FJ is also correct... any email sent through the server also has the potential for residing in a log file somewhere on the server and/or in the recipient's mailbox (if also in the company)... but there is some good news. Sometimes with size comes ambiguity... in my exp. larger companies (or sometimes just overworked IT staff) don't really have the time to go through and review email and logs... I know I rarely do, esp. with some bad employees that we have had to let go. l8r Live, Love & Google!

WOW! Thanks everyone for the quick responses. Re: the replies about mail sent out to other people (I guess)- I wasn't speaking about when mail is sent to others, only about received messages AND copies of messages SHE has sent. Don't know if I made that clear - sorry. Blackbill wrote: "You did not mention how big this company is... but if it is a fairly large scale network then I would not worry about it because it's already on some back up drive somewhere." It is a school district - a few elementary, couple of middle schools and a decent size High School, plus the administrative employees, are all hooked up to the same network (I assume). The emails she is wanting to delete are confidential data pertaining to her job that other people really shouldn't see after she leaves - even the principal. These aren't emails of things that my wife shouldn't have been sending / receiving.

If the emails are still work related, but should be secured then maybe that could be kicked higher up the food chain than the principal. I often times have to secure permissions on a PST so that only the appropriate people have access... If it is work related though I would recommend that it NOT be deleted as Sarbanes & Oxley compliance issues are now forcing companies to keep all email data. If it's not of a personal nature, or will not jeapordize your wife AFTER she has left the School, then let the Schoold administrators and IT staff deal with keeping it secure. Just my two cents. Michael Live, Love & Google!

Thanks again, Michael- I wasn't familiar with the: "Sarbanes & Oxley compliance issues are now forcing companies to keep all email data." For the future in her next job, when on a network (in general), is there a way - if using Outlook or other email clients - for the employee to NOT have a copy of emails sent and/or received by the employee saved on the network server? Either through settings in Outlook, or say, if when email is sent, she just prints a copy (before sending?) but doesn't have sent copies saved - on the PC or on the server? But, as you (and FJ)said, "FJ is also correct... any email sent through the server also has the potential for residing in a log file somewhere on the server and/or in the recipient's mailbox (if also in the company)..." From that, I assume that regardless of what an employee does, any email sent / received, no matter if deleted immediately, it potentially [can be] stored / seen by others. What about some of the "encryption" software I've read a little about, that supposedly prevents the employer from being able to retrieve something like email? Only a myth? The (main) info she is concerned about regards confidential info between student / counselor, that Ethics Standards preclude her from divulging to others - even a nosy principal. This is part of why she's leaving - tried to "force" her to reveal certain info that she was bound by ethics not to.

Basically anything sent through any email server has the potential of being saved/logged by the server, regardless of whether or not it is "saved" in the client. Additionally any "file" (PST/Otherwise) that is used by the client has the potential of being viewed/edited/copied/backuped_up by any other PC/User/Server/Process with the proper permissions to do so (whether on a local PC or networked). There are options in client configurations, server configurations, & encryptions that can better safe-gaurd your data, but here may not be the best way to share those. As much as I am for security/privacy... I am also for a company protecting their data. Offering the advice you ask on a public forum may encourage the deviant users to even more mischeviousness. Already I feel conflicted about the advice I have given, but hope it's for a good cause like you have pointed out. If you wish to discuss further options, please feel free to call/email me directly. I personally will not be posting anything here relating to what you have requested. Sorry. Michael Live, Love & Google!

Did a little more poking around in Outlook '00 at settings (We don't use Outlook at home). Lots of settings for things like "leave copy of messages on server" and "remove (messages) from server after X days" and "save copies of messages in Sent Items folder", etc., etc. Are any of these of any value in at least partly increasing privacy from an employer's snooping, assuming all email isn't immediately saved to a log file? Assuming (big IF) the company (school) doesn't immediately save every sent / received email into a log (i.e., before a backup is done), and the employee deletes - by the most appropriate method - emails immediately after sending or receiving, does that really provide any privacy from the employer retrieving email copies?

the options you are referring to sound more like POP options and not Exchange options. Any email left on the server/otherwise has the potential of being logged/saved/backed_up. I would not think that any of these options are more likely to increase your privacy, except from mabye a bacup process (if the email is deleted before the backup), but if "x days" is anything more than 1, then a nightly previous backup would have the backup of the deleted email. Additionally deleting the email is not going to prevent the ability to possibly recover the email from the server's mailbox and/or hard drive(if desired), but in all honesty it would take some determination on someone's part to do that and you have to wonder if the "nosy principal" really has the expertise to do that, or the pull with the IT department to get it done, since I am assuming she wouldn't have that ability herself. Most large scale IT departments have some good measures in place about security/confidentiality of data and I wouldn't think the principal could just freely get access to that data without a having a very good reason, or at the risk of appearing nosy, unless he/she runs the IT department too (has the ability to fire IT Staff). In the latter case I would only say... ahem... "Internal Controls anyone?" It's like an HR person having the ability to hire their friend AND ALSO take care of the payroll to pay them what they want to. Shouldn't be done without some checks and balances. Again just my 2 cents! But as long as you are doing your own research I would have to point you in the direction of Outlook Clients being set up in "Exchange Mode" and using PSTs or Server Mailboxes as this will be the typical set up in a larger company rather than using POP accounts ;-) l8r. Michael Live, Love & Google!

Michael- Yes, it could jeopardize my wife's professional reputation and endanger her livelyhood. This is the reason for her / my concern. Certain school personnel have already proven conclusively that they will violate other ethics standards at will. No, it might not be my wife's fault if they use confidential information inappropriately, but that won't prevent her being dragged into an ethics commission investigation, or even a court battle. In a case like this, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Thanks for your and others help, though.

I understand completely and as before extend an invitation to email me directly and I can give you some ideas and point you in the right direction, but I hope you understand my reasons for not wanting to post them here. Thanks! Michael Live, Love & Google!