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10 Minute Guide to Microsoft Exchange 5.0

- Lesson 13 -
Using Personal Folders

 

In this lesson, you learn how to create, configure, and use personal folders to store messages and files.

Personal folders are useful for storing files and messages you want to keep for your own use. You can collect information from many sources and store it in one place or in multiple personal folders according to a category sorting scheme that works for you.

Personal folders are usually stored on your own hard drive, but you can store them on the server (although doing so reduces the privacy of the folders).


Server Storage Space Normally, the amount of space that you can use on a server is limited. If you store large amounts of information on the server in personal folders and begin experiencing problems when running programs that access the server, you may need to check if you've used your storage limit on the server.

The capability to have personal folders is not automatic. This feature must be added to your Microsoft Exchange Client profile. If this feature has already been established, there is a Personal Folders object in the Folder pane of your Exchange window. If that object doesn't exist, you will have to add the feature to your profile (see your system administrator if you need help). This lesson assumes you have the capability to add personal folders to your system.

Creating a Personal Folder

The Personal Folder object that appears in your Viewer is the container into which you place all the personal folders you create. There is a plus sign (+) next to the object, indicating that this container has subfolders. By default, there is a Deleted Items personal folder, which provides the same function as the Deleted Items folder in your mailbox: It holds deleted items until you either retrieve them or delete them permanently. (See Lesson 11 for information about the mailbox's Deleted Items folder.)

If a personal folder does not appear in your Folder pane, you can create one by following these steps:

1. Select Tools, Services to display the Services dialog box.

2.
From the Available Information Services list, select Personal Folders. Then click OK.

3.
Type the name you want for the personal folder file in the File Name box. Make sure that it has a .pst extension.

4.
Select the file location from the Look In box, and then click Open.

5.
Click OK to close the Personal Folders dialog box.

6.
Click OK again to close the Services dialog box.

You can create as many personal subfolders under the Personal Folders folder as you need by following these steps:

1. Select (highlight) the personal folder object, and then choose File, New Folder. The New Folder dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 13.1.

2.
In the New Folder dialog box, enter a name for the folder and click OK.

Figure 13.1 The name for a personal folder should indicate the items it will hold.


Nested Personal Folders You can create personal subfolders under any personal folder if you want to maintain files and messages in a sorting scheme that requires it. Just select the parent folder, and then create the new folder while the parent folder is highlighted.

Using Personal Folders

After you create a personal folder, it's easy to place items into it. For example, you can add items to a personal folder in any of these ways:

  • Put received messages or attachments into a personal folder by highlighting the item and choosing Copy or Move, and then choosing the personal folder as the target.

  • Add files to a personal folder by opening Explorer while the Microsoft Exchange Client Viewer is open and dragging the file from its original directory to the folder. (This system works in Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0.)

  • Copy or move items from one personal folder to another.

  • If you have the necessary rights and permissions, copy items from a public folder into a personal folder. (See Lesson 14 for information about public folders.)

To view or manipulate any item in a personal folder, just select that personal folder in the Folder pane, and the items stored in the folder are displayed in the Contents pane. In the Contents pane, double-click the item of interest to open it.

Managing Personal Folders

You can create as many personal folders as you need. Some reasons for having multiple folders are to have a separate folder to store messages that you are only copied on or to have a separate folder for archive messages. Every new personal folder you create is, by default, named Personal Folder. If you create multiple folders, you'll need to rename these folders with descriptive names. For example, you may want to name a folder that is set to receive copied messages only "CC's" and the one for saving messages "Archives."

You can make the following decisions regarding the configuration and management functions of your personal folders:

  • You can change the name of a personal folder in Microsoft Exchange Client (which also changes the name of the personal folder object in your Viewer).

  • You can password-protect your personal folders (which is useful if you store them on the server or if other people share the use of your computer).

  • You can compact your personal folders file (get rid of blank spaces as a result of deletions) to save disk space.

To exercise these options, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools, Services to display the Services dialog box.

2.
Select Personal Folders, and then choose Properties. The Personal Folders dialog box appears (see Figure 13.2).

3.
Using the options shown here, change the name, add a comment, add or change your password, or compact the folder file. (The following sections provide more information about setting passwords and compacting personal folders.)

4.
Click OK to complete the configuration process.

Figure 13.2 You can configure the properties of your personal folders services in the Personal Folders dialog box.

The two most important choices in the dialog box are the password feature and the compacting utility.

The capability to add comments to your personal folder configuration isn't important to the way the personal folder feature works. But you may think of some note you want to write yourself about your personal folders, and you can use the Comment text box to do so.

Password Protection

When you password-protect your personal folders, you are not applying a password to any specific personal folder, you are applying a password to the file that holds all your personal folders. To add a password to your personal folders, follow these steps:

1. From the Personal Folders dialog box, choose Change Password to display the Change Password dialog box (see Figure 13.3).

Figure 13.3 When you enter text in this dialog box, you won't see it. It's a secret, so you'll see only stars (****).

2. In the Old Password text box, enter the existing password (if there is one). If there is not one, press Tab to move to the next field.

3.
Type the new password, and then press Tab to move to the next field.

4.
Retype the new password in the Verify Password box. If the characters don't match the new password, you'll be able to re-enter both the new password and the verify entry.

5.
Select Save This Password in Your Password List, if you don't want to type the password each time you use your personal folders.

6.
Click OK when you are finished.


Save Password If you choose Save This Password, your new password is stored in a password list, and you won't be asked to enter it when you access your personal folders file. However, if someone with a different name is logged on to your computer, or if another user attempts to access your personal folder file from a different computer on the network, the password will be requested.

Compacting the Personal Folder File

Every time you add a new personal folder or place a message or file into a personal folder, the file that holds the personal folders gets bigger. However, when you delete an item or move an item to somewhere else on your system, the file doesn't shrink itself even though there's less in it. Therefore, as you add more and more items and continue to delete items, the file only gets larger because of the additions and the empty space left by the deleted files.

You can compact the personal folder file to get rid of the blank spots and reduce it to the size needed to hold only the current contents. Of course, as you add new items, it grows again, and it continues to leave behind blank spots when you delete items. So you'll have to compact it from time to time.

To compact the personal folder file, click Compact Now in the Personal Folders dialog box. An informational dialog box appears, informing you that the process is underway and giving you a chance to Cancel if you want to (see Figure 13.4). Compacting can take a few seconds or a few minutes, depending on how many items you have in personal folders.

Figure 13.4 Compact your personal folders file to save disk space.

In this lesson, you learned how to create and manage personal folders. In the next lesson, you'll learn about public folders, what they are, and how you can use them.

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