How to Solve this Error “Public Folder Property Expression Isn’t Valid”
Summary: This write-up will help users to resolve this error “public folder property expression isn’t valid” by using the solution that we have described in this blog.
When users migrate from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013, first they configure the new server, create Exchange Database file, setup certificates, Outlook, etc… After that user starts to migrate all the Exchange Mailboxes from the existing server to the new one. During the migration, only the Public Folder is not migrated because it throws an error: Property Expression Isn’t Valid.
Note: Migrate Public Folder from previous version to Exchange 2013 step by step process.
User start the migration process from Exchange 2010 by executing the command given below:
New-PublicFolderMigrationRequest -SourceDatabase “Name of Public Folder Database” (Get-PublicFolderDatabase -Server Exchange01) -CSVData (Get-Content C:\PF\FolderData.csv -Encoding Byte)
From this command, the user will create the Public Folder move request and the user can see their migration plan from CSV file.
User can see the progress when the migration of Public Folder start. Follow the command given below:
Get-PublicFolderMigrationRequest | Get-PublicFolderMigrationRequestStatistics
Users can view the complete information about Exchange Public Folder migration and find the issue or failure. If the user have invalid alias on the Public Folder, the migration is failed at 10%.
To get the complete detail about the error user can run the given command that is shown below:
Get-PublicFolderMirgrationRequest |Get-PublicFolderMigrationRequestStatistics | fl
Now user can see the error properly which says “Error: Property expression isn’t valid”.
From the above command, the user will get to know that the Mail Enabled Exchange Public Folder and there should not be any space between the alias.
Then the user have to fix all the mail-enabled Public Folder which are having invalid aliases. Users have to create name only with characters and numbers, without leaving any space. User can run the Get-MailPublicFolder command to get the list of all public folders which have spaces.
If a user wants to search another specific character then they can use the “Where-object” in the given command:
Get-MailPublicFolder | Where-Object {$_.Alias -like “* *”} | Select-Object alias, identity
From this user will have complete information about which Exchange Public Folder is having an error. They can fix this by using two approaches:
Approach 1: Using the Exchange Management Console
Follow the steps to fix the error “public folder property expression isn’t valid”
Step 1: Open Exchange Management Console > Go to tools > Open Public Folder Management Console
Step 2: Expand the Public Folder tree > Navigate to the properties of Public Folder which are having space or any problem
Step 3: Click on the Exchange General tab > Change the name of alias i.e. show below:
Approach 2: Using Exchange Management Shell
Run the command in the Exchange PowerShell to remove error “public folder property expression isn’t valid”
Get-MailPublicFolder “Name Of Public Folder” |Set-MailPublicFolder -Alias “PublicFolderAliasName”
This could easily work when users have individual Exchange Public Folder. Suppose if users have Public Folder in bulk, then they have to configure some script that removes spaces by going through all the Public Folder. It might take some time because the folders are having invalid characters and space.
It is recommended to remove the Public Folder request when the user sort the naming convention of all the alias. Users can run the Get-PublicFolderMigrationRequest | Remove-PublicFolderMigrationRequest command to remove all requests. Then the user can execute the command for the Public Folder migration in bulk.
Note: When executing the migration batch again, if the user faces some other error which will delay or stop the migration procedure. In that case, users have to use can use an alternative solution i.e. SysTool EDB Repair Tool. It provides the dual scanning option i.e. Advance scan and Quick can that easily repair EDB file & mailbox from corruption. This recovery manager for Exchange database software helps the users to extract mailbox from EDB file Exchange 2016/2013 and Public Folder & export to Live Exchange Server, Office 365, and various file formats such as EML, MSG, MBOX, PDF, PST & HTML.
This utility supports the Private and Public Exchange Database file and provides the option that resolves database corruption Exchange 2010, 2013, 2016 and recover permanently deleted mailboxes. The advance scanning option easily recover deleted mailbox after retention period. Users can easily download and use the software.
Bringing It All Together
This write-up provides the complete information to fix the error “public folder property expression isn’t valid” by using the solution that is mentioned in the above section. Users can use the alternative solution to directly Export their Public Folder into the Exchange Server 2016 / 2013 / 2010 / 2007 / 2003 mailboxes in batch, without any data loss.