Exchange Online Gets Graph API-Based Message Trace Support in Preview
Microsoft’s new Graph-based Message Trace modernizes Exchange Online and replaces legacy reporting APIs.
Key Takeaways:
- Message Trace is moving to Microsoft Graph, replacing the legacy Exchange reporting API.
- Organizations must prepare to migrate before the April 2026 deprecation deadline.
- New limits apply, requiring more efficient and optimized query usage.
Microsoft has rolled out Message Trace support via the Microsoft Graph API in public preview for commercial customers. The update delivers a modern, RESTful interface that lets administrators trace email messages end-to-end across Exchange Online with greater consistency and control.
In Exchange Online, the Message Trace feature provides administrators with a way to follow the journey of email messages across their organization. This feature offers visibility into how messages are processed, delivered, or filtered within the service. It also helps identify potential issues in mail flow, which enables quicker troubleshooting and more informed insights into message handling behavior.
What does the new Graph API-based Message Trace deliver?
The new Graph-based Message Trace replaces the existing experience using the Reporting Webservice API. It provides a unified and improved API experience for querying message‑trace and message‑trace‑detail data. Microsoft plans to retire Reporting Webservice Message Trace endpoints on April 6, 2026. Organizations currently using those endpoints must migrate to the Graph API as soon as possible.
“If you currently use Message Trace using the Reporting Webservice, please migrate to use Message Trace using the Graph API before April 6, 2026. Message Trace and Message Trace Detail support using the Reporting Webservice will begin deprecating on April 6, 2026. Please note that all new organizations onboarding to Exchange Online already do not have access to Message Trace support using Reporting Webservice by default due to the migration effort,” the Exchange team explained.
Throttling limits and query quotas
Microsoft will introduce a rate‑based throttling to prevent overuse of Exchange Online resources and to maintain consistent service performance for all tenants. Under this policy, message‑trace and message‑trace‑detail requests share a single quota. It allows up to 100 queries within any five‑minute window, and lower request volumes avoid throttling. A single query can return up to 5,000 records, which means organizations can still retrieve large amounts of data if they distribute the queries efficiently.
It’s highly recommended that organizations using automation or integrations built on the Reporting Webservice must update scripts, workflows, and documentation to support the new Graph API endpoints before deprecation begins.
Rabia has a master's degree in Software Engineering and she has years of experience writing professionally about Microsoft products and other technologies. Rabia has also written for OnMSFT.com as well as Windows Report. She is always up to date on t...
