Search and Delete Message

Question

Search and Delete Message

Syed Khairuddin 60

Hello,

I would like to search and delete a message in my exchange 2013 server for a particular user with the specific subject. I have gone though

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/search-for-and-delete-messages-exchange-2013-help

When I run the below command on exchange 2013 shell I this error.

Search-Mailbox -Identity "syed" -SearchQuery 'Subject:"Your bank statement"' -TargetMailbox administrator -TargetFolder "SearchAndDeleteLog" -LogOnly -LogLevel Full

WARNING: The Search-Mailbox cmdlet returns up to 10000 results per mailbox if a search query is specified. To return
more than 10000 results, use the New-MailboxSearch cmdlet or the In-Place eDiscovery & Hold console in the Exchange
Administration Center.
Cannot save changes made to an item to store.
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [], QuotaExceededException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : [Server=HQ-DED-EXCH01,RequestId=ae6de6f8-2568-49d9-ab56-e42d6fcb1385,TimeStamp=8/10/2023
    2:56:49 PM] [FailureCategory=Cmdlet-QuotaExceededException] 5B9F9394

Your help will be appreciated.

Syed Khairuddin 60 Reputation points

2023-08-13T06:40:18.3833333+00:00
go it

2:56:49 PM] [FailureCategory=Cmdlet-QuotaExceededException] 5B9F9394

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Syed Khairuddin 60 Reputation points

2023-08-13T06:40:18.3833333+00:00

go it

2:56:49 PM] [FailureCategory=Cmdlet-QuotaExceededException] 5B9F9394

Answer 1

Hi @Syed Khairuddin

According to the error message QuotaExceededException, the cause may probably be the target mailbox (administrator) has reached its quota.

Please have a check of the mailbox usage.

If this is not the case, please change the target mailbox to another mailbox and see if the issue persists.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Answer 2

skak 21

Yes this can be true. how did you came to know that's it's quota issue? As the error never mentioned Quota Warning ⚠️

Answer 3

Syed Khairuddin 60

Can you let me know how to remove the search and delete the message from a Single database as I have 10 databases in my exchange server . I would like to delete the message from a single database.

Kael Yao 37,746 Reputation points Moderator

2023-08-14T02:20:22.8166667+00:00
Hi @Syed Khairuddin

Thanks for the update.

It is not possible to directly specify a database in Search-Mailbox cmdlet.

To me we may need to first get the target mailboxes from this specific database then run Search-Mailbox to delete the messages.

Example:

Get-Mailbox -Database "database name here" | where{$_.Name -eq "synced"} | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery 'Subject:"Your bank statement"' -DeleteContent

If you would like to confirm the result before deleting the messages:

Get-Mailbox -Database "database name here" | where{$_.Name -eq "synced"} | Search-Mailbox -Identity "syed" -SearchQuery 'Subject:"Your bank statement"' -TargetMailbox administrator -TargetFolder "SearchAndDeleteLog" -LogOnly -LogLevel Full

Answer 4

Syed Khairuddin 60

When I run the below command I get the below message.

[PS] C:>Get-Mailbox -Database "HrDatabase" | where{$_.Name -eq "Inbox"} | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery 'Subject:"Annual_Leave Compliance for 2023"' -DeleteContent

WARNING: The Search-Mailbox cmdlet returns up to 10000 results per mailbox if a search query is specified. To return

more than 10000 results, use the New-MailboxSearch cmdlet or the In-Place eDiscovery & Hold console in the Exchange

Administration Center.

Kael Yao 37,746 Reputation points Moderator

2023-08-14T06:59:36.5533333+00:00

This is a warning message indicating Search-Mailbox cmdlet can only return up to 10000 results if a search query is specified.

It doesn't mean the cmdlet failed.

Did the messages get deleted successfully?
Syed Khairuddin 60 Reputation points

2023-08-14T08:05:31.1566667+00:00

When I run the above command it returned nothing except the message above please check the screenshot
Kael Yao 37,746 Reputation points Moderator

2023-08-14T08:37:12.3+00:00
I noticed in the Name part you are using "Inbox".

Here you may need to specify the mailbox name (for example syed in your main post) instead of the folder name, otherwise Exchange won't know which mailbox to search.

it returned nothing except the message above please check the screenshot

This may indicate no mailbox named "inbox" is found in the "HrDatabase".

Normally if there are results you would get a confirming message like:

If the mailbox is not found:

If your goal is to search all the user and shared mailboxes in this database and delete this message, please use this cmdlet instead:

Get-Mailbox -Database "database name here" -RecipientTypeDetails Usermailbox,SharedMailbox | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery 'Subject:"test"' -DeleteContent
Syed Khairuddin 60 Reputation points

2023-08-14T09:03:32.22+00:00

Yes the Goal is to search all recipients in single database and delete the message .

Get-Mailbox -Database "database name here" -RecipientTypeDetails Usermailbox,SharedMailbox | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery 'Subject:"test"' -DeleteContent
Kael Yao 37,746 Reputation points Moderator

2023-08-15T02:21:52.9666667+00:00

Thanks for the clarification.

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Search and Delete Message

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