Microsoft Adds Enhanced Message Trace to Exchange Online

Microsoft has announced the public preview of its enhanced Message Trace experience in the Exchange admin center (EAC) for Exchange Online. This feature has started rolling out now and it’s expected to reach general availability by the end of the month.

What is Message Trace?

A message trace is a feature that enables administrators to track an email message as it travels through Exchange Online. It helps to determine if a message was received, rejected, deferred or delivered. This capability provides detailed information about each step the email took, which is useful for troubleshooting issues, answering user questions, and validating the effects of policy changes.

“You can now query up to 90 days of historical data for near real-time queries. However, please note that you can only query 10 days’ worth of data at a time. Please note that you will initially only have 30 days of historical data for near real-time query, and this will build over time to 90 days of historical data,” Microsoft explained.

UI improvements

Microsoft has also introduced new filter options (such as by subject and delivery status) for Message Trace queries. The subject filter supports the “starts with,” “ends with,” as well as contains functions. Moreover, the delivery status filter will provide searches for “Quarantined”, “Filtered as spam”, and “Getting status” statuses.

Additionally, Microsoft has released several UI improvements based on user feedback. The timestamps for the email activities will automatically be displayed in the time zone that is set in the Exchange account settings. Other UI changes include customizable columns and persistent column width.

What are the key cmdlet changes from Get-MessageTrace?

Lastly, Microsoft highlighted key changes to the Get-MessageTrace cmdlet. A new Subject parameter lets administrators perform more specific message trace queries. Moreover, the new Message Trace cmdlet doesn’t support pagination. The cmdlet brings support for a -ResultSize parameter. By default, it returns up to 1000 results, but IT admins can increase this to a maximum of 5000 results.

The new Message Trace allows IT admins to retrieve subsequent data while minimizing duplication. This capability helps to continue a trace from a specific recipient address.

Microsoft notes that administrators can access the new Message Trace by navigating to Exchange admin center > Mail flow > Message Trace. This feature is enabled by default, but IT admins can choose to disable the preview by setting the “Try New Message Trace” setting to off.