How to Add the email id with special characters (includes # $ ' etc) in a collection, in microsoft perview ?

Question

How to Add the email id with special characters (includes # $ ' etc) in a collection, in microsoft perview ?

Casepoint Developer 66

I have created a case and a collection in Microsoft Purview. Now I have to add an email as additional sources for a particular collection. The email contains special characters such as (# , $ , ' etc.). If we are calling the API with the exact email , The API response is "Invalid Email". If we encode email using HTTP Utility encoding. The email is added successfully. But No items are collected. If we observe collection parameters in the particular collection, the exchange email is shown in encoded form, Not decoded form.

API call :

https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/security/cases/ediscoveryCases/{Case id}/searches/{Search id}/additionalSources

Request Body:

{

"@odata.type": "microsoft.graph.security.userSource",

"email": "abc#_t#@abc.co",

"includedSources": "mailbox"

}

API response if we don't encode the email :

{

"error": {

"code": "BadRequest",

"message": "Invalid email."

}

PRADEEPCHEEKATLA 90,661 Reputation points Moderator

2023-12-13T05:21:39.13+00:00
@Casepoint Developer - Thanks for the question and using MS Q&A platform.

It seems like you are trying to add an email with special characters to a collection in Microsoft Purview, but you are encountering an error when calling the API.

To add an email with special characters to a collection in Microsoft Purview, you can try encoding the email using URL encoding before making the API call. URL encoding replaces special characters with a percent sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal digits.

For example, the email "abc#_t#@abc.co" can be encoded as "abc%23_t%23%40abc.co". You can then use the encoded email in the API call.

Here's an example of how you can modify your API call to use the encoded email:

API call :

https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/security/cases/ediscoveryCases/{Case id}/searches/{Search id}/additionalSources

Request Body:

{

"@odata.type": "microsoft.graph.security.userSource", "email": "abc%23_t%23%40abc.co", "includedSources": "mailbox"

}

This should allow you to add the email with special characters to the collection in Microsoft Purview. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Casepoint Developer 66 Reputation points

2023-12-14T06:25:41.47+00:00

@PRADEEPCHEEKATLA , Thanks for the answer.

But, If we encode the email , Then inside Microsoft Purview, the email is shown as encoded. It is not being decoded from the Microsoft side if we use encoding.

For ex:

email : abc#_t#@abc.co

Encode Email : abc%23_t%23%40abc.co

Now if we call the API to add the email in the particular {case id}, Then the email will be successfully added. But from in the Microsoft Purview UI , if we see, The email will be in the encoded form only. And the collection will be failed for the email because such email "abc%23_t%23%40abc.co" doesn't actually exist.

So, Is there any other solution besides encoding the email ?
PRADEEPCHEEKATLA 90,661 Reputation points Moderator

2023-12-15T09:11:39.54+00:00

@Casepoint Developer - I understand your concern. It seems like encoding the email is causing issues with the collection in Microsoft Purview, as the email is being stored in encoded form and the collection is failing because the encoded email does not actually exist.

One possible solution to this issue is to use a different encoding method that is compatible with Microsoft Purview. You can try using the UTF-8 encoding method, which is widely used and supported by Microsoft products.

Another solution is to use a different email address that does not contain special characters. This may not be an ideal solution, but it can help you avoid the issues caused by encoding the email.

If none of these solutions work, I would suggest open a support ticket for further assistance. They should be able to provide you with more information on how to add an email with special characters to a collection in Microsoft Purview without causing any issues.
Casepoint Developer 66 Reputation points

2023-12-25T04:29:27.09+00:00

@PRADEEPCHEEKATLA-MSFT , Thanks for the Response. But the UTF-8 encoding is also not working. The API is giving an error response.

Are there any other possible methods?
Casepoint Developer 66 Reputation points

2024-01-09T12:13:58.22+00:00

Hello @PRADEEPCHEEKATLA Can you please help us in this? As we are stuck on this and can not go ahead with suggested changes.

Thanks & Regards
Casepoint Developer 66 Reputation points

2024-01-09T12:16:30.5033333+00:00

Hello @PRADEEPCHEEKATLA

Can you please help us in this? As we are stuck here and not able to go ahead with suggested changes.

Thanks & Regards
PRADEEPCHEEKATLA 90,661 Reputation points Moderator

2024-01-10T01:46:16.56+00:00

@Casepoint Developer - I agree that this issue looks strange and I wasn't able to reproduce this issue. If you have a support plan could you please file a support ticket for deeper investigation and do share the SR# with us?
PRADEEPCHEEKATLA 90,661 Reputation points Moderator

2024-01-15T23:24:24.62+00:00

@Casepoint Developer - Did you get a chance to open a support ticket?

1 answer

Your answer

PRADEEPCHEEKATLA 90,661 Reputation points Moderator

2023-12-13T05:21:39.13+00:00

@Casepoint Developer - Thanks for the question and using MS Q&A platform.

It seems like you are trying to add an email with special characters to a collection in Microsoft Purview, but you are encountering an error when calling the API.

To add an email with special characters to a collection in Microsoft Purview, you can try encoding the email using URL encoding before making the API call. URL encoding replaces special characters with a percent sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal digits.

For example, the email "abc#_t#@abc.co" can be encoded as "abc%23_t%23%40abc.co". You can then use the encoded email in the API call.

Here's an example of how you can modify your API call to use the encoded email:

API call :

https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/security/cases/ediscoveryCases/{Case id}/searches/{Search id}/additionalSources

Request Body:

{

"@odata.type": "microsoft.graph.security.userSource", "email": "abc%23_t%23%40abc.co", "includedSources": "mailbox"

}

This should allow you to add the email with special characters to the collection in Microsoft Purview. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Casepoint Developer 66 Reputation points

2023-12-14T06:25:41.47+00:00

@PRADEEPCHEEKATLA , Thanks for the answer.

But, If we encode the email , Then inside Microsoft Purview, the email is shown as encoded. It is not being decoded from the Microsoft side if we use encoding.

For ex:

email : abc#_t#@abc.co

Encode Email : abc%23_t%23%40abc.co

Now if we call the API to add the email in the particular {case id}, Then the email will be successfully added. But from in the Microsoft Purview UI , if we see, The email will be in the encoded form only. And the collection will be failed for the email because such email "abc%23_t%23%40abc.co" doesn't actually exist.

So, Is there any other solution besides encoding the email ?
PRADEEPCHEEKATLA 90,661 Reputation points Moderator

2023-12-15T09:11:39.54+00:00

@Casepoint Developer - I understand your concern. It seems like encoding the email is causing issues with the collection in Microsoft Purview, as the email is being stored in encoded form and the collection is failing because the encoded email does not actually exist.

One possible solution to this issue is to use a different encoding method that is compatible with Microsoft Purview. You can try using the UTF-8 encoding method, which is widely used and supported by Microsoft products.

Another solution is to use a different email address that does not contain special characters. This may not be an ideal solution, but it can help you avoid the issues caused by encoding the email.

If none of these solutions work, I would suggest open a support ticket for further assistance. They should be able to provide you with more information on how to add an email with special characters to a collection in Microsoft Purview without causing any issues.
Casepoint Developer 66 Reputation points

2023-12-25T04:29:27.09+00:00

@PRADEEPCHEEKATLA-MSFT , Thanks for the Response. But the UTF-8 encoding is also not working. The API is giving an error response.

Are there any other possible methods?
Casepoint Developer 66 Reputation points

2024-01-09T12:13:58.22+00:00

Hello @PRADEEPCHEEKATLA Can you please help us in this? As we are stuck on this and can not go ahead with suggested changes.

Thanks & Regards
Casepoint Developer 66 Reputation points

2024-01-09T12:16:30.5033333+00:00

Hello @PRADEEPCHEEKATLA

Can you please help us in this? As we are stuck here and not able to go ahead with suggested changes.

Thanks & Regards
PRADEEPCHEEKATLA 90,661 Reputation points Moderator

2024-01-10T01:46:16.56+00:00

@Casepoint Developer - I agree that this issue looks strange and I wasn't able to reproduce this issue. If you have a support plan could you please file a support ticket for deeper investigation and do share the SR# with us?
PRADEEPCHEEKATLA 90,661 Reputation points Moderator

2024-01-15T23:24:24.62+00:00

@Casepoint Developer - Did you get a chance to open a support ticket?

Answer 1

From your description, it appears there might be a challenge with how encoded emails are handled on the Microsoft Purview side, particularly when it comes to decoding those emails for use in collections.

Indeed, URL encoding is a standard practice for handling special characters in URLs or API calls. However, if Purview isn't correctly decoding the email addresses before using them, it could lead to issues as you've described. If emails are not being decoded automatically by Purview, and this is causing collection failures, this may be a more complex issue that requires direct support from Microsoft. While I would recommend reaching out to Microsoft Support for further assistance, here's a potential workaround:

Preprocess Email Addresses: Before adding them to your case, you could preprocess your email addresses to replace special characters with equivalent acceptable characters. For example, replacing '#' with 'HASH', '_' with 'UNDERSCORE', etc. This way, you're avoiding the encoding-decoding problem altogether.

Remember, this is a workaround and might not be feasible depending on your specific requirements or the volume of email addresses you're dealing with. Therefore, contacting Microsoft Support might still be the best course of action.

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How to Add the email id with special characters (includes # $ ' etc) in a collection, in microsoft perview ?

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