Overview

If you currently use an Exchange 2010 mail-enabled Public Folder and would like to switch over to using an Exchange group mailbox, you can follow the steps below. Because Public Folders already exist in the Exchange environment, and are not set up as a typical mailbox, moving from a public folder to a group mailbox may require a bit more manual intervention.

Please note: These steps are still a work in progress and may change as UITSC continues to work with other groups on transitioning public folders.

Request

In order to transition a Public Folder to a mailbox, please send a request to UITSC with the following information:

Full path of the public folder (this should be the mail-enabled folder, but subfolders can also be migrated).
Current SMTP address for this folder
Name of the security group that should secure the new group account
Desired date and time for the transtion

On the scheduled date:

UITSC will:

Create a new Exchange group account and place the AD account in the appropriate dropbox
Give the security group full access
Transition the SMTP address from the public folder to the Exchange account

FSP will:

Move mail from the public folder to the new email account using the following procedure:

Open the new group account in Outlook using the steps here.
Export the desired public folder(s) to a PST
1. Go to File > Import and Export...
2. Select export to file
3. Select PST
4. Select the appropriate public folder and check the "Include subfolders" box if necessary
5. The export may take quite a while depending on the amount of mail
Using File > Import and Export, import the PST into the new group account, selecting the Mailbox as the destination
1. The import may take quite a while depending on the amount of mail
2. The folders will show up with the full folder structure, with "IPM_Subtree" as the top level.
3. Click down to the highest needed public folder, and drag this folder up to the mailbox (or underneath the inbox, if you'd like)
4. Delete "IPM_Subtree"

If you're having trouble viewing, moving, or deleting folders right after they've been imported, try opening the mailbox in OWA and working with them there.

Browser not supported