Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

Topic Last Modified: 2011-07-21

This topic explains how to use either the Exchange Queue Viewer in the EMC or the Shell to view the properties of a message that is queued for delivery.

What Do You Want to Do?

Use Queue Viewer in the EMC to view the properties of a message

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Queues" entry in the Transport Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, select Toolbox to display a list of available tools in Exchange Server 2010.

  2. Under Performance tools, double-click Queue Viewer to open the tool in a new window.

  3. Select the Messages tab to see the list of messages that are currently queued for delivery in your organization.

  4. Right-click the message whose properties you want to view and then select Properties.

  5. The General tab displays the following detailed information about the message:

    • Identity   This field shows the integer that represents a particular message. The message identity is assigned by the queuing 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.

    • 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.

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

    • 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.

    • 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.

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

    • Message Source Name   This field shows the name of the component that submitted this message to the queue.

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

    • 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.

    • 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 deleted from the queue if the message can't be delivered.

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

    • 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.

    • Recipients   This field shows the list of recipients to which the message is addressed.

    • Retry Count   This field shows the number of times that delivery of a message to a destination was tried.

  6. The Recipient Information tab displays the following information about the message recipients:

    • Address   This field shows the SMTP address of the recipient of the message. This value is taken from RCPT TO: in the message envelope.

    • 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 has been 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 has been 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 has been suspended by the administrator.

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

Use the Shell to view the properties of a message

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Queues" entry in the Transport Permissions topic.

You can use the Get-Message cmdlet to view the properties of a message that is currently queued for delivery. The following example tabulates the sender address, recipients, subject, and received date information for all messages that are currently in retry state:

Copy Code
Get-Message -IncludeRecipientInfo -Filter {Status -eq "Retry"} | FT FromAddress,Recipients,Subject,DateReceived

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-Message.