Public folders are storage areas on public information stores that allow you to group information so that it can be shared among multiple users. You can store many kinds of information in public folders, ranging from e-mail messages to graphics to sound bites. Public folders can also contain custom forms. These forms serve as a basis for creating custom applications such as bulletin boards, discussion forums, or customer tracking.
A public folder can also be used as an application, such as a bulletin board service, customer tracking application, electronic Help desk, or an Internet newsgroup discussion. By defining the type of information you want displayed and by organizing that information, you can create the application by using public folders exclusively.
Public folders are stored in the public information store (Exchsrvr\Mdbdata\Pub.edb) on a Microsoft Exchange Server computer. If you have more than one server, you can replicate public folders among servers so that users can access replicas of public folders on different servers.