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- Configuring data loss prevention for email from the Compliance Center in Microsoft 365 - Fri, Dec 3 2021
Tracing message with Get-MessageTrace
This is the basic level of the message trace and can be run as follows: First, launch Exchange PowerShell v2 and then connect it to your Microsoft 365 tenant:
Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName <Admin email address>
Enter the password for this admin account in the next window that pops up.
Get-MessageTrace -RecipientAddress vignesh@M365tester.onmicrosoft.com -StartDate 4/21/2021 -EndDate 4/22/2021 | FL
Trace a specific message with Get-MessageTraceDetail
The Get-MessageTraceDetail command can be used to track a specific email. As seen here, the output is a bit more detailed. However, this command has the MessageTraceId and Recipientaddress attributes as mandatory.
Get-MessageTraceDetail -MessageTraceId f9b1b252-cd14-4f68-0286-08d904b784d1 -RecipientAddress vignesh@m365tester.onmicrosoft.com
Get-MessageTraceDetail -MessageTraceId f9b1b252-cd14-4f68-0286-08d904b784d1 -RecipientAddress vignesh@m365tester.onmicrosoft.com | FL
Extended message trace
You should also be familiar with the method of running an extended message trace via PowerShell. First, connect PowerShell to your Microsoft 365 tenant and then you can run an extended message trace with this command:
Start-HistoricalSearch -ReportTitle ExtendedMessageTrace -StartDate 4/1/2021 -EndDate 4/21/2021 -ReportType MessageTraceDetail -NotifyAddress <email address to be notified> -SenderAddress <email address> -RecipientAddress <email address>
To confirm that the search has been carried out, you can run Get-HistoricalSearch:
Once the report is generated, it will be sent to the notify address mailbox.
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Conclusion
As Microsoft 365 evolves, the number of ways to track email keeps changing. Thus, whenever emails don't arrive in your users' inboxes, you should check what other options Microsoft provides to trace emails.
How can I check to which folder in outlook the message was delivered?