Have you ever wanted to be able to see
everything sent to or received by a mailbox store? You can
accomplish this easily by using the Message Archive feature in
Exchange 2000 and 2003. Message archiving retains a copy of all
messages sent or received by a mailbox store, placing the copies in
the designated mailbox or public folder.

This feature is great, and it definitely can
come in handy. However, in many cases, you don’t necessarily want
to archive messages from everyone. For example, you might need to
copy messages from only one mailbox or a select group of
mailboxes.

If this would better suit your needs, you can
create a separate mailbox store specifically for archiving. Then,
you can move the mailboxes you wish to track into the new mailbox
store.

To set up a new mailbox store and turn on
archiving, follow these steps.

  1. Open the Exchange System Manager, and expand
    the server that you want to host the new mailbox store.
  2. Right-click the storage group for the new
    mailbox store, select New, and select Mailbox Store.
  3. In the Name text box, enter a descriptive
    name for the mailbox store (e.g., Archive_Store).
  4. Select the Archive All Messages Sent Or
    Received By Mailboxes On This Store check box, and click
    Browse.
  5. From the Select Recipient list, select the
    mailbox or public folder that will retain the copied messages from
    the mailbox store.
  6. Click OK, and click OK again to close the
    Mailbox Store dialog box.
  7. Move any mailboxes you want to archive to the
    new mailbox store.

Keep in mind that archiving your users’
messages without their knowledge can be unethical, and it’s even
illegal in some countries and industries. Before you set up
something that could potentially get you in serious trouble, take
the appropriate steps to ensure that you and your company are on
solid legal ground.

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