Recipient Moderation Troubleshooting guide - Microsoft Community

recipient moderation

recipient moderation in exchange online (and on premises) straightforward , easy process once understood.

however, scenarios in these emails "disappear thin air" , finding right place start can present small challenge.

in article, provide related examples, explain each step, why makes sense , how details of roadblock.

checking moderation:

first things first, need understand difference between moderator , moderated: moderator decide if moderated recipient receive or not email.

make sure have understanding of who what checking using in powershell:

get-mailbox replace_with_moderated_recipient | fl *moder*

x@thehruxcom - moderated recipient (usermailbox)

admin@thehruxcom - moderator of x@thehruxcom

a-admart@microsoft - external sender

sample of approved email:

notice:

• sender "microsoft exchange approval assistant" on behalf of external sender (in example, a-admart@microsoftcom external mailcontact saved <<ms>>)
• the email approved before screenshot
• the subject included approval requested

          

breaking down moderation process in powershell

best case scenario, can repro issue. if possible, suggest sending new email specific subject, easier tracking (ex: 12345678 - approved).

otherwise, try search email unique subject part.

use in powershell:

get-messagetrace -startdate mm/dd/yyyy -enddate mm/dd/yyyy | ? {$_.subject -match "type unique string here"} | sort received | ft received, subject, sender*, recipient*, status

note: scope get-messagetrace cmdlet using dates (before , after email received). do not use sender/recipient address since impact results. can add other output need, enough me.

• each of above separate email. in other words, approving email moderated recipient generating 6 actions in background
• reading subjects of items should in understanding process 

taking events 1 one

1. office 365 received email a-admart@microsoftcom sent x@thehruxcom
2. recipient has moderatedby admin@thehruxcom , moderationenabled $true
3. hence, moderation process initiated , separate copy created , picked arbitration mailbox
   1. arbitration mailboxes used managing approval workflow. example, arbitration mailbox used handling moderated recipients , distribution group membership approval
   2. these mailboxes cannot moved/renamed/modified administrators in exchange online
   3. they used other processes (example: generating on premises offline address book)
      1. the 1st email (from a-admart@microsoftcom x@thehruxcom) have status failed, while waits moderator decision
   4. if check details of event using get-messagetracedetail, see that: led=250 2.1.5 resolver.mt.startmoderation; recipient moderated
   5. the arbitration mailbox presents copy moderator. subject prepended by approval requested
   6.  the moderator cliscks button associated "verdict" , handled arbitration mailbox. subject prepended by approve/reject  
   7. moderator "verdict" handled arbitration mailbox. subject prepended by decision processed 
   8. status of original email (see step 4 above) changed delivered (if email was delivered)

other examples:

the process in other pictures:

rejected email:

• external sender receive notification (if clicked moderator), stating that:

your message rejected moderator these recipients.

not processed email(moderator did not select & send response):

• if email not approved within 48 hours (exchange online, typically 5 days on premises exchange), sender gets expiration notice, stating that:

your message has expired without moderator decision following recipients.

to change default expiration setting can use following powershell command:

get-retentionpolicytag <moderatedrecipients> | set-retentionpolicytag -agelimitforretention <no of days>

valid values number of days can vary 1.00:00:00 24855.03:14:07

troubleshooting:

for questions like:

"emails should moderated email disappear"

"an approved email did not reach final recipient"

"we cannot find related moderated email"

"sender received moderation expired notification"

"moderation not working"

in order start troubleshooting scenario, need find out fail occurs in above steps.

once have understanding of successful process, can compare facing , see stops.

the failing/dropped event investigated in powershell using get-messagetracedetail.

example of troubleshooting when email lost in moderation process:

email subject "failed #1" sent a-admart@microsoftcom moderated recipient x@thehruxcom , no 1 received this.

since know subject , approximate dates, can go straight powershell , see process failed:

get-messagetrace -startdate 8/22/2017 -enddate 8/23/2017 | ? {$_.subject -match "failed #1"} | sort received | ft received, subject, sender*, recipient*, status

by checking only, subjects, see ndr (undeliverable) generated somewhere along process , moderators cannot reached.

we select event adding -index x the cmdlet, index represents entry number , first row 0.

moving forward, legit step failed process approval requested (status failed)

• we not check undeliverable because ndr generated previous step failure. details of ndr in body , not able access (see sender & recipient of event)
• we not check moderators cannot reached since standard reply when 1 of process steps failing

we use index 2 in order isolate event:

get-messagetrace -startdate 8/22/2017 -enddate 8/23/2017 | ? {$_.subject -match "failed #1"} | sort received | select -index 2

and export it's full details using get-messagetracedetail | fl @ end:

get-messagetrace -startdate 8/22/2017 -enddate 8/23/2017 | ? {$_.subject -match "failed #1"} | sort received | select -index 2 | get-messagetracedetail | fl

in fail event details see arbitration mailbox could not deliver approval requested email moderator because of led=550 5.7.129 resolver.rst.restrictedtorecipientspermission; not authorized send recipient because sender isn't on recipient's list of senders accept mail from

by checking moderator admin@thehruxcom mailbox permissions, see accepting emails y@thehruxcom:

get-mailbox admin@thehruxcom | fl *accept*

we remove limitation admin@thehruxcom, if possible, , re-test moderation process using failed #2 subject:

the moderator received moderation request , clicked on approve email did not reach recipient:

get-messagetrace -startdate 8/22/2017 -enddate 8/23/2017 | ? {$_.subject -match "failed #2"} | sort received | ft received, subject, sender*, recipient*, status

we see email failed to final recipient x@thehruxcom and try more details event (we not use | fl after get-messagetracedetail , export events summary):
get-messagetrace -startdate 8/22/2017 -enddate 8/23/2017 | ? {$_.subject -match "failed #2"} | sort received | select -index 2 | get-messagetracedetail 

• the first drop event discussed above , expected until decission is processed or otherwise
• the second drop event showing x@thehruxcom forwarding emails receive@thehruxcom

other resources

configure moderated recipient in exchange online - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj983442(v=exchg.150).aspx

manage message approval - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd297936(v=exchg.150).aspx

return exchange online support corner main page.

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