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Export messages from queues in Exchange Server

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On Mailbox servers and Edge Transport servers in Exchange Server, you can export the messages in a queue to files. The exported messages aren't removed from the queue. Copies of the messages are made in the specified location as a plain text files. You can view the message files in Notepad or Outlook, and you can resubmit the message files by using the Replay directory on any other Mailbox server or Edge Transport server inside or outside your Exchange organization.

What do you need to know before you begin?

  • Estimated time to complete each procedure: 5 minutes

  • You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "Queues" entry in Mail flow permissions topic.

  • To export messages from a delivery queue, the Submission queue, or the Unreachable queue, the messages need to be in the Suspended state. For active, healthy queues, you first suspend the queue so you can then suspend the messages. Messages in the poison message queue are already in the Suspended state. For more information, see Suspend queues and Suspend messages in queues.

  • You can't use Queue Viewer in the Exchange Toolbox to export messages. However, you can use Queue Viewer to locate, identify, and suspend the messages before you export them using the Exchange Management Shell. For more information about Queue Viewer, see Queue Viewer. To learn how to open the Exchange Management Shell in your on-premises Exchange organization, see Open the Exchange Management Shell.

  • When you export messages from a queue, you don't remove the messages from the queue. If you resubmit the exported messages by using the Replay directory, you should remove the messages from the queue to avoid duplicate message delivery. For more information, see Remove messages from queues.

  • Verify the following information about the target location for the exported message files:

    • The target folder needs to exist before you export any messages, and won't be created for you. If you don't specify the complete path, the files are written to the current Exchange Management Shell working directory.
    • The path can be local to the Exchange server, or it can be a UNC path to a share on a remote server (\server\share).
    • Your account needs to have the Write permission in the target folder.

  • We use the message's InternetMessageID property value for the exported message file names to help ensure uniqueness. The procedures include steps to remove angled brackets (> and <), because they aren't allowed in file names. Also, we use the .eml file name extension so you can easily open the files in Outlook or resubmit the files by using the Replay directory.

  • For more information about identity and filters for queues and messages in queues, see the following topics:

  • For information about keyboard shortcuts that may apply to the procedures in this topic, see Keyboard shortcuts in the Exchange admin center.

Tip

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at: Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or Exchange Online Protection.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to export a specific message from a queue

To export a specific message from a queue, use the following syntax:

Export-Message -Identity <MessageIdentity> | AssembleMessage -Path <FilePath>\<FileName>.eml

This example takes the following actions on the server named Mailbox01:

  1. Suspends the contoso.com delivery queue.

  2. Suspends the message in the queue that has the InternalMessageID value 1234.

  3. Exports a copy of the message to the file D:\contoso Export\export.eml.

Suspend-Queue Mailbox01\contoso.com

Suspend-Message -Identity Mailbox01\contoso.com\1234

Export-Message -Identity Mailbox01\contoso.com\1234 | AssembleMessage -Path "D:\Contoso Export\export.eml"

Use the Exchange Management Shell to export all messages from a queue

To export all messages from a queue, and use the InternetMessageID value of each message as the file name, use the following syntax:

Get-Message -Queue <QueueIdentity> -ResultSize Unlimited | ForEach-Object {$Temp=<Path>+$_.InternetMessageID+".eml"; $Temp=$Temp.Replace("<","_"); $Temp=$Temp.Replace(">","_"); Export-Message $_.Identity | AssembleMessage -Path $Temp}

This example takes the following actions on the server named Mailbox01:

  1. Suspends the contoso.com delivery queue.
  2. Suspends all messages in the queue.
  3. Exports copies of the messages to the local folder named D:\Contoso Export.
Suspend-Queue Mailbox01\contoso.com

Get-Queue Mailbox01\contoso.com | Get-Message -ResultSize Unlimited | Suspend-Message

Get-Message -Queue Mailbox01\Contoso.com -ResultSize Unlimited | ForEach-Object {$Temp="D:\Contoso Export\"+$_.InternetMessageID+".eml"; $Temp=$Temp.Replace("<","_"); $Temp=$Temp.Replace(">","_"); Export-Message $_.Identity | AssembleMessage -Path $Temp}

Use the Exchange Management Shell to export specific messages from all queues on a server

To export specific messages from all queues on a server, and use the InternetMessageID value of each message as the file name, use the following syntax:

Get-Message -Filter "<MessageFilter>" [-Server <ServerIdentity>] -ResultSize Unlimited | ForEach-Object {$Temp=<Path>+$_.InternetMessageID+".eml"; $Temp=$Temp.Replace("<","_"); $Temp=$Temp.Replace(">","_"); Export-Message $_.Identity | AssembleMessage -Path $Temp}

This example takes the following actions on the server named Mailbox01:

  1. Suspends all queues on the server.
  2. Suspends all messages in all queues on the server from senders in the fabrikam.com domain.
  3. Exports copies of the messages to the local folder named D:\Fabrikam Export.
Suspend-Queue -Server Mailbox01

Suspend-Message -Filter "FromAddress -like '*@fabrikam.com'" -Server Mailbox01

Get-Message -Filter "FromAddress -like '*@fabrikam.com'" -Server Mailbox01 -ResultSize Unlimited | ForEach-Object {$Temp="D:\Fabrikam Export\"+$_.InternetMessageID+".eml"; $Temp=$Temp.Replace("<","_"); $Temp=$Temp.Replace(">","_"); Export-Message $_.Identity | AssembleMessage -Path $Temp}

Use the Exchange Management Shell to export all messages from all queues on a server

To export all messages from all queues on a server, and use the InternetMessageID value of each message as the file name, use the following syntax:

Get-Message [-Server <ServerIdentity>] -ResultSize Unlimited | ForEach-Object {$Temp=<Path>+$_.InternetMessageID+".eml"; $Temp=$Temp.Replace("<","_"); $Temp=$Temp.Replace(">","_"); Export-Message $_.Identity | AssembleMessage -Path $Temp}

This example takes the following actions on the server named Mailbox01:

  1. Suspends all queues on the server.
  2. Suspends all messages in all queues on the server.
  3. Exports copies of the messages to the local folder named D:\Mailbox01 Export.
Suspend-Queue -Server Mailbox01

Get-Queue -Server Mailbox01 | Get-Message -ResultSize Unlimited | Suspend-Message

Get-Message -Server Mailbox01 -ResultSize Unlimited | ForEach-Object {$Temp="D:\Mailbox01 Export\"+$_.InternetMessageID+".eml"; $Temp=$Temp.Replace("<","_"); $Temp=$Temp.Replace(">","_"); Export-Message $_.Identity | AssembleMessage -Path $Temp}