Outlook .msg files metadata/properties problem

[GaryRW]

I am saving messages from outlook 2007 in .msg file format onto folders on network drives on windows 7 (I've also tested saving in local drives too).

When I view the folder in detailed view in windows explorer, I can choose columns like email address, cc, cc addresses, subject, from, from addresses and lots of other attributes/columns that sound related to emails. But if I show those columns, they're all blank for the .msg files I have saved. What are those fields/attributes/metadata for, and is there any way to get Outlook to populate them when exporting .msg files?

According to this: http://www.techhit.com/outlook/store...ilesystem.html, the author column at least should show an email address, but that shows blank as well. Is there something obvious I'm missing??

For background info, what we are trying to do at work is to have a central store of all documents relating to a client, including word, pdf, & emails etc... Everything else is sorted, but emails is causing a headache . We could use public email folders within outlook/exchange, but it seems a bit messy having 2 separate filing systems in use for the same clients. Correspondence will be a mixture of letters and emails, so again it's difficult to keep track if there are 2 different locations.

The idea of just saving .msg files in the same network folders with word and pdf files seems a simple one, but we would then loose the abilities of outlook to easily see all emails to one email address etc... If I could get things like the to & from fields to be populated, we could easily sort the contents of a folder according to those fields.

I probably haven't explained myself well, so apologies if none of the above makes sense. Any other genius ideas as to how to view word, pdf and outlook messages in one place would be very gratefully received

[oldboy47]

Not necessarily a low cost solution but I use adobe to create pdf's from all messages (it also converts attachments). I usually create monthly by client. The subsequent pdf folder can be located anywhere you put it.

When opened I can see all the particular message headers as usually seen in outlook - to, from, subject, date, attachments, size, cc, bcc. Can also show message location etc. As well as the header, the display also shows a reading pane. Individual messages and their attachments can be opened and links in either can be opened too.

The software will also allow you to do the same with items from most other applications.