I have the unenviable job of responding to an Open Records Request that is completely outside of reason. The individual is asking for all email that exisst with this individuals name in them. Essentially, the individual wants me to search *every* mailbox on the server for his name. Correct me if I am wrong, without a third-party tool, this would mean giving rights to an account to each mailbox and then searching each mailbox individually. Is anyone familiar with a tools that would do this job in a more efficient way?SnoBoy

You didn't mention what version of Exchange you are using but here's some info about Exchange 2010 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998599.aspx - basically this is called Discovery

If you are on Exchange 2007 or 2010 then you get run the get-mailbox command. This should export all emails sent to and from the user to a pst and you will need outlook to be install on the machine you are running the command from. >get-mailbox -org "domain.local/users" | export-mailbox -pstfolderpath "c:\temp\export.pst" -recipientKeywords "john.doe@domain.com"

My gotcha is the 99% of the mailboxes that would have to be searched are still on the Exchange 2007 system. That will help on the few that are on the Exchange 2010 system, but alas, not for the 2007 system that the vast majority are on.SnoBoy

This doesn't help as this individual is asking for each and every mailbox on our server systems be searched for this individual's name. It isn't any particular mailbox, it requested every mailbox be searched for the presence of email that mention this individual's name - so it would require every mail message on the server to be scanned to see if they contain this individual's name, not email address.SnoBoy

Hi, To achieve your goal, I think you should need to use Export-Mailbox with the -ContentKeywords,–TargetMailbox, and -Targetfolder parameters. For detailed, you can refer to http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/12/18/431934.aspx . More information: Exchange 2007 Search – Part 3: The Search Process: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/10/15/452883.aspx Export-Mailbox: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998579(EXCHG.80).aspx How to Export Mailbox Data: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb266964(EXCHG.80).aspx Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Best regards, Serena

I guess that is a bit better than having to create profiles and impersonate each 2007 user. We are hoping to get the scope of the request down to something manageable. That remains to be seen.SnoBoy

Fun with Discovery in Exchange 2010 SP1. Tried a trial run of a search, but I can't get to see the results! I used Browse to designate the Discovery Search Mailbox, but when the search runs, get the error: "Search failed as the results link to the target mailbox 'DiscoverySearchMailbox{D919BA05-46A6-415f-80AD-7E09334BB852}@domain.obfuscated' couldn't be generated." I am not getting any hits on this search in Google (which really surprises me!) "Search failed as the results link to the target mailbox" so maybe I am the only one running into this? Creating the specific folder beforehand didn't help either. The user I am logged in with is a member of the Discovery Management group. I tried giving the user full rights to the DiscoverySearchMailbox, but I still get the same exact error. SnoBoy

Hi, Please try to run a discovery search following the document below and check whether the issue persists. Create a Discovery Search: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd353189.aspx I look forward to hearing form your update. Best regards, Serena

I used a different article as I am using SP1, but the search was done with ECP when I got the error. The article I used was: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335072.aspx I logged into I was using ECP to create the search and the error was copied and pasted from the email that I got in response to the search (same error shows up in the ECP website as well). I got results, but can't get them to the Discovery Search Mailbox where I can view them. SnoBoy

That was the article I was following when I got the error listed above. I was using ECP to create the search and the error was copied and pasted from the email that I got in response to the search (same error shows up in the ECP website as well). I got results, but can't get them to the Discovery Search Mailbox where I can view them.SnoBoy

I used a different article as I am using SP1, but the search was done with ECP when I got the error. The article I used was: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335072.aspx I was using ECP to create the search and the error was copied and pasted from the email that I got in response to the search (same error shows up in the ECP website as well). I got results, but can't get them to the Discovery Search Mailbox where I can view them. SnoBoy

Hi, Have you try to create a new discovery mailbox? If you did not, please try to create it by using New-Mailbox just simply add –Discovery, for detailed, please refer to the following link. New-Mailbox: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997663.aspx And then select a mailbox to store search results when you complete your mailbox search, for detailed, please refer to http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/ms.exch.ecp.selectdiscoverymailboxes.aspx. But keep in mind, the account login to the Exchange server must be a member of Discovery Management Role. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Best regards, Serena

I have tried to run the search with two different members of the Discovery Management security group. I have created a second DiscoverySearchMailbox and tried to output the results to that mailbox using both of the members of the Discovery Managemet group. I get the same error every time I run a search. Here is the output (with a bit of obfuscation). I am a bit concerned that it says 0 B when therre are actully results of 15 hits. Does it show 0 B because it couldn't link? Mailboxes searched successfully: (0) None Mailboxes not searched successfully: (0) None Exclude Duplicate Messages: True Resume: False Size: 0 B (0 bytes), Estimated size was: 1.841 GB (1,977,033,963 bytes) Items: 0 (2422 unsearchable), Estimated items was: 2437 (Estimates don't exclude duplicates) Results: tees\NewDiscoverySearchMailbox Errors: "Search failed as the results link to the target mailbox 'NewDiscoverySearchMailbox@domain.com' could n't be generated." Keyword Hits: Keyword Hits Mailboxes keyword (obfuscated) 15 2 SnoBoy

Hi, Please refer to the link below to troubleshooting whether there is something wrong with Exchange search. Diagnose Exchange Search Issue: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123701.aspx Best regards, Serena

I found out why it never worked. The DiscoverySearchMailbox is disabled by default. Not one of the articles on it mentions that little detail.SnoBoy

Hi, I am very glad to hear about your issue has been solved. Best regards, Serena Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.