Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2
Transport rule actions instruct the rules agent to take the specified action on messages that match all the predicates in a condition, and don't match any of the exceptions. In Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, both the Hub Transport server and Edge Transport server can apply transport rules to e-mail messages routed by them. Some actions are available on both transport server roles, and some are exclusive to either role.
Each action affects e-mail messages in a unique way. For example, an action can cause an e-mail message to be redirected to another address or to be deleted. Each action consists of the action itself, its action property, and the value of the property.
To assign a value to an action, you must determine the available action property for a specific action. For example, you must use the Address action property together with the RedirectMessage action. (For information about the action properties available for use with Hub Transport servers and Edge Transport servers, see the tables later in this topic.)
Some actions require that you set two or more action properties, because some actions modify specific fields within sections of an e-mail message, such as the message header fields. When you specify an action to modify a message header, one action property specifies the specific header field to modify, and a second action property specifies the new value of the message header. In these cases, you must also specify a value for the second action property, as shown later in this topic in the Additional action property table column in either Actions Available on a Hub Transport Server or Actions Available on an Edge Transport Server, depending on the server role. For example, you can configure an action to modify the X-Test-Message-Source header field to a specific string, such as contoso.com.
You can use either the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell to create or modify a transport rule. For relevant procedures, see Transport Rules.
Contents
Actions Available on a Hub Transport Server
Actions Available on an Edge Transport Server
Action Properties for Transport Rules on a Hub Transport or an Edge Transport Server
For More Information
Actions Available on a Hub Transport Server
The following table lists the actions that can be used with transport rules on a server running Exchange 2010 that has the Hub Transport server role installed. The transport rule action LogEvent isn't available on Exchange 2010 Hub Transport servers.
Transport rule actions available on Hub Transport servers
Supported rule action
Action name
First action property
Additional action property
Description
prepend the subject with string
PrependSubject
Prefix
Not applicable
PrependSubject prepends a string to the start of the Subject field of the message.
apply message classification
ApplyClassification
Classification
Not applicable
ApplyClassification applies a message classification to the e-mail message.
ApplyHtmlDisclaimer applies an HTML disclaimer to the message. For more information, see Understanding Disclaimers.
rights protect message with RMS template
RightsProtectMessage
RMSTemplateIdentity
Not applicable
RightsProtectMessage applies the specified Rights Management Services (RMS) template to the message. For more information, see Understanding Transport Protection Rules.
SetHeader creates a new message header field or modifies an existing message header field.
remove header
RemoveHeader
MessageHeader
Not applicable
RemoveHeader removes the specified message header field from a message.
add a recipient in the To field addresses
AddToRecipient
Addresses
Not applicable
AddToRecipient adds one or more recipients to the To field of the message. The original recipients can see the additional address.
copy the message to addresses
CopyTo
Addresses
Not applicable
CopyTo adds one or more recipients to the carbon copy (Cc) field of the message. The original recipients can see the Cc address.
Blind carbon copy (Bcc) the message to addresses
BlindCopyTo
Addresses
Not applicable
BlindCopyTo adds one or more recipients as blind carbon copy (Bcc) recipients. The original recipients aren't notified and can't see the Bcc addresses.
add the sender's manager as a specific recipient type
AddManagerAsRecipientType
AddedRecipientType
Not applicable
AddManagerAsRecipientType adds the sender's manager, if defined in the manager attribute in Active Directory, as the specified recipient type.
forward the message to addresses for moderation
ModerateMessageByUser
Addresses
Not applicable
ModerateMessageByUser forwards the message to the specified moderators as an attachment wrapped in an approval request. For more information, see Understanding Moderated Transport.
forward the message to the sender's manager for moderation
ModerateMessageByManager
Not applicable
Not applicable
ModeratedMessageByManager forwards the message to the sender's manager for moderation, if the manager attribute is populated in Active Directory.
Important
If the sender's manager attribute isn't populated in Active Directory, the message is delivered to recipients without moderation.
This action doesn't require any action properties.
redirect the message to addresses
RedirectMessage
Addresses
Not applicable
RedirectMessage redirects the e-mail message to one or more recipients specified by the administrator. The message isn't delivered to the original recipients, and no notification is sent to the sender or the original recipients.
send rejectionmessage to sender with enhanced status code
RejectMessage
RejectReason
EnhancedStatusCode
RejectMessage deletes the e-mail message and sends a non-delivery receipt to the sender. The recipient doesn't receive the message or notification.
Delete the message without notifying anyone
DeleteMessage
Not applicable
Not applicable
DeleteMessage deletes the e-mail message without sending a notification to either the recipient or the sender.
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Actions Available on an Edge Transport Server
The following table lists the actions that can be used with transport rules on Exchange 2010 Edge Transport servers.
Transport rule actions available on Edge Transport servers
Supported rule action
Action name
First action property
Additional action property
Description
log an event with message
LogEvent
EventMessage
Not applicable
LogEvent inserts an event into the Application log of the local computer.
prepend the subject with string
PrependSubject
Prefix
Not applicable
PrependSubject prepends a string to the start of the e-mail message subject field.
set the spam confidence level to value
SetScl
SclValue
Not applicable
SetScl configures the SCL on an e-mail message.
set header with value
SetHeader
MessageHeader
HeaderValue
SetHeader creates a new message header field or modifies an existing message header field.
remove header
RemoveHeader
MessageHeader
Not applicable
RemoveHeader removes the specified message header field from an e-mail message.
add a recipient in the To field addresses
AddToRecipient
Addresses
Not applicable
AddToRecipient adds one or more e-mail addresses to the To address list of the e-mail message. The original recipients can see the additional address.
copy the message to addresses
CopyTo
Addresses
Not applicable
CopyTo adds one or more e-mail addresses to the Cc field of the e-mail message. The original recipients can see the original address.
Blind carbon copy (Bcc) the message to addresses
BlindCopyTo
Addresses
Not applicable
BlindCopyTo adds one or more e-mail addresses to the Bcc address list of the e-mail message. The original recipients aren't notified and can't see the additional address.
drop connection
Disconnect
Not applicable
Not applicable
Disconnect ends the connection between the sending server and the Edge Transport server without generating an NDR message.
redirect the message to addresses
RedirectMessage
Addresses
Not applicable
RedirectMessage redirects the e-mail message to one or more e-mail addresses specified by the administrator. The message isn't delivered to the original recipient, and no notification is provided to the recipient or the sender.
Put message in spam quarantine mailbox
Quarantine
Not applicable
Not applicable
Quarantine redirects the e-mail message to the spam quarantine mailbox configured by using the QuarantineMailbox parameter on the Set-ContentFilterConfig cmdlet.
Important
The QuarantineMailbox parameter on the Set-ContentFilterConfig cmdlet must be populated, and the specified mailbox must exist before you configure the Put message in spam quarantine mailbox action. If the QuarantineMailbox parameter isn't populated or if the quarantine mailbox doesn't exist, messages sent to the quarantine mailbox will be lost and an NDR will be generated.
SmtpRejectMessage deletes the e-mail message and sends a notification to the sender. The recipients don't receive the message or notification. This action enables you to specify a specific delivery status notification (DSN) code.
DisclaimerLocation specifies where the disclaimer is inserted into the e-mail message:
Append (default) adds the disclaimer at the bottom of the message thread.
Prepend puts the disclaimer at the start of the newest e-mail message.
EnhancedStatusCode
Single DSN code of 5.7.1, or any value from 5.7.10 through 5.7.999
EnhancedStatusCode specifies the DSN code and related DSN message to display to the senders of messages rejected by the RejectMessage transport rule action. The DSN message associated with the specified DSN status code is displayed in the user information portion of the NDR displayed to the sender. The specified DSN code must be an existing default DSN code or a customized DSN status code that you can create by using the New-SystemMessage cmdlet.
EventMessage
Single string
EventMessage accepts a single string displayed in an event log, which is added to the application event log on the local computer.
FallbackAction
Single value with the choices of Wrap, Ignore, or Reject
FallbackAction specifies what the transport rule should do if a disclaimer can't be applied to an e-mail message such as when a message is encrypted. The default fallback action is Wrap. Enclose the value in quotation marks ("). The following list shows each fallback action and its description:
Wrap If the disclaimer can't be inserted into the original message, Exchange encloses, or wraps, the original message in a new message envelope. Then the disclaimer is inserted into the new message.
Important
If an original message is wrapped in a new message envelope, subsequent transport rules are applied to the new message envelope, and not to the original message. Therefore, you must configure transport rules with disclaimer actions that wrap original messages in a new message body after you configure other transport rules.
Note
If the original message can't be wrapped in a new message envelope, the original message isn't delivered. The sender of the message receives an NDR that explains why the message wasn't delivered.
Ignore If the disclaimer can't be inserted into the original message, Exchange lets the original message continue unmodified. No disclaimer is added.
Reject If the disclaimer can't be inserted into the original message, Exchange doesn't deliver the message. The sender of the message receives an NDR that explains why the message wasn't delivered.
HeaderValue
Single string
HeaderValue accepts a single string that's applied to the header specified by using the MessageHeader action property. Enclose the string in quotation marks (").
MessageHeader
Single string
MessageHeader accepts a string that specifies which MessageHeader to add or modify. The string that's specified by using the HeaderValue action property is inserted into the header that's specified by MessageHeader. Enclose the string in quotation marks (").
Prefix
Single string
Prefix accepts a string that's prepended to the subject of the e-mail message. Enclose the string in quotation marks (").
To prevent the string that's specified with the Prefix transport rule action from being added to the subject every time that a reply to the message encounters the transport rule, add the SubjectContains exception to the transport rule.
The SubjectContains exception should contain the string that you specified with the Prefix transport rule action. If you add the SubjectContains exception to the transport rule, the transport rule doesn't add another instance of the Prefix string to the subject if the Prefix string already appears in the subject.
RejectReason
Single string
RejectReason accepts a string that's used to populate the administrator information portion of the NDR returned to the e-mail sender if an e-mail message is rejected. Enclose the string in quotation marks (").
RMSTemplateIdentity
RMS Template identity
RMSTemplateIdentity accepts an RMS Template identity. You can get a list of RMS templates available on an Active Directory RMS server in the Active Directory forest using the Get-RMSTemplate cmdlet.
SclValue
Single integer
SclValue accepts a single integer from 0 through 9, which is used to configure the SCL of the e-mail message. Enclose the integer in quotation marks (").