Topic Last Modified: 2009-08-04

Use the Messages page in the Queue Viewer to view and perform actions on messages in queues. The list of messages can be quite lengthy, depending on current mail flow. The list fluctuates as messages enter and leave the server.

You may perform the following actions on messages:

Suspend

To temporarily delay the delivery of a message, select the message and then click Suspend.

Note:
This action isn't available for messages that are in the poison message queue because poison messages are in a permanently suspended state.
Resume

To resume a suspended message, select the message and then click Resume. This action only appears if the selected message is suspended.

Remove (with NDR)

To remove a message from a queue and send a non-delivery report (NDR) to the sender, select the message and then click Remove messages (with NDR).

Note:
If the message that you're removing is itself an NDR, Exchange won't send an NDR even if you choose the Remove (with NDR) action.
Remove (without Sending NDR)

To remove a message from a queue without sending an NDR, select the message and then click Remove (without sending NDR).

Properties

To view detailed information about a message, select a message, and then in the action pane, click Properties. For more information about message properties, see View Queued Message Properties.

To filter the display of messages, click Create Filter on the top left corner of the Messages tab. Any of the available message properties can be defined as filter criteria.

To add or remove the message properties that are displayed, in the action pane, directly under Queue Viewer, click View, and then click Add/Remove Columns.

The message properties that you can use to create filter expressions or display in the columns of the Messages page are described in the following list:

Date Received

This field shows the date-time when the message was received by the server that holds the queue in which the message is located.

Expiration Time

This field shows the date-time when the message will expire and will be removed from the queue if the message can't be delivered.

From Address

This field shows the SMTP address of the sender of the message. This value is taken from MAIL FROM: in the message envelope.

Identity

This field shows the integer that represents a particular message. The message identity is assigned by the queue database when the message is received for processing. You can include an optional server and queue identity to identify a unique instance of the message.

Internet Message ID

This field shows the value of the MessageID: header field. The value is expressed as a GUID followed by the SMTP address of the sending server, as in this example: 67D754D6103DC4FB3BA6BC7205DACABA61231@exchange.contoso.com

Last Error

This field shows the last error that was recorded for a message.

Message Source Name

This field shows the name of the component that submitted the message to the queue.

Queue ID

This field shows the identity of the queue that holds the message. The queue identity is expressed in the form Server\destination, where destination is a remote domain, mailbox server, persistent queue name, or the queue database identifier. The queue database identifier is represented as an integer and can be determined by viewing the message properties.

SCL

This field shows the spam confidence level (SCL) rating of the message. Valid SCL entries are integers 0 through 9. An empty SCL entry indicates that the message hasn't been processed by the Content Filter agent.

Size (KB)

This field shows the size of the message rounded up to the nearest kilobyte (KB).

Source IP

This field shows the IP address of the external server that submitted the message to the Exchange organization.

Status

This field shows the current message status. A message can have one of the following status values:

  • Active   If the message is in a delivery queue, the message is being delivered to its destination. If the message is in the Submission queue, the message is being processed by the Categorizer.

  • Pending Remove   The message was deleted by the administrator but was already in delivery. The message will be deleted if the delivery ends in an error that causes the message to re-enter the queue. Otherwise, delivery will continue.

  • Pending Suspend   The message was suspended by the administrator but was already in delivery. The message will be suspended if the delivery ends in an error that causes the message to re-enter the queue. Otherwise, delivery will continue.

  • Ready   The message is waiting in the queue and is ready to be processed.

  • Retry   The last connection attempt failed for the queue in which this message is located. The message is waiting for the next queue retry.

  • Suspended   The message was suspended by the administrator.

Subject

This field shows the subject of a message and is expressed as a text string. The value is taken from the Subject: header field.