I have a Windows 2008 server running Exchange 2007 roll up 4. I am in a situation where I had to setup a temporary Public folder and journel all of the incoming and outgoing email from my system for some period of time. I realize this is not the intent of PF but I have to do what I needto do to meet this requirement. I have the Public folder store on a seperate disk thats is 250 Gig drive and I have limited the PF to only hold things for 3 days and then delete them. If I look at the Public folder store in Outlook and I add up the 3 container sizes shown in the folder size button it's around 500 Meg of data, However the database file is hovering around 1.5 Gig. I can take it offline and run a defrag and it again shrinks back to about 50 Gig. I am running the online defrag and it is completing the task but never shrinking the DB by any substantial ammount. Is there some way I can keep this DB to a manageable size without taking it offline to do a defrag? Thank you in advance.

Look for Event ID 1221. This will appear for each database, so find the one that relates to this PF database. It should appear each night after online maintenance. This event will tell you how much space you have to regain and takes the guess work out of an offline defrag. I would also check deleted item retention. Perhaps this is set too high. If so, it will keep items for a period of time after they have been deleted.To configure deleted items retention in Exchange System Manager Open Exchange System Manager. Expand the Administrative Group or Servers, click Servers, and then click Public Folder Store. Right-click the public folder store, and then click Properties. On the Limits tab, set the deleted items retention periodMike Crowley: MCT, MCSE, MCTS, MCITP: Enterprise Administrator / Messaging Administrator