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Warning
This exam will retire on July 31, 2023, at 11:59 PM Central Standard Time.
Purpose of this document
This study guide should help you understand what to expect on the exam and includes a summary of the topics the exam might cover and links to additional resources. The information and materials in this document should help you focus your studies as you prepare for the exam.
Useful links | Description |
---|---|
Review the skills measured as of April 18, 2023 | This list represents the skills measured AFTER the date provided. Study this list if you plan to take the exam AFTER that date. |
Review the skills measured prior to April 18, 2023 | Study this list of skills if you take your exam PRIOR to the date provided. |
Change log | You can go directly to the change log if you want to see the changes that will be made on the date provided. |
How to earn the certification | Some certifications only require passing one exam, while others require passing multiple exams. |
Certification renewal | Microsoft associate, expert, and specialty certifications expire annually. You can renew by passing a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn. |
Your Microsoft Learn profile | Connecting your certification profile to Microsoft Learn allows you to schedule and renew exams and share and print certificates. |
Exam scoring and score reports | A score of 700 or greater is required to pass. |
Exam sandbox | You can explore the exam environment by visiting our exam sandbox. |
Request accommodations | If you use assistive devices, require extra time, or need modification to any part of the exam experience, you can request an accommodation. |
Take a practice test | Are you ready to take the exam or do you need to study a bit more? |
Updates to the exam
Our exams are updated periodically to reflect skills that are required to perform a role. We have included two versions of the Skills Measured objectives depending on when you are taking the exam.
We always update the English language version of the exam first. Some exams are localized into other languages, and those are updated approximately eight weeks after the English version is updated. While Microsoft makes every effort to update localized versions as noted, there may be times when the localized versions of an exam are not updated on this schedule. Other available languages are listed in the Schedule Exam section of the Exam Details webpage. If the exam isn't available in your preferred language, you can request an additional 30 minutes to complete the exam.
Note
The bullets that follow each of the skills measured are intended to illustrate how we are assessing that skill. Related topics may be covered in the exam.
Note
Most questions cover features that are general availability (GA). The exam may contain questions on Preview features if those features are commonly used.
Skills measured as of April 18, 2023
Audience profile
Candidates for this exam identify, troubleshoot, and resolve issues with Microsoft Exchange Online, hybrid Exchange environments, and related Exchange components, technologies, and services.
Candidates work with customers and other stakeholders to understand the details of any issues. They also interact with administrators and peers that work with other related technologies.
Candidates should have experience with PowerShell and the Exchange PowerShell module. The support engineer should also have significant experience deploying, managing, and troubleshooting Exchange Online environments.
Troubleshoot mail flow issues (20–25%)
Troubleshoot compliance and retention issues (25–30%)
Troubleshoot mail client issues (20–25%)
Troubleshoot Exchange Online configuration issues (15–20%)
Troubleshoot hybrid and migration issues (10–15%)
Troubleshoot mail flow issues (20–25%)
Troubleshoot Exchange Online mail flow issues
Review and interpret message headers
Review and interpret message trace results and policies associated with those results
Determine whether a mail flow rule or conditional mail routing is affecting mail flow
Identify rules that are evaluated and policies that are applied when sending or receiving email
Troubleshoot issues where users cannot send or receive email and no NDR is generated or displayed
Troubleshoot issues where email destined for one tenant is incorrectly routed to another tenant
Troubleshoot delivery delays
Troubleshoot mail flow issues with external systems
Read and analyze SMTP protocol logs for hybrid deployments and third-party systems
Troubleshoot issues related to mail flow for hybrid deployments
Troubleshoot mail flow using a third-party cloud service with Exchange Online
Troubleshoot DNS-related mail flow issues
Troubleshoot SMTP relay issues
Troubleshoot SMTP certificate issues
Troubleshoot other mail flow issues
Identify types of NDRs and interpret NDR data
Determine which rules impact email attachments
Determine which rules are triggered when an email arrives at a user’s inbox
Troubleshoot issues related to blocked attachment types
Troubleshoot issues with corrupted inbox rules
Troubleshoot issues reported by Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Determine why an email is marked as spam
Determine why messages are being quarantined
Determine whether the sender SPF, DMARC, and DKIM records are valid
Troubleshoot anti-spam policies
Troubleshoot messages that are categorized as false positive or false negative
Troubleshoot compliance and retention issues (25–30%)
Troubleshoot compliance issues
Identify roles required to perform eDiscovery actions
Describe Microsoft Purview compliance portal retention policies
Troubleshoot eDiscovery issues
Determine what types of holds are associated with an item
Troubleshoot in-place and eDiscovery holds
Search for and delete email messages in an organization
Determine how to clear or purge recoverable item folders
Troubleshoot retention issues
Describe retention tag types and actions
Describe the process for calculating item retention age
Troubleshoot issues creating and applying retention policies
Review and interpret Messaging Records Management (MRM) mailbox diagnostics logs
Interpret message properties used by message records management (MRM)
Troubleshoot Microsoft Purview Message Encryption and S/MIME issues
Troubleshoot issues with messages that are not encrypted or decrypted as expected
Troubleshoot issues where external users cannot decrypt messages but internal users can decrypt messages
Troubleshoot issues reading, replying to, or forwarding protected messages from Microsoft 365 on mobile devices
Troubleshoot mail flow rules
Troubleshoot revocation issues for encrypted emails
Troubleshoot S/MIME issues
Troubleshoot mailbox auditing issues
Troubleshoot issues searching audit logs
Troubleshoot user actions (for example user reports an item is deleted but they say they did not delete)
Troubleshoot bulk actions including email creation, moves, modifications, and deletion
Track non-owner actions
Troubleshoot audit log retention period issues
Troubleshoot auditing not working
Troubleshoot journaling
Troubleshoot duplicate journal entries
Troubleshoot email not being journaled
Troubleshoot journal OME decryption issues
Troubleshoot mail client issues (20–25%)
Troubleshoot connectivity and authentication issues
Describe how to obtain Microsoft Outlook client configuration information
Troubleshoot Exchange authentication policies
Troubleshoot client access rules
Troubleshoot issues with modern authentication
Troubleshoot Outlook on the web (OWA) sign in issues
Troubleshoot Autodiscover issues
Troubleshoot why Outlook client cannot connect to Exchange Online mailbox
Troubleshoot Outlook desktop app continuously prompting for Exchange Online password
Troubleshoot calendaring issues
Review and analyze mailbox and calendar diagnostic logs
Troubleshoot broken manager/delegation issues
Troubleshoot resource booking issues
Troubleshoot calendar sharing issues
Troubleshoot permissions issues related to calendar sharing
Troubleshoot issues publishing and accessing calendars shared with external users
Determine why content for a published calendar is not up to date
Troubleshoot issues with mobile devices
Identify mobile device access states and what the states indicate
Review mobile devices statistics to confirm the reason for a block
Review the Allow/Block/Quarantine (ABQ) list to identify blocked or quarantined devices
Troubleshoot Exchange device access rules
Review and interpret ActiveSync logs to troubleshoot Outlook Sync EAS connection issues
Troubleshoot connectivity issues with native ActiveSync
Troubleshoot Exchange Online configuration issues (15–20%)
Troubleshoot provisioning issues
Interpret and troubleshoot validation errors encountered during object provisioning
Determine when to restore or recover an inactive mailbox
Troubleshoot issues managing resource mailboxes
Troubleshoot issues purging deleted users
Troubleshoot recipient issues
Troubleshoot automatic email forwarding
Troubleshoot matching issues with Microsoft Entra ID
Troubleshoot distribution list membership issues (including dynamic distribution groups)
Troubleshoot issues with archive mailboxes including auto-expanding archive mailboxes
Troubleshoot org-wide settings
Troubleshoot domain setup and configuration issues
Troubleshoot address book policies
Troubleshoot address lists
Troubleshoot allowed file types
Troubleshoot mailbox plans
Troubleshoot Client Access services (CAS) mailbox plans
Troubleshoot public folder issues
Troubleshoot Exchange Online access to public folders
Troubleshoot mail-enabled public folders
Troubleshoot issues sending email to public folders
Troubleshoot hybrid access to public folders
Troubleshoot load-balancing issues for public folders
Troubleshoot hybrid and migration issues (10–15%)
Troubleshoot hybrid configuration issues
Troubleshoot Hybrid Configuration wizard issues
Troubleshoot hybrid mail flow issues
Troubleshoot free/busy issues for hybrid deployments
Troubleshoot issues synchronizing remote recipient attributes with Exchange Online
Troubleshoot migration issues
Troubleshoot endpoint creation issues
Review Migration users status report
Troubleshoot slow migrations
Troubleshoot Data Consistency Score (DCS) issues
Troubleshoot failed migrations
Troubleshoot public folder migration issues
Study resources
We recommend that you train and get hands-on experience before you take the exam. We offer self-study options and classroom training as well as links to documentation, community sites, and videos.
Study resources | Links to learning and documentation |
---|---|
Get trained | Choose from self-paced learning paths and modules or take an instructor-led course |
Find documentation | Microsoft 365 documentation | Microsoft Docs |
Ask a question | Microsoft Q&A | Microsoft Docs |
Get community support | Microsoft 365 - Microsoft Tech Community |
Follow Microsoft Learn | Microsoft Learn - Microsoft Tech Community |
Find a video | Exam Readiness Zone Browse other Microsoft Learn shows |
Change log
Key to understanding the table: The topic groups (also known as functional groups) are in bold typeface followed by the objectives within each group. The table is a comparison between the two versions of the exam skills measured and the third column describes the extent of the changes.
Skill area prior to April 18, 2023 | Skill area as of April 18, 2023 | Change |
---|---|---|
Audience profile | Minor | |
Troubleshoot mail flow issues | Troubleshoot mail flow issues | No % change |
Troubleshoot Exchange Online mail flow issues | Troubleshoot Exchange Online mail flow issues | No change |
Troubleshoot mail flow issues with external systems | Troubleshoot mail flow issues with external systems | Minor |
Troubleshoot other mail flow issues | Troubleshoot other mail flow issues | Minor |
Troubleshoot issues reported by Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | Troubleshoot issues reported by Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | No change |
Troubleshoot compliance and retention issues | Troubleshoot compliance and retention issues | No % change |
Troubleshoot compliance issues | Troubleshoot compliance issues | No change |
Troubleshoot retention issues | Troubleshoot retention issues | No change |
Troubleshoot Microsoft Purview Message Encryption and S/MIME issues | Troubleshoot Microsoft Purview Message Encryption and S/MIME issues | No change |
Troubleshoot mailbox auditing issues | Troubleshoot mailbox auditing issues | No change |
Troubleshoot journaling | Troubleshoot journaling | No change |
Troubleshoot mail client issues | Troubleshoot mail client issues | No % change |
Troubleshoot connectivity and authentication issues | Troubleshoot connectivity and authentication issues | Minor |
Troubleshoot calendaring issues | Troubleshoot calendaring issues | Minor |
Troubleshoot calendar sharing issues | Troubleshoot calendar sharing issues | No change |
Troubleshoot issues with mobile devices | Troubleshoot issues with mobile devices | No change |
Troubleshoot Exchange Online configuration issues | Troubleshoot Exchange Online configuration issues | No % change |
Troubleshoot provisioning issues | Troubleshoot provisioning issues | No change |
Troubleshoot recipient issues | Troubleshoot recipient issues | No change |
Troubleshoot org-wide settings | Troubleshoot org-wide settings | No change |
Troubleshoot public folder issues | Troubleshoot public folder issues | No change |
Troubleshoot hybrid and migration issues | Troubleshoot hybrid and migration issues | No % change |
Troubleshoot hybrid configuration issues | Troubleshoot hybrid configuration issues | No change |
Troubleshoot migration issues | Troubleshoot migration issues | Minor |
Skills measured prior to April 18, 2023
Audience profile
Candidates for this exam identify, troubleshoot, and resolve issues with Microsoft Exchange Online, hybrid Exchange environments and related components, technologies, and services.
Candidates work with customers and other stakeholders to understand the details of any issues. They also interact with administrators and peers that work with other related technologies.
Candidates should have experience with PowerShell and the Exchange PowerShell module. The support engineer should also have significant experience deploying, managing, and troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Online environments.
Troubleshoot mail flow issues (20–25%)
Troubleshoot compliance and retention issues (25–30%)
Troubleshoot mail client issues (20–25%)
Troubleshoot Exchange Online configuration issues (15–20%)
Troubleshoot hybrid and migration issues (10–15%)
Troubleshoot mail flow issues (20–25%)
Troubleshoot Exchange Online mail flow issues
Review and interpret message headers
Review and interpret message trace results and policies associated with those results
Determine whether a mail flow rule or conditional mail routing is affecting mail flow
Identify rules that are evaluated and policies that are applied when sending or receiving email
Troubleshoot issues where users cannot send or receive email and no NDR is generated or displayed
Troubleshoot issues where email destined for one tenant is incorrectly routed to another tenant
Troubleshoot delivery delays
Troubleshoot mail flow issues with external systems
Read and analyze SMTP protocol logs for hybrid deployments and third-party systems
Troubleshoot issues related to mail flow for hybrid deployments
Troubleshoot DNS-related mail flow issues
Troubleshoot SMTP relay issues
Troubleshoot SMTP certificate issues
Troubleshoot other mail flow issues
Identify types of NDRs and interpret NDR data
Determine which active rules impact email attachments
Determine which rules are triggered when an email arrives at a user’s inbox
Troubleshoot issues related to blocked attachment types
Troubleshoot issues with corrupted inbox rules
Troubleshoot issues reported by Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Determine why an email is marked as spam
Determine why messages are being quarantined
Determine whether the sender SPF, DMARC, and DKIM records are valid
Troubleshoot anti-spam policies
Troubleshoot messages that are categorized as false positive or false negative
Troubleshoot compliance and retention issues (25–30%)
Troubleshoot compliance issues
Identify roles required to perform eDiscovery actions
Describe Microsoft Purview compliance portal retention policies
Troubleshoot eDiscovery issues
Determine what types of holds are associated with an item
Troubleshoot in-place and eDiscovery holds
Search for and delete email messages in an organization
Determine how to clear or purge recoverable item folders
Troubleshoot retention issues
Describe retention tag types and actions
Describe the process for calculating item retention age
Troubleshoot issues creating and applying retention policies
Review and interpret Messaging Records Management (MRM) mailbox diagnostics logs
Interpret message properties used by message records management (MRM)
Troubleshoot Microsoft Purview Message Encryption and S/MIME issues
Troubleshoot issues with messages that are not encrypted or decrypted as expected
Troubleshoot issues where external users cannot decrypt messages but internal users can decrypt messages
Troubleshoot issues reading, replying to, or forwarding protected messages from Microsoft 365 on mobile devices
Troubleshoot mail flow rules
Troubleshoot revocation issues for encrypted emails
Troubleshoot S/MIME issues
Troubleshoot mailbox auditing issues
Troubleshoot issues searching audit logs
Troubleshoot user actions (for example user reports an item is deleted but they say they did not delete)
Troubleshoot bulk actions including email creation, moves, modifications, and deletion
Track non-owner actions
Troubleshoot audit log retention period issues
Troubleshoot auditing not working
Troubleshoot journaling
Troubleshoot duplicate journal entries
Troubleshoot email not being journaled
Troubleshoot journal OME decryption issues
Troubleshoot mail client issues (20–25%)
Troubleshoot connectivity and authentication issues
Describe how to obtain Outlook client configuration information
Troubleshoot Exchange authentication policies
Troubleshoot client access rules
Troubleshoot issues with modern authentication
Troubleshoot Outlook on the web (OWA) sign in issues
Troubleshoot Autodiscover issues
Outlook client cannot connect to Exchange Online mailbox
Troubleshoot Outlook desktop app continuously prompting for Exchange Online password
Troubleshoot calendaring issues
Review and analyze mailbox and calendar diagnostic logs
Troubleshoot broken manager/delegation issues
Troubleshoot Resource Booking Assistant issues
Troubleshoot calendar sharing issues
Troubleshoot permissions issues related to calendar sharing
Troubleshoot issues publishing and accessing calendars shared with external users
Determine why content for a published calendar is not up to date
Troubleshoot issues with mobile devices
Identify mobile device access states and what the states indicate
Review mobile devices statistics to confirm the reason for a block
Review the Allow/Block/Quarantine (ABQ) list to identify blocked or quarantined devices
Troubleshoot Exchange device access rules
Review and interpret ActiveSync logs to troubleshoot Outlook Sync EAS connection issues
Troubleshoot connectivity issues with native ActiveSync
Troubleshoot Exchange Online configuration issues (15–20%)
Troubleshoot provisioning issues
Interpret and troubleshoot validation errors encountered during object provisioning
Determine when to restore or recover an inactive mailbox
Troubleshoot issues managing resource mailboxes
Troubleshoot issues purging deleted users
Troubleshoot recipient issues
Troubleshoot automatic email forwarding
Troubleshoot matching issues with Microsoft Entra ID
Troubleshoot distribution list membership issues (including dynamic distribution groups)
Troubleshoot issues with archive mailboxes including auto-expanding archive mailboxes
Troubleshoot org-wide settings
Troubleshoot domain setup and configuration issues
Troubleshoot address book policies
Troubleshoot address lists
Troubleshoot allowed file types
Troubleshoot mailbox plans
Troubleshoot Client Access services (CAS) mailbox plans
Troubleshoot public folder issues
Troubleshoot Exchange Online access to public folders
Troubleshoot mail-enabled public folders
Troubleshoot issues sending email to public folders
Troubleshoot hybrid access to public folders
Troubleshoot load-balancing issues for public folders
Troubleshoot hybrid and migration issues (10–15%)
Troubleshoot hybrid configuration issues
Troubleshoot Hybrid Configuration wizard issues
Troubleshoot hybrid mail flow issues
Troubleshoot free/busy issues for hybrid deployments
Troubleshoot issues synchronizing remote recipient attributes with Exchange Online
Troubleshoot migration issues
Troubleshoot endpoint creation issues
Review migration users and move requests
Troubleshoot slow migrations
Troubleshoot Data Consistency Score (DCS) issues
Troubleshoot failed migrations
Troubleshoot public folder migration issues