Description of the "Maintain per-user read and unread information" setting in Exchange Server 2003

This article describes the behavior of the Maintain per-user read and unread information for this folder setting for public folders in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

You can select or clear the Maintain per-user read and unread information for this folder check box on the General tab on the Properties page for a public folder.

When you select this setting for a public folder, the items in the folder change from the Unread state to the Read state for each user when the items are viewed by the user.

However, the state changes from Unread to Read only for the user who viewed the item. When another user views an item that has been viewed by other users, the item appears in the Unread state for that user. When the item is viewed by the user, the item changes to the Read state. Therefore, the Read or Unread state for items is maintained per user. The status is not maintained per public folder.

For example, consider the following scenario:

• A public folder contains three unread items: Message1, Message2, and Message3.
• The public folder is viewed by two users: User1 and User2.
• User1 opens the public folder and views Message1. The Unread state for Message1 changes to the Read state. User1 then closes the public folder.
• User2 opens the public folder and sees Message1, Message2, and Message3 in the Unread state.
• User1 opens the public folder and sees Message1 in the Read state, and Message2 and Message3 in the Unread state.

If you clear the Maintain per-user read and unread information for this folder check box in the public folder's properties, the Read or Unread state of each item is not tracked. All items in the folder are in the Unread state, regardless of whether they have been viewed by a user.

Notes

• When you clear the Maintain per-user read and unread information for this folder check box, you must dismount the public folder store and then remount the public folder store for the change to be completed.
• If the Maintain per-user read and unread information for this folder check box is cleared, changes take effect immediately when the check box is selected.

If you must have a folder that can be viewed by a group of users who must be able to see whether an item has been viewed by any other user in the group, use a shared mailbox. In a shared mailbox, when an item is viewed by one user, the item appears in the Read state to all the other users.

The following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base describe various service packs and hotfixes for Exchange Server 2003. These service packs and hotfixes resolve issues that are related to the Read and Unread information for public folders.