Environment: Exchange 2010 SP1, Outlook 2010 Pro Plus
We have a manager that needs access to a user's live email box without that user knowing about it (suspected wrong doing).
Obviously, we could give the manager Full Access permission in Exchange but if the manager accidentally clicks on an unread item or deletes something then it might give it away that they are accessing it. Also, we can't add the manager as a reviewer to the user's outlook (again, might give it away). We could also just export the mailbox from Exchange, but that wouldn't give the manager any email that comes in after the export (without us continually re-exporting it). From what I've seen, giving a user read-only permissions on a mailbox doesn't prevent the read/unread status from being modified. Discovery searches would work for specific things, but the manager would like to be able to browse.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this?
Best Answer
In the managers Outlook or OWA turn off the message Read options. If the manager uses Outlook as their primary email client and doesn't want to turn off the message Read options because it will affect his/her messages then have them use OWA to view the employees mailbox and turn off the message Read options in OWA.
EDIT
In the OWA options you should have the following three options:
Mark item displayed in reading pane as read
Mark item as read when selection changes
Do not automatically mark items as read
Select the thrid option. Then when the manager uses OWA to read the employee's email the messages won't be marked as Read.