Housekeeping & Message Management: Exchange Server

By Diane Poremsky July 31, 2011

The keys to keeping the size of your folders manageable are to

Periodically empty the Deleted Items folder
Archive or delete from Sent Items
Remove attachments from sent messages, assuming that the attached files are stored elsewhere on your system
Use one of the third-party tools listed here to compress attachments that you want to keep in your folders
If you are using Personal Folders, periodically compact them to recover space left behind by deleted items.

This page lists tools that can help users and administrators manage Outlook items by archiving items, removing attachments, repairing .pst and .ost files, renaming special folders, calculating folder size, backing up Outlook data,

The More Information section includes links to additional types of tools that may be useful for housekeeping.

Housekeeping utilities for Microsoft Outlook end-users can be found here.

User Tools | More Information

Tools in the Spotlight

Advanced Exchange Recovery	Advanced Exchange Recovery (AEXR) repairs and recovers corrupted Microsoft Exchange offline storage (.ost) files. AEXR can scan orphaned OST files and recover mail messages and other items, including folders, posts, appointments, meeting requests, contacts, distribution lists, tasks, journals and notes. The recovered items are saved in PST format readable by Outlook, Other important features: recover attachments and deleted items, recover oversized 2GB OST files, support to convert OST files into PST files. Fully supports Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2010.
Archive Attender	Archive Attender is an automated email archiving tool that moves essential data out of Exchange mailboxes and into a secure, external storage device. Using Archive Attender, administrators also have the ability to control and grant access rights to users. No additional hardware or client installations are required.
CodeTwo Exchange Rules Pro	CodeTwo Exchange Rules Pro goes beyond standard Hub Transport email rules on Microsoft Exchange 2007 or 2010 and lets you fully control email flow, filter messages and add signatures and branding to email. It is easier to use than Exchange native tools and it gives you everything Exchange offers, and also a lot of new features Exchange admins consider as a must-have. Quickly create group forward rules, auto-responders, filter messages, control email content, rewrite sender's addresses, tag messages, add signatures and disclaimers, and much more.
Discovery Attender	An electronic discovery tool specifically designed to perform dynamic keyword searches in Exchange mailboxes, PST files and common file storage areas. Discovery Attender can automatically execute scans of message subject, body and attachments through customizable search criteria. Content searches are transparent to end-users and can be targeted to specific groups or users. Once critical information is located, it can be moved or copied to a secure location.
Mail Attender	Mail Attender provides comprehensive content management in PST files (personal storage folders) on desktops/servers, mailboxes and public folders. With MA Enterprise, administrators can distribute/enforce common policies, archive data and search content in multiple information stores from a central web interface. Also, can track statistical information such as total message/attachment count, size and type while tracking usage of individual users. Works with Exchange 5.5, 2000, 2003, 2007.
Mailscape	ENow Releases Mailscape Feature Pack 2 for simplified Exchange and Mobile Device Management. The award-winning Mailscape is a total systems management tool that provides Exchange monitoring and reporting, plus BlackBerry and ActiveSync management, in a single solution. The new version helps companies ensure a smooth migration to Exchange 2010, streamlines daily IT tasks associated with e-mail system administration, and offers over 40 new reports, including mobile device usage. Over 200 built-in reports and a sleek dashboard view of your entire system. Supports Exchange 2003, 2007 and 2010.
PST Backup Attender	PST Backup Attender is a light-weight, PST file backup utility that can be used to locate, manage and back up PST files on user computers. Its efficient method of backing up the contents of PST files to the network and keeping this information synchronized, eliminates the need to store PST files on the network, a practice not recommended and unsupported by Microsoft. Additionally, PST Backup Attender can be used to enforce simple retention policies based on certain age and content criteria. Deployed through Group Policy, PST Backup Attender consumes minimal resources and installs and runs without any end-user interaction.
SonaSafe for Exchange Server	SonaSafe for Exchange Server is an Integrated Backup/Recovery and Replication Solution for Exchange Server. SonaSafe for Exchange Server is the only software that offers both backup/recovery and replication for Exchange Server as part of a single integrated solution. The solution provides automated one-click rapid recovery to the point of failure. Free trial available.

Tools

Archive One Policy Manager	Archive One Policy Manager provides control over both live data and archived email data. It enforces corporate e-policies, removes unwanted email and other data items from live Exchange Servers, reducing Exchange store size and improving backup/restore times. Also discovers all PSTs and associated information and allows you to manage them the way you want. Without any archiving and indexing, all key email properties can be analyzed and with corresponding actions, can be executed to suit the discovery need.
asOne OnlineBackup for Exchange	Automatically backs up all default mailbox folders and public folders continuously, on a schedule, or when items change.
asOne SecurityStore for Exchange	Extracts attachments and saves them separately, substituting a link for the attachment in the message. Also provides revision-safe storage for copies of email messages to meet legal admissibility standards.
Attachment Executive Server Side	Helps control the storage space needed for Exchange/Outlook messages by removing attachments from Exchange mailboxes. Rules and other tools for managing attachments. Rules can be set up to act on arrival, on reading, on sending or after so many days.
AutoArchive Manager	Symprex AutoArchive Manager allows administrators to centrally manage auto-archive settings on mailbox folders on Exchange 5.5, 2000 and 2003. The administrator can configure auto-archive settings on folders within individual mailboxes or within groups of mailboxes. Settings can be listed and changed manually or automatically for any number of mailbox folders at the click of a button.
Backup for Workgroups	Backs up Exchange and Active Directory data, along with other files. Since it has to stop key Exchange services during the backup process, it's probably suitable only for smaller Exchange databases or cases where you can be absolutely sure that no one is connected to the server.
CA XOsoft Replication Option for Exchange	CA XOsoft Replication Option for Exchange is a disaster recovery solution that uses asynchronous real-time replication to provide cost-effective disaster recovery capabilities for Microsoft Exchange on 32- and 64-bit Windows standalone and cluster servers.
CleanSweep	Microsoft BackOffice Resource Kit tool to delete permissions, forms, views and rules from an Exchange Server mailbox
ExchangeServerRecovery	Converts data from a corrupted Exchange 5.5 or 2000 mail database into Personal Folders .pst files.
Galaxy Backup & Recovery for Exchange 2000	Backup and recovery solution for Exchange Server, including single mailbox and single item recovery. (Was: Commvault Exchange Backup)
GFI MailArchiver for Exchange Server	GFI MailArchiver is an email archiving and management solution that is easy to install and requires minimal administrative effort. It helps businesses reduce their dependency on PST files and meet their legal and regulatory obligations. All emails are stored in a central location that is easily accessible. It ships at a highly competitive price and is a popular email archiving software for small to medium-sized enterprises.
GFI MailEssentials for Exchange	Anti-spam, disclaimers (with variables), archiving Internet mail, Internet mail usage reports. Includes a POP downloader and personalized server-based autoreplies that can include attachments and tracking numbers. Can archive to an ODBC database. Current version includes Overall improved anti-spam technology, an additional anti-spam engine called SpamRazer along with improved performance and a real-time dashboard.
GOexchange	Exchange housekeeping tool that checks public and private databases for consistency and integrity; checks for and resolves corrupt messages, attachments, and folders; defragments the directory and the public and private databases; deletes corrupted objects; and compacts and rebuilds information stores.
Language Stamper	Tool to rename "special" Outlook folders, such as the Calendar, Tasks, Inbox, and Contacts, either for all mailboxes on a server or for a single mailbox . Requires CDO. Available in both administrator and end user versions.
MailBasket	Anti-spam, disclaimers (with variables), archiving Internet mail, Internet mail usage reports. Includes a POP downloader and personalized server-based autoreplies that can include attachments and tracking numbers. Can archive to an ODBC database. For Exchange 2000, but can also work with Exchange 5.5 via SMTP.
Migrate7	Administrative tool for migrating all of a user's system settings -- including those for Outlook -- to a new computer.
NetVault	Backup and restore software with support for Exchange 2000, as well as many other mail and database servers.
OnTrack PowerControls	Retrieve any data directly from any unmounted Exchange .edb or log file -- in other words, directly from your backup file -- and restore it to an Exchange mailbox or Personal Folders .pst file. Can also restore an online backup from different backup tools to an alternate location.
Outlook AutoArchive Settings Viewer	Sample Visual Basic 6.0 project to display (but not set) the AutoArchive settings of a particular folder.
Policy Patrol Enterprise	All the disclaimer and signature features of Policy Patrol Disclaimer, plus rules-based message and attachment filtering, spam blocking with real-time black lists, white lists, and other methods, anti-virus using the Kaspersky anti-virus engine, off-peak delivery of large messages, reports on sent and received messages and other management features, automatic printing, customized NDRs and DSNs, automatic conversion of messages to plain text, automatic compression and decompression, archiving to SQL, XML, or CSV.
Praetor	Message filtering tool for Exchange Server to block spam, proprietary information leaks and unacceptable language. Also can create automatic replies and perform rule-based archiving.
Recovery Manager for Exchange	Perform brick-level restores from regular Exchange backups. You can search for what you want to restore by mailbox, message content, and types of items.
Scheduled Mailbox Report Script	Sample Exchange Server Event Service script to create a size report in CSV format on all mailboxes on a server and mail it to an administrator.
SharePointUpload	Sharepoint Upload is a command line freeware tool (with .NET source) that can extract e-mails from PST, Public Folders, and Exchange Mailboxes and place on a file system in MSG format (using Redemption). The extracted files are compatible to SharePoint naming conventions.
symantec Messaging Gateway	Policy-driven archiving system for Exchange Server providing automatic archiving of older content, content indexing for web-based search and PST archive migration. When mailbox and public folder items are archived, shortcuts are left in the mailbox so that users can still access the items without looking in a separate store.