Exchange Online Mail Trace Guide for IT Admins

Microsoft has introduced some new changes to the Exchange Online mail trace feature. So, admins who regularly use this ability in the M365 cloud environment must read this refresher course. It will help them to correctly diagnose any send-receive mismatches that may occur in the future.
The message tracking turns any admin into an email detective who can figure out the exact path an email took in its journey. However, the way admins did this in the past will soon expire. Don’t worry; this guide is written in a way that makes it super easy to understand what’s being updated. Plus, it teaches you to track any email in your organization using the new Exchange Admin Center’s GUI console and the new script-style PowerShell cmdlets.
Let us start off by learning about the new update and see how long the legacy options will remain usable.

The New Exchange Online Mail Trace Experience is Now Active!

In June of 2025, Microsoft announced the General Availability (GA) of the new Message Trace experience in the Exchange Admin Center (EAC). This update brings a modernized interface and new, more powerful PowerShell cmdlets. The rollout for Worldwide customers is scheduled from mid-June to the end of July 2025.

Also Read: How to Import MBOX to Exchange and Exchange Online Easily?

This transition means some older tools will be retired. Here’s what you need to know:
Deprecation Date: The old Message Trace interface, the old PowerShell cmdlets (Get-MessageTrace and Get-MessageTraceDetail), and the Reporting Webservice will be deprecated starting September 1, 2025.

What You Need to Do:

• Adopt the New UI: Familiarize yourself with the new Message Trace interface in the EAC, which is now the default.
• Migrate Your Scripts: If you have any automation or scripts using the old cmdlets, you must update them to the new V2 cmdlets before the end of August 2025 to avoid disruption.

This guide has been fully updated to reflect these changes, ensuring you are prepared for this transition.

What is Message Trace in Exchange Online?

At its core, message trace in Exchange Online is a diagnostic tool that allows administrators to follow emails as they travel through your organization’s digital corridors. It provides a detailed log of each message’s journey, helping you determine if an email was successfully delivered, rejected, deferred, or even marked as spam. Think of it as a digital breadcrumb trail for your emails.

Also Read: What to do to fix Your Mailbox has Been Temporarily Moved to the Microsoft Exchange Server Error

The benefits of using message trace are numerous. It’s not just about finding lost messages. You can also use it to:

• Troubleshoot email delivery issues: Quickly identify why an email wasn’t delivered and get the information you need to fix the problem.
• Enhance security: By analyzing message trace data, you can spot unusual email patterns that might indicate a security threat, such as a compromised account sending out spam.
• Validate policy changes: When you implement new mail flow rules or data loss prevention (DLP) policies, you can use message trace to confirm they are working as intended.

Essentially, message trace provides the visibility you need to maintain a healthy and secure email environment.

How to Run a Message Trace in the New Exchange Admin Center (EAC)

With the new interface now the default, running a message trace is more intuitive than ever. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started in the new EAC:

• Log in to the Exchange Admin Center.
• Go to Mail flow > Message trace.
• Click on the “+ Start a trace” button.
  
• Define Your Search Criteria: Fill in the following details:
  • Sender and Recipient.
  • Time zone
  • Time Range for both the start and end dates.

    

• Detailed Exchange Online mail trace options allow you to:
  • Toggle Delivery Status like “Delivered,” “Failed,” “Pending,” or “Quarantined.”
  • Trace a specific message ID.
  • Filter by the message direction (inbound/outbound) and the original client IP address.
  • New Exchange Online message has a trace by subject feature too.
    
• Finally, choose a Report Type:
  • Summary Report for a quick overview.
  • Enhanced Summary Report adds direction and the original client IP in a downloadable CSV file.
  • The Extended Report is for the most detailed analysis. This report provides in-depth routing and event information. Note that this CSV can take several hours to generate.
• Once you’ve set your criteria, click “Search”.
  

As soon as the run completes, you will be taken to the trace results page, where you should see the messages that satisfy your search criteria.

Advanced Exchange Online Mail Trace with the New V2 Cmdlets

Although the new EAC is good enough for everyday message tracing, it has too many elements that reduce the speed with which tracking can take place. PowerShell is a great alternative when you want specific and fast results. Power users can do micro adjustments in the terminal directly without even touching the cursor once. Here are the steps for the basic Message trace issue.
First, connect to Exchange Online:

Connect-ExchangeOnline

Then Type:

$message = Get-MessageTraceV2 -RecipientAddress "your@domain.onmicrosoft.com" -SenderAddress "user@example.com" -StartDate "2025-06-03" -EndDate "2025-06-04"

Now, view the MessageTraceId of the first message found

$message[0].MessageTraceId

To see details of this message:

Get-MessageTraceDetailV2 -MessageTraceId $message[0].MessageTraceId -RecipientAddress "your@domain.onmicrosoft.com"

Best Practices for Effective Message Tracing

To get the most out of message trace in Exchange Online, it’s a good idea to follow a few best practices:

• The more information you can provide in your search criteria, the faster and more accurate your results will be.
• For quick, simple searches, use the new EAC. For complex or automated queries, use the new V2 PowerShell cmdlets.
• This is not the first update, nor is it the last. Microsoft services evolve continuously. Keep an eye on official announcements to ensure your tools and scripts continue to function correctly.
• Admins should not wait for users to report problems. Rather, they should regularly review message trace data to look for potential issues before they become major problems.
• Don’t treat traced data as a backup. It is a view-only file that disappears after a while (10 days) if you choose the Summary report.
• Moreover, the CSV file that gets made separates the message from its metadata. So, you won’t be able to put these back even if you want to. Instead, get a copy of the SysTools Exchange Online Backup Tool.

Conclusion

Using Exchange Online mail trace has never been easier, especially now that you know about all the changes and how to implement them. Here, we explained the updates admins will see on the EAC user interface and gave a pictorial demonstration of the new V2 PowerShell cmdlets. You can choose which way to troubleshoot delivery issues, enhance security, and maintain a smoothly running email environment. However, remember that email tracing is a way to view the messages. It is not a substitute for email backups. Given the importance of historical data for admission, the only way to safeguard it is with professional tools. The steps are also explained in the tutorial.