Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

[pcsdpsMember]

#163480

Curious what anyone is doing to allow access to public folders on a Droid, iPhone, etc. I see third party stuff out there but am hesitant installing something like that on my Exchange 2010 server. Any suggestions and words of encouragement is appreciated.

Thanks!

[SembeeMember]

#261324

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

Depends what the content is.
Most clients are moving towards eliminating public folders completely. If the folder is for email then converting to a shared mailbox is the preferred option.

Simon.

[rcoxonMember]

#375181

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

Good point. We use them for calendars.

[SembeeMember]

#261329

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

You can easily move those to a shared mailbox as well, or use OWA instead.
Another option would be a SharePoint site with the web part.

Simon.

[m_zeineddinMember]

#385797

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

I haven’t trialled third party for public folder connectivity as yet, but its something I am very sceptical about. Microsoft is deprecating the use of Public folders and most businesses are trying to move away from it. I personally think installing or offering the option to use third party connectivity tools, opens up the possibility of keeping the folders longer than required and allowing them to grow. I recently did a migration for 2K3 to 365 for a client. 1300 mailboxes and 40K public folders. I Migrated them all to 2010 and got them to reduce them to less than 15k . Tidied up AD to get rid of all old references and created hybrid connectivity with 365 before moving all mailboxes and keeping PF on prem.The fact that they were able to do it proves that they were not needed. Shared mailboxes and pst archiving most of them helped a lot. I say re-education will always help the users understand that PF’s are legacy and new options are better. Most public folder databases have become a dumping ground for old items that will never be looked at again.

[rcoxonMember]

#375182

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

Thanks Simon. Your suggestion was right on. One more question, should I be able to see the shared mailbox in OWA because I don’t.

[SembeeMember]

#261330

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

You will not see it in the list – but you should be able to open it using the Open Other Mailbox functionality.

Simon.

[rcoxonMember]

#375183

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

Ok.

And one more question (really…I think). I assigned a security group to the mailbox full permissions but no one in the group could see it, I had to individually add each persons account to it. Is that by design?

[joeqwertyModerator]

#304273

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

Did each user log out of their workstation and log back in after you added them to the group? If not, their security token wouldn’t have had the new group membership.

[rcoxonMember]

#375184

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

I believe that was the problem. When you assign a user it automatically appears after a few minutes. With a group is looks like you need to log for the change to take effect.

Thanks again everyone for all your help.

[rcoxonMember]

#375185

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

Well I jumped the gun…after assigning a group to the shared mailbox the users in that group still don’t see it in Outlook after logging off and back on. The user has to be given permission to the mailbox. Any other ideas?

[SembeeMember]

#261332

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

A group doesn’t auto map anything – therefore if you add a group to the permissions then the members of the group have to connect manually.

Simon.

[rcoxonMember]

#375186

Re: Accessing Public Folders from Remote Devices

Gotcha. Makes total sense. Thanks again for all your help!

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