Sun Java System Messaging Server 6 2005Q4 Administration Guide

About Shared Folders

A group or shared folder is like any other mail folder except that other users and groups can read, delete, or add messages to it depending on the permissions given. Messages can be added to shared folders by normal drag and drop, by Sieve filters, or by sending messages directly using the form: uid+folder@domain. For example:

carol.fanning+crafts_club@siroe.com

Shared folders are useful for starting, sharing, and archiving an ongoing email conversation on a particular topic. For example, a group of software developers can create a shared folder for discussing development of a particular project called mosaic_voices. When a message is sent or dropped into the folder mosaic_voices, anyone who has permissions to the shared folder (permissions can added by individual addresses or by group addresses) can open this mailbox and read the message.

User’s shared folders are stored in their mail folder called Shared Folders/Users. Users create and access shared folders in this mail folder. An example is shown in About Shared Folders.

Figure 18–2 Mail Client Example of Ed’s Shared Mail Folder List

Graphic shows example of client shared mail folder list.

There are two kinds of shared folders:

Normally shared folders are only available to users on a particular message store. Messaging Server, however, allows you to create special shared folders that can be accessed across multiple message stores. These are called distributed shared folders. See To Set Up Distributed Shared Folders for details.