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nepdev
Asked: 2015-09-25 06:00:43 +0800 CST

Outlook 2007 / MS Exchange 2003 - force specific set of folders globally

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We have 150 clients connected to an Exchange 2003 server. I am trying to enforce that every Outlook 2007 client has a specific set of folders, and that users cannot remove these.

I tried to find any group policy settings related to this but none seems to be related. Google turns up nothing on this matter.

Is that just no possible? Anyone having ideas or experience with this?

exchange

2 Answers

  1. It's called Managed Folders, and it was introduced in Exchange 2007 and deprecated in favor of Retention Tags in Exchange 2010, although it still exists. Not sure about 2013/365/2016.

    There are no native options in Exchange 2003. You could find a third-party tool, or simply upgrade off that 10-year-old platform.

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  2. You can only use CDO/MAPI under Exchange 2003. Not a lot of example exist, but check there: HOW TO:Set folder level permissions using CDO 1.21 and ACL.dll

    Does it work good, no idea (but it's from microsot's blog and wrote by an microsoft employee)

    Edited: To create folder, a CDO example:https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms878640(v=exchg.65).aspx

    The following examples show how to create a folder in the Exchange store. The function in each example performs the following steps:
The function attempts to create a folder at this URL. If an error occurs, the function fails.
If the function is successful, it sets the new folder's contentclass Field to the value "urn:content-classes:folder".
The function returns a reference to the Record object that is bound to the new folder.
VBScript
If WScript.Arguments.Count < 1 Then
 WScript.Echo "Usage: cscript createfolder.wsf URL [content class]"
 WScript.Quit
End If

Dim sUrl
Dim sContentClass

' Note: It is recommended that all input parameters be validated when they are
' first obtained from the user or user interface.
sUrl = WScript.Arguments(0)
sContentClass = WScript.Arguments(1)

Dim Rec
Wscript.Echo "Creating folder at URL: " & sUrl
Set Rec = CreateFolder(sUrl, sContentClass, Nothing)
Wscript.Echo "Succeeded."

Function CreateFolder( sUrl, sContentClass, Conn )

 Dim Rec
 Set Rec    = CreateObject("ADODB.Record")

 ' Did caller pass a Connection object reference?
 If Not ( VarType(Conn) = vbObject AND TypeName(Conn) = "Connection" ) Then
   Set Conn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
   Conn.Provider = "ExOLEDB.DataSource"
   Conn.Open sUrl
 End If

 If sContentClass = "" Then
  sContentClass = "urn:content-classes:folder" ' The Default is urn:content-classes:folder.
 End If

 ' Try to create the folder

 Rec.Open sUrl, Conn, adModeReadWrite, adCreateCollection
 Rec.Fields("DAV:contentclass") = sContentClass
 Rec.Fields.Update

 Set CreateFolder = Rec

End Function

    EWS can change folder ACL but Exchange 2003 does not support it. You need atleast Exchange 2007.

    Set-MailboxFolderPermission can too, but againt it's not available in 2003.

    Some example, there and there

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