HOW TO: Use Mdbvu32.exe to Set/Create a Property on a Folder

This step-by-step article demonstrates how to use this utility to set a property of a folder. You can find Mdbvu32.exe on the Exchange Server 5.5 CD.

Mdbvu32.exe is a message store viewer utility written using Extended MAPI. This utility can be used to set MAPI properties on folders and messages in Exchange information stores without writing any additional code. This can prove useful if there are just a few properties you need to set at once.

Set or Create a Property on a Folder

Suppose you want to set PR_COMMENT property on the Inbox folder of your mailbox to the value "test". The followings are the steps that you need to follow:

1. Open Mdbvu32.exe and ckick OK on the first dialog box to log in.
2. Click the MDB menu and select OpenMessageStore. Click on your mailbox and click Open to open the store.
3. Click on MDB menu item and select Open IPM Subtree.
4. In the Child Folders section of the window, double-click the Inbox. If you wish to modify a message, double-click it in the window marked Messages in Folder.
5. The top window should now say "MAPI_FOLDER - Inbox." Click Property Interface to open the Properties window. If there is a huge number of messages, you might get an error or warning. You can ignore it.
6. Click Set Props.
   • If the property you wish to set is in the list marked PropID, select it, enter a value in Prop Data, and click Add. In this case, you select PR_COMMENT from the list, and type "test" in Prop Data.
   • If the property you wish to set is not listed, type the hexadecimal value of the property under PropID(Hex) and select the type under PropType. Then enter the value in Prop Data and click Add.
   The previous two steps can be repeated to set/change many properties. When all the desired properties have been added to the list, click Call.
   
7. The window will close and be replaced by a before and after window showing the effects of your changes. Confirm that the property has been set by looking in the Properties After Modify list and clicking Close to close this window.
8. Click SaveChanges and click OK on the dialog box that pops up.

If you didn't encounter any errors along the way, the properties should now be created and set.

Mdbvu32.exe can be found on the Exchange Server 5.5 CD, under Support\Utils\I386 directory.