only two pages for this wizard. The Introduction page asks that you provide a name for the folder, the display name that is shown in Outlook, and a comment that is shown in Outlook. Optionally, you can specify a maximum amount of space that the managed custom folder can contain. The EMS command that was used to generate this managed custom folder is as follows:

 New-ManagedFolder -Name 'Project Team Communications' -FolderName 'Project Team Communications' -StorageQuota '25000KB' -Comment 'Place information in this folder related to your internal  project time communications. This information will be retained in  your mailbox for 360 days from the date it was originally moved to  this folder.' 

The command that you enter for the folder is useful in helping users to know what the folder is supposed to be for. This comment will be displayed at the top of the listing of messages in the folder if you are using Outlook 2007. This information is not displayed with earlier versions.

The storage quota option is useful if you are planning to restrict content for each of the managed folders. Once a user reaches the storage quota maximum for this folder, the folder name will turn red and the user will see a dialog box informing them that their mailbox needs to be cleaned up. This dialog box (shown in Figure 12.6) is displayed only if you are using Outlook 2007 as the client.

Figure 12.6: The user is prompted to clean up their mailbox if a managed custom folder is over its size limit.

The only problem with the dialog box shown in Figure 12.6 is that it does not tell the user which folder is over its limit.

The Get-ManagedFolder cmdlet allows you to retrieve a list of both the managed custom folders and the default folders.

 Get-ManagedFolder | Format-Table Name,Description Name                                               Description ----                                               ----------- Calendar                                           ManagedDefaultFolder Contacts                                           ManagedDefaultFolder Deleted Items                                      ManagedDefaultFolder Drafts                                             ManagedDefaultFolder Inbox                                              ManagedDefaultFolder Junk Email                                         ManagedDefaultFolder Journal                                            ManagedDefaultFolder Notes                                              ManagedDefaultFolder Outbox                                             ManagedDefaultFolder Sent Items                                         ManagedDefaultFolder Tasks                                              ManagedDefaultFolder Entire Mailbox                                     ManagedDefaultFolder Rss Feeds                                          ManagedDefaultFolder Sync Issues                                        ManagedDefaultFolder Official Corporate Communications                  ManagedCustomFolder Project Related Information                        ManagedCustomFolder Finance and Accounting Information                 ManagedCustomFolder Departmental Communications                        ManagedCustomFolder System Cleanup Folder                              ManagedCustomFolder Project Team Communications                        ManagedCustomFolder 

If you are a fan of the EMS, Table 12.4 shows the cmdlets that can be used for creating and managing managed custom folders.

Table 12.4: Managed Folder Exchange Management Shell Cmdlets
Open table as spreadsheet

Cmdlet	Explanation
New-ManagedFolder	Creates a new managed custom folder
Set-ManagedFolder	Sets properties for an existing managed custom folder
Get-ManagedFolder	Retrieves a list of the managed folders in the organization
Remove-ManagedFolder	Deletes a managed custom folder.