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Clearing the RSS Feeds folder in Exchange using EWS and Powershell

RSS feeds in Outlook is a nice feature that was added in Outlook, but for some organizations it may not be a desirable feature. While you can't delete the RSS Feeds folder itself as its on of Outlooks default folders you can easily remove each of the feeds and items from these folders using EWS's Empty folder operation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/exchange/ff797574(v=exchg.80).aspx. A couple of months back I posted a Language independent way of getting the RSS feeds folder using the PidTagAdditionalRenEntryIdsEx property http://gsexdev.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/using-pidtagadditionalrenentryidsex.html . This script can be easily modified to Empty the RSSFeeds folder eg  the following script binds to the RSS Feeds folder and use the Empty Operation with the parameter to also delete all sub folders under the RSS Feeds Folder. - I've put a download of this script here.


  1. ## Get the Mailbox to Access from the 1st commandline argument    
  2.     
  3. $MailboxName = $args[0]    
  4.     
  5. ## Load Managed API dll      
  6. Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange\Web Services\1.2\Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.dll"      
  7.       
  8. ## Set Exchange Version      
  9. $ExchangeVersion = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeVersion]::Exchange2010_SP2      
  10.       
  11. ## Create Exchange Service Object      
  12. $service = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeService($ExchangeVersion)      
  13.       
  14. ## Set Credentials to use two options are availible Option1 to use explict credentials or Option 2 use the Default (logged On) credentials      
  15.       
  16. #Credentials Option 1 using UPN for the windows Account      
  17. $psCred = Get-Credential      
  18. $creds = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential($psCred.UserName.ToString(),$psCred.GetNetworkCredential().password.ToString())      
  19. $service.Credentials = $creds          
  20.       
  21. #Credentials Option 2      
  22. #service.UseDefaultCredentials = $true      
  23.       
  24. ## Choose to ignore any SSL Warning issues caused by Self Signed Certificates      
  25.       
  26. ## Code From http://poshcode.org/624    
  27. ## Create a compilation environment    
  28. $Provider=New-Object Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider    
  29. $Compiler=$Provider.CreateCompiler()    
  30. $Params=New-Object System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters    
  31. $Params.GenerateExecutable=$False    
  32. $Params.GenerateInMemory=$True    
  33. $Params.IncludeDebugInformation=$False    
  34. $Params.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.DLL") | Out-Null    
  35.     
  36. $TASource=@'  
  37.   namespace Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy{  
  38.     public class TrustAll : System.Net.ICertificatePolicy {  
  39.       public TrustAll() {   
  40.       }  
  41.       public bool CheckValidationResult(System.Net.ServicePoint sp,  
  42.         System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate cert,   
  43.         System.Net.WebRequest req, int problem) {  
  44.         return true;  
  45.       }  
  46.     }  
  47.   }  
  48. '@     
  49. $TAResults=$Provider.CompileAssemblyFromSource($Params,$TASource)    
  50. $TAAssembly=$TAResults.CompiledAssembly    
  51.     
  52. ## We now create an instance of the TrustAll and attach it to the ServicePointManager    
  53. $TrustAll=$TAAssembly.CreateInstance("Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy.TrustAll")    
  54. [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::CertificatePolicy=$TrustAll    
  55.     
  56. ## end code from http://poshcode.org/624    
  57.       
  58. ## Set the URL of the CAS (Client Access Server) to use two options are availbe to use Autodiscover to find the CAS URL or Hardcode the CAS to use      
  59.       
  60. #CAS URL Option 1 Autodiscover      
  61. $service.AutodiscoverUrl($MailboxName,{$true})      
  62. "Using CAS Server : " + $Service.url       
  63.        
  64. #CAS URL Option 2 Hardcoded      
  65.       
  66. #$uri=[system.URI] "https://casservername/ews/exchange.asmx"      
  67. #$service.Url = $uri        
  68.       
  69. ## Optional section for Exchange Impersonation      
  70.       
  71. #$service.ImpersonatedUserId = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ImpersonatedUserId([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ConnectingIdType]::SmtpAddress, $MailboxName)     
  72. $PidTagAdditionalRenEntryIdsEx = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExtendedPropertyDefinition(0x36D9, [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.MapiPropertyType]::Binary)    
  73. $psPropset = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.PropertySet([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.BasePropertySet]::FirstClassProperties)    
  74. $psPropset.Add($PidTagAdditionalRenEntryIdsEx)    
  75.     
  76. # Bind to the NON_IPM_ROOT Root folder      
  77. $folderid= new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderId([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.WellKnownFolderName]::Root,$MailboxName)       
  78. $NON_IPM_ROOT = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.Folder]::Bind($service,$folderid,$psPropset)    
  79. $binVal = $null;    
  80. $AdditionalRenEntryIdsExCol = @{}    
  81. if($NON_IPM_ROOT.TryGetProperty($PidTagAdditionalRenEntryIdsEx,[ref]$binVal)){    
  82.     $hexVal = [System.BitConverter]::ToString($binVal).Replace("-","");    
  83.     ##Parse Binary Value first word is Value type Second word is the Length of the Entry    
  84.     $Sval = 0;    
  85.     while(($Sval+8) -lt $hexVal.Length){    
  86.         $PtypeVal = $hexVal.SubString($Sval,4)    
  87.         $PtypeVal = $PtypeVal.SubString(2,2) + $PtypeVal.SubString(0,2)    
  88.         $Sval +=12;    
  89.         $PropLengthVal = $hexVal.SubString($Sval,4)    
  90.         $PropLengthVal = $PropLengthVal.SubString(2,2) + $PropLengthVal.SubString(0,2)    
  91.         $PropLength = [Convert]::ToInt64($PropLengthVal, 16)    
  92.         $Sval +=4;    
  93.         $ProdIdEntry = $hexVal.SubString($Sval,($PropLength*2))    
  94.         $Sval += ($PropLength*2)    
  95.         #$PtypeVal + " : " + $ProdIdEntry    
  96.         $AdditionalRenEntryIdsExCol.Add($PtypeVal,$ProdIdEntry)     
  97.     }       
  98. }    
  99.     
  100. function ConvertFolderid($hexId){    
  101.     $aiItem = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.AlternateId      
  102.     $aiItem.Mailbox = $MailboxName      
  103.     $aiItem.UniqueId = $hexId    
  104.     $aiItem.Format = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.IdFormat]::HexEntryId;      
  105.     return $service.ConvertId($aiItem, [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.IdFormat]::EWSId)     
  106. }    
  107.   
  108. #Define Function to convert String to FolderPath    
  109. function ConvertToString($ipInputString){    
  110.     $Val1Text = ""    
  111.     for ($clInt=0;$clInt -lt $ipInputString.length;$clInt++){    
  112.             $Val1Text = $Val1Text + [Convert]::ToString([Convert]::ToChar([Convert]::ToInt32($ipInputString.Substring($clInt,2),16)))    
  113.             $clInt++    
  114.     }    
  115.     return $Val1Text    
  116. }   
  117.   
  118.     
  119. if($AdditionalRenEntryIdsExCol.ContainsKey("8001")){    
  120.     $siId = ConvertFolderid($AdditionalRenEntryIdsExCol["8001"])    
  121.     $RSSFolderID = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderId($siId.UniqueId.ToString())    
  122.     $RSSFolder = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.Folder]::Bind($service,$RSSFolderID)   
  123.     if($RSSFolder -ne $null){  
  124.         "Deleteing : " + $RSSFolder.ChildFolderCount.ToString() + " Feeds"  
  125.         $RSSFolder.Empty([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.DeleteMode]::SoftDelete, $true);  
  126.     }  
  127. }    

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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.