SearchMailboxes operation

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Note

This operation is deprecated, and no longer supported by Microsoft. As a replacement, please use the FindItem operation.

Find information about the SearchMailboxes EWS operation.

The SearchMailboxes operation searches mailboxes for occurrences of terms in mailbox items.

This operation was introduced in Exchange Server 2013.

Using the SearchMailboxes operation

The SearchMailboxes operation can use many simultaneous search queries to perform discovery search on multiple mailboxes. The results can be either statistical information about the number of times search terms occur, or a preview of the items that contain the search terms.

SearchMailboxes operation SOAP headers

The SearchMailboxes operation can use the SOAP headers that are listed in the following table.

Header name Element Description
ManagementRole
ManagementRole
Identifies the server roles that are necessary in order for the caller to make the request. This header is applicable to a request.
RequestVersion
RequestServerVersion
Identifies the schema version for the operation request. This header is applicable to a request.
ServerVersion
ServerVersionInfo
Identifies the version of the server that responded to the request. This header is applicable to a response.

SearchMailboxes operation request example: Search mailboxes for number of search term hits

The following example of a SearchMailboxes operation request shows how to use two different queries to search three different mailboxes for statistical information about how many times a term appears in each mailbox.

Note

In this example, the Query element is intentionaly left blank. This shows how a successful request can contain error conditions on a per mailbox search basis.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
               xmlns:t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
               xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages">
   <soap:Header>
      <t:RequestServerVersion Version="Exchange2013" />
   </soap:Header>
   <soap:Body >
      <m:SearchMailboxes>
         <m:SearchQueries>
            <t:MailboxQuery>
               <t:Query>Test Item</t:Query>
               <t:MailboxSearchScopes>
                  <t:MailboxSearchScope>
                     <t:Mailbox>/o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=12311a742f0e47e392c8201a60d13ecf-Steve</t:Mailbox>
                     <t:SearchScope>All</t:SearchScope>
                  </t:MailboxSearchScope>
                  <t:MailboxSearchScope>
                     <t:Mailbox>/o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=f00c9f70539844beb52341d8f40c572e-Antho</t:Mailbox>
                     <t:SearchScope>PrimaryOnly</t:SearchScope>
                  </t:MailboxSearchScope>
               </t:MailboxSearchScopes>
            </t:MailboxQuery>
            <t:MailboxQuery>
               <t:Query></t:Query>
               <t:MailboxSearchScopes>
                  <t:MailboxSearchScope>
                     <t:Mailbox>/o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=accba4fd5ddf12214a0e82ce1645f4e-Danie</t:Mailbox>
                     <t:SearchScope>ArchiveOnly</t:SearchScope>
                  </t:MailboxSearchScope>
               </t:MailboxSearchScopes>
            </t:MailboxQuery>
         </m:SearchQueries>
         <m:ResultType>StatisticsOnly</m:ResultType>
      </m:SearchMailboxes>
   </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

The request SOAP body contains the following elements:

Successful SearchMailboxes operation response

The following example shows a successful response to a SearchMailboxes operation request to get statistical information about the number of times search terms are found in the target mailboxes. The last query contains an empty Query element, which shows a failed mailbox search.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <s:Header>
      <h:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion="15" 
                           MinorVersion="0" 
                           MajorBuildNumber="526" 
                           MinorBuildNumber="0" 
                           Version="Exchange2013" 
                           xmlns:h="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
                           xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
                           xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
                           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
   </s:Header>
   <s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
           xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
      <m:SearchMailboxesResponse xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" 
                                 xmlns:t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types">
         <m:ResponseMessages>
            <m:SearchMailboxesResponseMessage ResponseClass="Success">
               <m:ResponseCode>NoError</m:ResponseCode>
               <m:SearchMailboxesResult>
                  <t:SearchQueries>
                     <t:MailboxQuery>
                        <t:Query>Test Item</t:Query>
                        <t:MailboxSearchScopes>
                           <t:MailboxSearchScope>
                              <t:Mailbox>/o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=35181a94327e392c8201a60d13ecf-Steve</t:Mailbox>
                              <t:SearchScope>All</t:SearchScope>
                           </t:MailboxSearchScope>
                           <t:MailboxSearchScope>
                              <t:Mailbox>/o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=f00c9f789572-beb04001d8f40c572e-Antho</t:Mailbox>
                              <t:SearchScope>PrimaryOnly</t:SearchScope>
                           </t:MailboxSearchScope>
                        </t:MailboxSearchScopes>
                     </t:MailboxQuery>
                  </t:SearchQueries>
                  <t:ResultType>StatisticsOnly</t:ResultType>
                  <t:ItemCount>2</t:ItemCount>
                  <t:Size>20206</t:Size>
                  <t:PageItemCount>0</t:PageItemCount>
                  <t:PageItemSize>0</t:PageItemSize>
                  <t:KeywordStats>
                     <t:KeywordStat>
                        <t:Keyword>Test Item</t:Keyword>
                        <t:ItemHits>2</t:ItemHits>
                        <t:Size>20206</t:Size>
                     </t:KeywordStat>
                  </t:KeywordStats>
                  <t:FailedMailboxes>
                     <t:FailedMailbox>
                        <t:Mailbox>/o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=accba4as3df234234a0e82ce1645f4e-Danie</t:Mailbox>
                        <t:ErrorCode>0</t:ErrorCode>
                        <t:ErrorMessage>The search query can't be empty.</t:ErrorMessage>
                        <t:IsArchive>true</t:IsArchive>
                     </t:FailedMailbox>
                  </t:FailedMailboxes>
               </m:SearchMailboxesResult>
            </m:SearchMailboxesResponseMessage>
         </m:ResponseMessages>
      </m:SearchMailboxesResponse>
   </s:Body>
</s:Envelope>

The response SOAP body contains the following elements:

SearchMailboxes operation error response

The following example shows an error response to a SearchMailboxes operation request. This is a response to a request to search a mailbox when the mailbox identifier is incorrect.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <s:Header>
      <h:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion="15" 
                           MinorVersion="0" 
                           MajorBuildNumber="526" 
                           MinorBuildNumber="0" 
                           Version="Exchange2013" 
                           xmlns:h="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
                           xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
                           xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
                           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
   </s:Header>
   <s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
           xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
      <m:SearchMailboxesResponse xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" 
                                 xmlns:t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types">
         <m:ResponseMessages>
            <m:SearchMailboxesResponseMessage ResponseClass="Error">
               <m:MessageText>No mailbox is specified for search operation. If specified in the request, 
               then it could be due to permission issue.</m:MessageText>
               <m:ResponseCode>ErrorInvalidOperation</m:ResponseCode>
               <m:DescriptiveLinkKey>0</m:DescriptiveLinkKey>
               <m:SearchMailboxesResult>
                  <t:SearchQueries>
                     <t:MailboxQuery>
                        <t:Query>subject:Test Item</t:Query>
                        <t:MailboxSearchScopes>
                           <t:MailboxSearchScope>
                              <t:Mailbox>sbrown@contoso.com</t:Mailbox>
                              <t:SearchScope>All</t:SearchScope>
                           </t:MailboxSearchScope>
                        </t:MailboxSearchScopes>
                     </t:MailboxQuery>
                  </t:SearchQueries>
                  <t:ResultType>StatisticsOnly</t:ResultType>
                  <t:ItemCount>0</t:ItemCount>
                  <t:Size>0</t:Size>
                  <t:PageItemCount>0</t:PageItemCount>
                  <t:PageItemSize>0</t:PageItemSize>
                  <t:FailedMailboxes>
                     <t:FailedMailbox>
                        <t:Mailbox>sbrown@contoso.com</t:Mailbox>
                        <t:ErrorCode>0</t:ErrorCode>
                        <t:ErrorMessage>No mailbox is specified for search operation. If specified in the request, 
                        then it could be due to permission issue.</t:ErrorMessage>
                        <t:IsArchive>false</t:IsArchive>
                     </t:FailedMailbox>
                  </t:FailedMailboxes>
               </m:SearchMailboxesResult>
            </m:SearchMailboxesResponseMessage>
         </m:ResponseMessages>
      </m:SearchMailboxesResponse>
   </s:Body>
</s:Envelope>

The error response SOAP body contains the following elements:

For additional error codes that are generic to EWS and specific to this operation, see ResponseCode.

See also