Microsoft Public Folders can produce a variety of challenges for those in the Architecture, Construction and Engineering industries. Charles de Voil examines these challenges, and explains how Gekko Email Management could be the solution you are looking for. 

Prior to the release of Microsoft Exchange 2007, we were told that Public Folders will eventually be discontinued. Thirteen years later they are still clinging on, probably due to the desperate requests of IT managers as the traditional options for moving emails constitute very technical and time-consuming projects.

Microsoft is continuing support for Public Folders in Office 365 and Exchange Online. They are the most common obstacle communicated to us by our customers planning to upgrade from old versions of Exchange (on-Premise). I believe this stems from the fact that most email systems are very good at sending and receiving, but were never designed to store the quantity of emails our typical customer (Construction Consultants) have to manage.

Even Microsoft state on their website:

• Public folders aren't designed for the following purposes:
• Data archiving. Users who have mailbox limits sometimes use public folders instead of mailboxes to archive data. This practice isn't recommended because it affects storage in public folders and undermines the goal of mailbox limits. Instead, we recommend that you use In-Place Archiving as your archiving solution.
• Document sharing and collaboration. Public folders don't provide versioning or other document management features, such as controlled check-in and check-out functionality and automatic notifications of content changes. Instead, we recommend that you use SharePoint Online as your documentation sharing solution.

*info taken from Public folders in Office 365 and Exchange Online- 02/21/2020

The main reason design teams struggle with sharing project emails with Public Folders is the content is not indexed by Exchange and you can’t perform searches across multiple folders. This is particularly challenging for construction consultancy practices (Architects, Engineers, Project Managers, Surveyors, Planners etc.) who could have over 100 live projects on the go at one time. Imagine if a consultant drags an important email containing a calculation report to the wrong project by mistake. He would have to search through all project folders to find it in the future!

The problem is very acute in our core customer base because:

• Email has become the most common communication medium.
• Professional bodies (RIBA, ICE, CIBSI) and Insures (WREN) require important project correspondence to be stored for up to 10 years
• 500+ Public Folders is not uncommon

So, what is the solution?

Gekko Project Email Management from Cubic Interactive.

Having started life as a simple add-on module to Cubic’s popular Practice Management Solution, Rapport3, Gekko has evolved into a Cloud Subscription Service that is helping our core customer base to keep on top of the email avalanche from all type of devices (PC, Mac, Tablet & Phone). 

The secret of Gekko’s success is a team that listens to the challenges of its clients, who want to spend more time creating beautiful buildings and less time searching through public folders.