View folders are root folders that contain associated information for describing alternative layouts for displaying the contents of IPM folders. View folders reside under the root for the message store and are therefore not visible in the typical client application. Not every message store includes view folders; only message stores that are configured to work as the default message store for the session must include them.
MAPI supports two view folders:
The common view folder holds views that are standard for the message store and can be used by any user of a client accessing the message store. The entry identifier for the common view folder is stored in the store's PR_COMMON_VIEWS_ENTRYID property.
The personal view folder holds views that are defined by a particular user. MAPI defines the PR_VIEWS_ENTRYID property for holding the entry identifier of the personal view folder. With personal views, one user can look at a group of messages in order by sender listing only the subject and the date received and another user can look at the same group in date order listing subject, sender, and message size. Unlike the root folders for the common views and search-results folders, the personal view folder hierarchy is visible to the user.