View statistics for public folders and public folder items

You can use the Exchange Management Shell to retrieve statistics about a public folder, such as the display name, creation time, last user modified time, and item size. You can use this information to make decisions about deleting or retaining public folders.

Note

While you can view some of the quota and usage information in the Exchange admin center (EAC), this information is incomplete, and we recommend that you use the Exchange Management Shell to view public folder statistics. To view quota and usage information for public folders by navigating to Public Folders > Edit Edit icon. > Mailbox usage.

For additional management tasks related to public folders, see Public Folder Procedures in Exchange Online.

What do you need to know before you begin?

Tip

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at: Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or Exchange Online Protection.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to retrieve public folder statistics

This example returns the statistics for the public folder Marketing with a piped command to format the list.

Get-PublicFolderStatistics -Identity \Marketing | Format-List

Note

The value for the Identity parameter must include the path to the public folder. For example, if the public folder Marketing existed under the parent folder Business, you would provide the following value: \Business\Marketing

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-PublicFolderStatistics.

Note that some parameters and settings might be available only in Exchange Online or only in Exchange Server.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to view statistics for public folder items

You can view the following information about items within a public folder:

  • Type of item

  • Subject

  • Last user modification time

  • Creation time

  • Attachments

  • Message size

This example returns default statistics for all items in the public folder Pamphlets under the path \Marketing\2013. Default information includes item identity, creation time, and subject.

Get-PublicFolderItemStatistics -Identity "\Marketing\2013\Pamphlets"

This example returns additional information about the items within the public folder Pamphlets, such as subject, last modification time, creation time, attachments, message size, and the type of item. It also includes a piped command to format the list.

Get-PublicFolderItemStatistics -Identity "\Marketing\2010\Pamphlets" | Format-List

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-PublicFolderItemStatistics.

Note that some parameters and settings might be available only in Exchange Online or only in Exchange Server.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to export the output of the Get-PublicFolderItemStatistics cmdlet to a .csv file

This example exports the output of the cmdlet to the PFItemStats.csv file that includes the following information for all items within the public folder \Marketing\Reports:

  • Subject of the message (Subject)

  • Date and time that the item was last modified (LastModificationTime)

  • Whether the item has attachments (HasAttachments)

  • Type of item (ItemType)

  • Size of the item (MessageSize)

Get-PublicFolderItemStatistics -Identity "\Marketing\Reports" | Select Subject,LastModificationTime,HasAttachments,ItemType,MessageSize | Export-CSV C:\PFItemStats.csv

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-PublicFolderItemStatistics.