Microsoft Exchange collection sources for automatic archiving

Edit online

Select the collection sources for automatically collecting documents from Microsoft Exchange sources. A collection source can consist of client mailboxes, journaling mailboxes, public stores, or personal storage files (PST files).

Add one or more collection sources:

To collect email from client mailboxes
To collect email from a journaling mailbox
To collect personal storage files (PST files)
PST files, also known as personal folders, are local files that were created by Outlook users. These files are not under the control of the Exchange email servers and are therefore not associated with the email addresses of their owners or creators. Before PST files can be archived, you must prepare the PST files so that the owners or creators of PST files can view or restore archived PST documents.
To collect documents from public folders

Note:

Stubbing is applicable for all the above mentioned collection sources except for journal mailbox.
Stub links are generated while archiving from an Microsoft Exchange Online mailbox (a migrated mailbox or a mailbox created on Microsoft Exchange Online) irrespective of the mailbox flags (Litigation Hold and Single Item Recovery) set on the user mailbox.

You can combine mailbox and PST file collection sources depending on how you want to process the PST files, but a collector for public folders cannot collect documents from any other sources.

You can set a size limit for mailboxes in your collection sources, so that documents are collected only if the size of the mailbox exceeds the specified limit. Select Store size greater than and specify the size in MB or GB.

The collector can retrieve statistical information about the mailboxes and stores that are specified as collection sources. Select Create statistics for the collector and select which counters should be selected to create a statistics file in the statistics subdirectory of the Content Collector log directory. See the topic about collecting mailbox statistics for detailed information. Note that collecting statistical information might affect the performance of the collector.

When PST files are collected, you can have Content Collector create status information for each file that was processed. The information is written to a metadata file named source_filename.icc.xml in the source directory. The metadata file can be used to further process the PST files with the File System Collector.

Table 1. Microsoft Exchange collection sources for automatic archiving
Collection source type	Description	Further options
PST file on local computer	Collects the messages from a single PST file.	Enter the name of the PST file in the PST file field.
All PST files in a folder tree	Collects messages from all PST files that can be found in the specified folder or in subfolders.	Enter the name of the folder in the Folder name field. Additionally, enter the number of folder levels to search under the specified root folder. For example, if you specified Private_Mails in the Folder name field, and you want to search for PST files in Private_Mails\Drafts, enter `2` in the Folder tree levels to search field. The default level is 0, which means that no folders are searched.
All PST files on a computer	Collects messages from all PST files that can be found on the local hard disks of a computer.	In the Mail server or computer name field, enter the name of the email server as shown in the Active Directory Users and Computers window, under <Domain Name> > Computers. Select any PST search options from Source. Additionally, enter the number of folder levels to search under the specified root folder. For example, if you specified Private_Mails in the Folder name field, and you want to search for PST files in Private_Mails\Drafts, enter `2` in the Folder tree levels to search field. The default level is 0, which means that no folders are searched.
All PST files on computers in a computer group	Collects messages from all PST files that can be found on the local hard disks of computers belonging to a computer group.	In the Group name field, enter the display name of a group that exists in the Active Directory. Enter the name as shown in the Active Directory Users and Computers window, under <Domain Name> > Groups. Select any options from Source. Additionally, enter the number of folder levels to search under the specified root folder. For example, if you specified Private_Mails in the Folder name field, and you want to search for PST files in Private_Mails\Drafts, enter `2` in the Folder tree levels to search field. The default level is 0, which means that no folders are searched.
All mailboxes of users in a group	Collects email from the mailboxes of users belonging to a certain user group.	In the Group name field, enter the display name of a group that exists in the Active Directory or the display name of a dynamic group. Enter the name as shown in the Active Directory Users and Computers window, under <Domain Name> > Groups. Note: Microsoft Exchange Online: OAuth support is enabled for with Azure Active Directory from Content Collector 4.0.1 fix pack 10 interim fix 13 (4.0.1.10 interim fix 13). Microsoft Exchange Hybrid: The user group must be available on the local Active Directory because the synchronization happens from the local Active Directory to Azure Active Directory. OAuth is not used in Content Collector, because it resolves the users in a group from the local Active Directory.
All mailboxes on a server (except journals)	Collects email from all the mailboxes that can be found on the specified email server.	Enter the name of the email server in the Mail server or computer name field, for example, `server1.company.com`. If Content Collector runs in the same domain, you can enter `server1`. Note: Microsoft Exchange Online: The collection source is not supported. Microsoft Exchange Hybrid: The collection source is supported. To use this collection source, you need to enter the hostname of the On-premises Exchange Server. Microsoft Exchange On-premises and Hybrid: If Active Directory fails to resolve mailboxes on a server, add the Exchange server hostname to the list of host entries.
Mailbox	Collects email from the specified mailbox only.	Enter the Internet address of the mailbox owner in the Mailbox SMTP address field, for example, `iccuser@mycompany.com`. Note: Microsoft Exchange Hybrid: The source can be an online or on-premises mailbox. On-premises shared mailboxes are supported. If a mixed collection source is used, the MAPI Profile user must be an Exchange Online user and should have 'Full Access' privilege on all the mailboxes in the collection source. If there are logon errors logged in MAPI logs, perform the following steps: Open the Outlook profile (Example: AFU_OUTLOOK.OFFICE.COM) from Control Panel -> Mail (32-bit) of the mailconnector user. Go to Email Accounts > Data Files > Settings. Click Advanced Tab and add the required mailbox. Close the profile and open Outlook. Enter the credentials, if prompted. Restart the Task Route service.
Journal	Collects email from a journaling mailbox. Journaling creates a copy of all email and the corresponding email header data and sends the message copy to a specified mailbox.	Enter the internet address of the journal recipient mailbox in the Mailbox SMTP address field, for example `journal@company.com`. Important: Microsoft Exchange mixed-mode journaling is not supported. The Microsoft Exchange environment must be the same for all journal mailboxes. When you define managed content settings for managed folders and use journaling to automatically forward a copy of the items in these folders to a mailbox that is monitored by Content Collector, make sure to set the format of the copied message that is attached to the journal report to Exchange MAPI Message Format (TNEF). Content Collector does not support Outlook Message Format (.msg), and archiving of envelope messages with attachments in Outlook Message Format fails. Note: Microsoft Exchange Online: The collection source is not supported. Microsoft Exchange Hybrid: The collection source is supported.
All public folders	Collects email from public folders. This selection is available only if no other collection sources are defined for this collection. When you select All public folders, the entire public-folder tree is included in the collection. To limit the set of public folders that the collector processes, you can include or exclude folders from collection by defining a collection filter. Messages in public folders can be marked for stubbing by any user that has write access to the message. To restore or view a message that was archived from a public folder, read access to the message is required. Messages in public folders are archived only once. This means that if you change an archived message, the change is not reflected in the repository, and any change will be lost when the archived message is restored or restubbed. Archiving from public folders on Microsoft Exchange 2013 requires an additional step during setup. For details, see the related Email Connector topic.

Source

The following PST search options are available:

Search hidden shares: In addition to searching for PST files on the local drives that are open to most users, Content Collector also looks for PST files on local drives or shared network drives that are hidden. For example, these drives include shares such as C$ or D$ that can be viewed only by administrators.
Search public shares: In addition to searching for PST on the local drives of computers, Content Collector also looks for PST files on shared network drives unless those drives are hidden.
Disable PST file creation: After existing PST files have been archived, no new PST files can be created on the scanned computer.
Search registry: When a user creates a PST file, this is registered in the Outlook logon profile, and keys that identify the PST file are added to the Windows registry. Content Collector can search the registry of the scanned computer for those keys and locate PST files on a computer.
When the local file is removed from the computer by using a postprocessing task route after Content Collector archived the PST file, the Outlook logon profile still contains a reference to the PST file. Therefore, the link to the PST file remains in the user's Outlook client. This results in an error message when a user clicks the link because Outlook cannot find the file. You can select to have Content Collector remove all links that point to deleted PST files from the registry, so that the user does not encounter broken links.