Public Folders in Microsoft Outlook

Purpose

This article provides information regarding the public folders in Outlook and gives instructions on how to access them. 

Accessing Public Folders

Public Folders are a legacy part of Microsoft Exchange at UTD. Many older "shared mailboxes" are actually mail-enabled public folders and must be accessed through the "Folders" section of Outlook.

Public Folders can be converted to a modern shared mailbox upon request. Just open a ticket with the OIT Help Desk to request this.

Access Public Folders in Outlook

  • Press Ctrl + 6 to see Public Folders in the Folder Pane. (This short cut only applies to Outlook Classic)
    • You may need to scroll down to the bottom of your mail folders to see the "Public Folder" section.

Folders pane of the Microsoft Outlook app with Public folders selected.

Add Favorite Public Folders in Outlook (Web)

In order for users to access their Outlook favorite public folders, they must also add them to their Favorites in Outlook on the web. The Outlook client does not automatically sync public folders with Outlook on the web.

  • To add a public folder in Outlook on the web, right-click Folders > Add public folder to Favorites.
  • Locate the folder and click Add.

Folders pane of the Microsoft Outlook on Web with Folders selected to display the option to add public folder to favorites

Your users can now use Outlook on the web to perform the following tasks in their favorite Calendar, Contact, or Mail and Post public folders:

  • Create items in the public folders
  • Retrieve items
  • Update items
  • Delete items

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Public Folders are a legacy part of Microsoft Exchange at UTD. Many older "shared mailboxes" are actually mail-enabled public folders, and must be accessed through the "Folders" section of Outlook.