Inside Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 Web Services

The FindItem/SearchFolder Balancing Act

In Chapter 4 and Chapter 14, you saw how you can query a Mailbox by using the FindItem call. In this chapter, you have seen how you can create a SearchFolder to define a virtual folder and then get its contents by using the FindItem call. Well, if both of these end up with a FindItem call, where would you ever use search folders?

Table 15-3 compares the functionality provided by search folders and the FindItem operation.

Table 15-3. Comparing SearchFolders and FindItem

Functionality/Property	Search Folders	FindItem Operation
Search multiple folders	X	X
Soft-deleted traversal		X
Deep traversal	X
Support restrictions	X	X

So, why should you use search folders? They are useful for creating views that client applications often ...