EWS ArchiveItem internal server error

Simon Hain 96

We are using the ArchiveItem operation on a mailbox on O365 with enabled online archive. The request is identical to the one in the reference, with a real item id of course.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/client-developer/web-service-reference/archiveitem-operation

The Exchange server replies with an InternalServerError:

An internal server error occurred. The operation failed., Unable to cast object of type 'Microsoft.Exchange.Services.Core.Types.MoveItemRequest' to type 'Microsoft.Exchange.Services.Core.ILegacyServiceCommandFactory'.

1 answer

Jake Zhang-MSFT 7,850 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-11-12T07:57:52.2533333+00:00
Hi @Simon Hain ,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A platform!

According to your description, you're encountering an issue with the ArchiveItem operation in Exchange Online. The error message you're receiving, "Unable to cast object of type 'Microsoft.Exchange.Services.Core.Types.MoveItemRequest' to type 'Microsoft.Exchange.Services.Core.ILegacyServiceCommandFactory'," suggests there might be a problem with how the request is being interpreted or processed by the Exchange server.

Here are a few steps that might help you troubleshoot and potentially resolve this issue:

Ensure that the request you're sending matches the expected format exactly. Even a small discrepancy could lead to errors.

Make sure you are using the correct version of the Exchange Web Services (EWS) API. Sometimes, mismatched versions can cause issues.

Ensure the account you're using has the necessary permissions to perform the ArchiveItem operation on the mailbox. Lack of proper permissions can lead to internal server errors.

Verify that the item IDs you are using in the request are valid and that the items actually exist in the mailbox.

If you have control over the Exchange Online environment, ensure that it is fully updated. Sometimes, such errors can be due to bugs that have been fixed in more recent updates.

Enable detailed logging of the requests and responses if possible. Sometimes, additional context from the logs can provide more insights into the root cause of the error.

Please feel free to contact me for any updates. And if this helps, don't forget to mark it as an answer.

Best,

Jake Zhang
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Simon Hain 96 Reputation points

2024-11-12T08:15:00.16+00:00

Thank you for your reply, Jake Zhang.

Ensure that the request you're sending matches the expected format exactly. Even a small discrepancy could lead to errors.

We use the request exactly as documented. More importantly, we have used the request unchanged since 2015. It is part of our non-automated tests and was successfully tested on september 27th this year.

Make sure you are using the correct version of the Exchange Web Services (EWS) API. Sometimes, mismatched versions can cause issues.

We use Exchange2013 in the RequestServerVersion header.

Ensure the account you're using has the necessary permissions to perform the ArchiveItem operation on the mailbox. Lack of proper permissions can lead to internal server errors.

The permission is set on the account and was not changed. We can use other requests to access the archive, like GetFolder, FindItems, SyncFolderItems and also MoveItems with an archive folder as a target.

Verify that the item IDs you are using in the request are valid and that the items actually exist in the mailbox.

The items/IDs exist and are valid, we retrieved them using SyncFolderItems and added details using GetItemDetails. We can use other operations like UpdateItem, MoveItem etc successfully.

If you have control over the Exchange Online environment, ensure that it is fully updated. Sometimes, such errors can be due to bugs that have been fixed in more recent updates.

We have administration access to the Exchange Online tenant, but i am not aware that i can install updates on Office365, as it is a cloud service managed by Microsoft.

In any case, we did not change any account settings this year, the request started to fail some time in the last weeks (between end of september and now).

The error also occurs on our productive tenant (which we do not have access to)

Enable detailed logging of the requests and responses if possible. Sometimes, additional context from the logs can provide more insights into the root cause of the error.

We have enabled trace logging, there is no additional information in the EWS response.

We can reproduce the error with our app as well as using tools like SoapUI

I have added a recent response below:

response.xml

Jake Zhang-MSFT 7,850 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-11-14T09:27:46.8666667+00:00

Hi @Simon Hain ,

Thanks for the details about this issue. Given that the request has been working for years and suddenly started failing, it's likely that a change on the server side is causing this issue. Here are some additional steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue:

Since the issue started recently, check if there were any updates or changes in your Exchange Online environment around the time the issue started. This could include updates to the EWS API or changes to the server configuration.

If possible, compare the configuration of your test and production environments to see if there are any differences that could be causing the issue.

Try using a different version of the EWS API in the RequestServerVersion header to see if the issue persists. This can help determine if the issue is specific to the version you're currently using.

Please feel free to contact me for any updates. And if this helps, don't forget to mark it as an answer.

Best,

Jake Zhang

Simon Hain 96 Reputation points

2024-11-14T15:20:27.56+00:00

Thank you for your reply.

There were no updates in our Exchange Online environment that we are aware of. As far as i know, Office365/Exchange Online is managed by Microsoft, i am not aware how we could install updates there.

As both environments have the same issue i do not think i would be able to find a relevant configuration difference. We did not change the configuration of our test environment in the timeframe.

There is no different behavior when using other RequestServerVersion values. Exchange2013 is the minimum value, but we have tested higher values as well.

Best,

Simon

Jake Zhang-MSFT 7,850 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-11-18T09:44:21.0966667+00:00

Hi @Simon Hain ,

Thank you for the additional details. Given that there have been no changes on your end and the issue persists across different environments and API versions, it seems likely that the problem is on the server side. Here are a few more steps you can take:

Check the Office 365 Service Health Dashboard for any ongoing issues or maintenance activities that might be affecting the EWS API.

If you can share the recent response XML (ensuring no sensitive information is included), I can help analyze it further. Sometimes, even small details in the response can provide clues about the root cause.

As a temporary workaround, consider using other methods to achieve your goal, such as using the MoveItem operation if it works with archive folders, until the issue with ArchiveItem is resolved.

Please feel free to contact me for any updates. And if this helps, don't forget to mark it as an answer.

Best,

Jake Zhang

Simon Hain 96 Reputation points

2024-11-18T10:11:06.8233333+00:00

I have added a recent service response here:

response.xml

I agree that it seems to be a server-side error, i just cannot seem to find a way to report this error. We have tried creating a ticket multiple ways, but the friendly support people calling us do things like "check autodiscovery", then refer to a paid developer support, which we cannot use as we are not registered as Microsoft developers - we develop iOS and Android apps (100.000+ users - but probably a lot less with an online archive).

It seems that removing the functionality from our applications seems to be the best way forward, an app user can still move items to an archive folder, it is just less convenient as the target folder has to be selected each time.

Jake Zhang-MSFT 7,850 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-11-20T09:22:24.43+00:00

Thanks for sharing the error message. This confirms that the issue is indeed a server-side issue related to type conversion in the Exchange Online service.

As you mentioned, allowing users to manually move items to the archive folder is a possible workaround. While not very convenient, it ensures that your users can still use the functionality.

Simon Hain 96 Reputation points

2024-11-20T09:26:36.1+00:00

As you mentioned, allowing users to manually move items to the archive folder is a possible workaround.

I tried implementing that yesterday, a MoveItem with DistinguishedFolderId.ArchiveInbox seemed to work.
But we discovered that ArchiveInbox is not the Inbox of the Archive, but a different folder that is not shown in Outlook.
We will remove the functionality altogether now.

Isn't there any established way to notify Microsoft about the error in EWS?

Jake Zhang-MSFT 7,850 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-11-22T09:41:53.7133333+00:00

The EWS client library throws different types of exceptions (such as ServiceRequestException, ServiceResponseException, AutodiscoverLocalException, etc.), and you can use try-catch blocks to catch these exceptions.
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