How to delete an email from all users mailbox in Office 365

Share This

In this tutorial i will be shpwing you how to delete an email from anyone’s or everyone’s mailbox in Office 365 using Microsoft 365 Compliance Centre and PowerShell.

You will learn how to search for the email,  and delete the email from all users mailboxes using powershell.

Updated: This is now a video post.

The Script – UPDATED 2023 (Use new Script Below)

If you already have the Exchange Online Management Module installed, please update it before running the script by opening an elevated PowerShell window and using the following cmdlet

Update-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement

 

# Get Microsoft 365 login credentials  

##Import Module
Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

#Connect To Security and Compliance Powershell 
Connect-IPPSSession

#Purge/Delete Emails
New-ComplianceSearchAction -SearchName "Search Name" -Purge -PurgeType HardDelete

#Change HardDelete to SoftDelete if you wish to test first, Soft Delete will store the email in users 'Recoverable items' folder
Did you enjoy this article?
Signup today and receive free updates straight in your inbox. We will never share or sell your email address.

22 thoughts on “How to delete an email from all users mailbox in Office 365

  1. The UI has changed Core is not a thing anymore. I can trace and find emails by same criteria doesn’t work in new UI

    1. The UI has changed but the process should still be the same, i will try and update with the new UI

      1. Can you help me

        A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name ‘Purge’.
        + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument : (:) [New-ComplianceSearchAction], ParameterBindingException
        + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NamedParameterNotFound,New-ComplianceSearchAction
        + PSComputerName : eur03b.ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com

        1. You have to be a member of the Organization Management role group or be assigned the Search And Purge role in the compliance centre, please check you are part of the correct groups, you need to do this even if you are global administrator.

  2. The Script It used to work perfectly for me a while ago, but now it doesn’t work. I tried on different days the same problem. Is there an update or something changed? Check the error

    New-PSSession : [eur03b.ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com] Connecting to remote server eur03b.ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com failed
    with the following error message : Access is denied. For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
    At line:5 char:12
    + $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -Conne …
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : OpenError: (System.Manageme….RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotingTransportException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : AccessDenied,PSSessionOpenFailed
    Import-PSSession : Cannot validate argument on parameter ‘Session’. The argument is null. Provide a valid value for the argument, and then
    try running the command again.
    At line:8 char:18
    + Import-PSSession $Session -AllowClobber -DisableNameChecking
    + ~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [Import-PSSession], ParameterBindingValidationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportPSSessionCommand

    New-ComplianceSearchAction : The term ‘New-ComplianceSearchAction’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or
    operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
    At line:11 char:1
    + New-ComplianceSearchAction -SearchName ” Test” -Purge -PurgeType …
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (New-ComplianceSearchAction:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

    1. Hi Mohamed, Since Microsoft have phased out legacy authentication there is another way you can do this which works with MFA too. i’ve updated the script for you, give that a try!

      1. Dear, Liam
        I hope that you are well
        Thank you very much
        I tried the new script, it works, thanks

    1. I am interested in this too, that’s exactly what I was going to ask. How can I see if the purge is complete and possibly the metrics. Hello Liam, I will appreciate if you can give us a direction. Thanks

      1. You could try run the compliance search again after the purge, they should no longer show up (I haven’t tested this though). I normally check certain mailboxes and can see it has been removed, depending on your tenant size it could take around 10 mins to purge.

  3. The Script It used to work perfectly for me a while ago, but now it doesn’t work. I tried on different days the same problem. Is there an update or something changed? Check the error

    PS C:\Windows\system32> # Get Microsoft 365 login credentials

    ##Import Module
    Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

    #Connect To Security and Compliance Powershell
    Connect-IPPSSession

    #Purge/Delete Emails
    New-ComplianceSearchAction -SearchName “ZZ” -Purge -PurgeType HardDelete
    WARNING: Your connection has been redirected to the following URI: “https://eur06b.ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com/Powe
    rshell-LiveId?BasicAuthToOAuthConversion=true;PSVersion=5.1.19041.3031 ”
    New-ExoPSSession : Connecting to remote server eur06b.ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com failed with the following error
    message : For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
    At C:\Program
    Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\ExchangeOnlineManagement\2.0.5\netFramework\ExchangeOnlineManagement.psm1:475 char:30
    + … PSSession = New-ExoPSSession -ExchangeEnvironmentName $ExchangeEnviro …
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [New-ExoPSSession], PSRemotingTransportException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Management.Automation.Remoting.PSRemotingDataStructureException,Microsoft.Exchange.Ma
    nagement.ExoPowershellSnapin.NewExoPSSession

  4. Hi Liam, thanks for the script, I’m getting this error returned, can you shed some light on this, it looks like it shows BasicAuth ture on the out but I did use your latest script above.

    —————Output—————

    WARNING: Your connection has been redirected to the following URI: “https://can01b.ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com/Powershell-LiveId?BasicAuthToOAuthConversion=true;
    PSVersion=5.1.19041.3570 ”
    Connecting to remote server can01b.ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com failed with the following error message : For more information, see the
    about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
    At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\ExchangeOnlineManagement\3.1.0\netFramework\ExchangeOnlineManagement.psm1:733 char:21
    + throw $_.Exception;
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Management.Automation.Remoting.PSRemotingDataStructureException

    1. Hi Johnny, does the user account to are using have the correct permissions? The account running the command needs to be part of the four groups outlined in the video, by default global admins are not part of these groups.

      Sign in to the Office 365 portal (https://portal.office.com) as an administrator.
      Click Admin, and then click Exchange.
      Click permissions, and then click admin roles.
      Double-click the role group to which you want to add the user.
      To add the user to the list, click Add under Members.
      Click Save.

    2. Hi Johnny, sorry for the late reply, i’ve found the issue, the problem lies in an outdated EOM Module, run Powershell as admin and use the CMDlet Update-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement to install the latest version. Close Powershell and re-open, try the above script again!

  5. Thanks for your help Liam.

    I am a member of the 4 groups mentioned in the video, and enter in the above code. I am not prompted to sign in when I run the code, and I’m greeted with the error:

    WARNING: Your connection has been redirected to the following URI: “https://nam12b.ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com/Powershell-LiveId?BasicAuthToOAuthConversion=true;
    PSVersion=5.1.17763.4974 ”
    Connecting to remote server nam12b.ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com failed with the following error message : 䖈翼 For more information, see the
    about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
    At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\ExchangeOnlineManagement\3.1.0\netFramework\ExchangeOnlineManagement.psm1:733 char:21
    + throw $_.Exception;
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Management.Automation.Remoting.PSRemotingDataStructureException

    Could you please advise?

    1. i think the problem lies in an outdated EOM Module, run Powershell as admin and use the CMDlet Update-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement to install the latest version. Close Powershell and re-open, try the above script again!

  6. Is it just me or is Microsoft continuously changing how this works??? I triple checked and I have all of the required roles to do this but when I get to the “Connect-IPPSSession” step it throws this error and I can’t go on any further.

    PS C:\windows\system32> Connect-IPPSSession
    Connecting to remote server ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com failed with the following error message : For more information, see the
    about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
    At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\ExchangeOnlineManagement\3.1.0\netFramework\ExchangeOnlineManagement.psm1:733 char:21
    + throw $_.Exception;
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Management.Automation.Remoting.PSRemotingDataStructureException

    1. Apologies for the slow response, it does appear MS have messed with things again, i think the problem lies in an outdated EOM Module, run Powershell as admin and use the CMDlet Update-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement to install the latest version. Close Powershell and re-open, try the above script again!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *