Important: This feature is currently not supported in the New Outlook for Mac.
Public folders are a feature of Microsoft Exchange that let people in an organization share messages, calendars, and address books. After you subscribe to a public folder, the folder appears in the navigation pane and you can access its contents.
Subscribe to an Exchange public folder
Note: Before you can subscribe to a public folder, you must add your Microsoft Exchange account to Outlook. For more information, see Add an email account to Outlook.
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On the Tools menu, click Public Folders.
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In the left pane, under Public Folders, click the Exchange account that you want.
A list of public folders appears. Mail folders are represented by the
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Click the folder that you want to subscribe to, and then click Subscribe
The subscribed folder appears in the navigation pane under Subscribed Public Folders.
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To view the contents of the folder, click the folder in the navigation pane. Messages or contacts in the folder appear in the item list. Or, if the folder is a calendar folder, events appear on the calendar.
Send a message to a public mail folder
If a public mail folder has been assigned an email address by the folder's administrator (a folder setting called "mail enabled"), you can send a message directly to the public folder. You may be able to find the email address for a public folder by looking in the To field of messages in the public folder. Or, you can search for the address in your organization's directory.
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At the bottom of the navigation pane, click Mail.
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On the Home tab, click New Email.
Tip: The keyboard shortcut to create a new email message is
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Add the folder's email address in the To box, and then create and send the message.
Notes:
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If a public folder does not have an email address assigned to it, you cannot use Outlook 2016 for Mac to post a message in the folder.
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To view your subscribed public folders, in the navigation pane, click Subscribed Public Folders.
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Add a meeting or an appointment to a public calendar folder
After you have subscribed to a public calendar folder, you can add a new event if you have the appropriate permissions from the folder's administrator.
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At the bottom of the navigation pane, click Calendar.
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In the navigation pane, click the arrow next to Subscribed Public Folders, and then click the calendar that you want.
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On the Home tab, click Appointment or Meeting.
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Enter the details about the event, and then send or save it.
Add a contact to a public address book folder
After you have subscribed to a public address book folder, you can add new contacts if you have the appropriate permissions from the folder's administrator.
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At the bottom of the navigation pane, click People.
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In the navigation pane, click the arrow next to Subscribed Public Folders, and then click the address book folder that you want.
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On the Home tab, click New Contact.
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Enter the details about the contact, and then save it.
