Formatting the Primary Files

The primary files contain one or more sections. Each section contains one of the following types of data:

Directory Information

Each line of data can create or modify any mailbox, custom recipient, or distribution list in the Microsoft Exchange Server directory. The data is in directory import format, which is described in Formatting Directory Information. For general information on directory data format, see Directory Access Function Files.

PAB Entries and Personal Distribution Lists

Each line of data creates a personal address book (PAB) or personal distribution list entry. There is one section for each mailbox. A mailbox must be created before entering this data. See Formatting PAB Entries and Personal Distribution Lists.

Messages and Public Folders

Each line of data creates a message or an item in a mailbox or public folder. Each section holds entries for one mailbox or for any number of public folders. Sections must be separated by a blank line. Messages can be imported to create a mailbox.

Each line of data has one or more comma-separated values (CSVs). If any of these values has a carriage return or line feed character, put it into a secondary file. (The same parsing rules apply in the secondary file: strings with special characters need to be in quotes.)

Replace the value with a pointer to the secondary file and an offset to where the header of the data begins. For example: #SALESPO2.SEC(43232). The # sign indicates that the data is stored in another file, the SALESPO2.SEC secondary file. The data is located 43232 bytes from the beginning of that file, and this offset counts end-of-line characters such as carriage returns and line feeds. For more information, see Formatting Messages and Public Folders.

Note  It is important that transferring the secondary files from another platform or system does not introduce new characters. If this happens, the offsets in the primary file could be inaccurate.