Skip to main content

Create Search Folders using the EWS Managed API in a Mailbox or Archive Store using Powershell

Search folders are one of the suite of Exchange search options you can use programatically or to provide users with different views of their mailbox data in Outlook or OWA. Essentially a search folder is like a regular mailbox folder, except that it contains only links to messages in other folders that meet the criteria set in the search filter restriction which means that search folders are great for nonchanging, nondynamic queries. Search folders like Search Filters make use of restrictions in Exchange rather then using the Content Index which means that this comes along with some compromises ,if you are going to use search folders (or a lot of search filters) defiantly have a read of  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc535025%28EXCHG.80%29.aspx .

To create Search Folders using the EWS Managed API its pretty simple for search folders to be visible in Outlook you need to use the SearchFolders WellKnownFolderName enumeration which in a Mailbox relates to the Finder folder in the Non_IPM_Subtree.

Eg the following will create a Search folder to find Items greater than 5 MB in a Mailbox

$MailboxName = "user@domain.com"

$dllpath = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange\Web Services\1.1\Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.dll"
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFile($dllpath)
$service = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeService([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeVersion]::Exchange2010_SP1)
$service.TraceEnabled = $false

$service.Credentials = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential("user@domain.com","password")
$service.AutodiscoverUrl($MailboxName ,{$true})

$svFldid = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderId([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.WellKnownFolderName]::SearchFolders,$MailboxName)
$SearchFilter = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.SearchFilter+IsGreaterThan([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ItemSchema]::Size, (5*1024*1024));
$SearchFolder = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.SearchFolder($service);
$searchFolder.SearchParameters.RootFolderIds.Add([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.WellKnownFolderName]::MsgFolderRoot);
$searchFolder.SearchParameters.Traversal = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.SearchFolderTraversal]::Deep;
$searchFolder.SearchParameters.SearchFilter = $SearchFilter
$searchFolder.DisplayName = "Bigger then 5 MB";
$searchFolder.Save($svFldid);

If you want to create a Search folder in the Archive Store there's no enumeration for the SearchFolders root folder in the Archive Store so you first need to find the Finder folder in the Archive Store then you can use this when you create the Search Folder for example the following will create a Search folder to find Items greater than 5 MB in the Archive Store.

$MailboxName = "user@domain.com"

$dllpath = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange\Web Services\1.1\Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.dll"
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFile($dllpath)
$service = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeService([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeVersion]::Exchange2010_SP1)
$service.TraceEnabled = $false

$service.Credentials = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential("user@domain.com","password")
$service.AutodiscoverUrl($MailboxName ,{$true})

$FolderView = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderView(1);
$fsf = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.SearchFilter+IsEqualTo([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderSchema]::DisplayName, "Finder");
$ffResult = $service.FindFolders([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.WellKnownFolderName]::ArchiveRoot,$fsf, $FolderView)

$SearchFilter = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.SearchFilter+IsGreaterThan([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ItemSchema]::Size, (5*1024*1024));
$SearchFolder = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.SearchFolder($service);
$searchFolder.SearchParameters.RootFolderIds.Add([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.WellKnownFolderName]::ArchiveMsgFolderRoot);
$searchFolder.SearchParameters.Traversal = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.SearchFolderTraversal]::Deep;
$searchFolder.SearchParameters.SearchFilter = $SearchFilter
$searchFolder.DisplayName = "Bigger then 5 MB";
$searchFolder.Save($ffResult.folders[0].Id);





Popular posts from this blog

The MailboxConcurrency limit and using Batching in the Microsoft Graph API

If your getting an error such as Application is over its MailboxConcurrency limit while using the Microsoft Graph API this post may help you understand why. Background   The Mailbox  concurrency limit when your using the Graph API is 4 as per https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/throttling#outlook-service-limits . This is evaluated for each app ID and mailbox combination so this means you can have different apps running under the same credentials and the poor behavior of one won't cause the other to be throttled. If you compared that to EWS you could have up to 27 concurrent connections but they are shared across all apps on a first come first served basis. Batching Batching in the Graph API is a way of combining multiple requests into a single HTTP request. Batching in the Exchange Mail API's EWS and MAPI has been around for a long time and its common, for email Apps to process large numbers of smaller items for a variety of reasons.  Batching in the Gr...

Exporting and Uploading Mailbox Items using Exchange Web Services using the new ExportItems and UploadItems operations in Exchange 2010 SP1

Two new EWS Operations ExportItems and UploadItems where introduced in Exchange 2010 SP1 that allowed you to do a number of useful things that where previously not possible using Exchange Web Services. Any object that Exchange stores is basically a collection of properties for example a message object is a collection of Message properties, Recipient properties and Attachment properties with a few meta properties that describe the underlying storage thrown in. Normally when using EWS you can access these properties in a number of a ways eg one example is using the strongly type objects such as emailmessage that presents the underlying properties in an intuitive way that's easy to use. Another way is using Extended Properties to access the underlying properties directly. However previously in EWS there was no method to access every property of a message hence there is no way to export or import an item and maintain full fidelity of every property on that item (you could export the...

EWS Create Mailbox folder Powershell module for Exchange and Office365 Mailboxes

This is a rollup post for a couple of scripts I've posted in the past for creating folders using EWS in an Exchange OnPremise or Exchange online Cloud mailbox. It can do the following Create a Folder in the Root of the Mailbox Create-Folder -Mailboxname mailbox@domain.com -NewFolderName test Create a Folder as a SubFolder of the Inbox Create-Folder -Mailboxname mailbox@domain.com -NewFolderName test -ParentFolder '\Inbox' Create a Folder as a SubFolder of the Inbox using EWS Impersonation Create-Folder -Mailboxname mailbox@domain.com -NewFolderName test -ParentFolder '\Inbox' -useImpersonation Create a new Contacts Folder as a SubFolder of the Mailboxes Contacts Folder Create-Folder -Mailboxname mailbox@domain.com -NewFolderName test -ParentFolder '\Contacts' -FolderClass IPF.Contact Create a new Calendar Folder as a SubFolder of the Mailboxes Calendar Folder Create-Folder -Mailboxname mailbox@domain.com -NewFolderName test -Parent...
All sample scripts and source code is provided by for illustrative purposes only. All examples are untested in different environments and therefore, I cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs.

All code contained herein is provided to you "AS IS" without any warranties of any kind. The implied warranties of non-infringement, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are expressly disclaimed.