How to check email queue in Exchange Server 2016/2019?

Read time 5 min

As we know, a huge volume of email messages flow in and out of an Exchange Server in every organization. And such an email flow can be monitored well using an inbuilt utility provided by Microsoft – Queue Viewer (available in Exchange Server 2016 and 2019). Using this utility, Exchange administrator can check messages in queue, messages pending, suspended ones, or those stuck in queue. The steps to check these parameters using Queue Viewer are described in this blog further.

Exchange administrators can find the Queue Viewer application within the Exchange Toolbox. The Queue Viewer allows view email queue and messages information and take multiple actions on it, and so it helps in troubleshooting and eliminating mail flow and spam issues.

Note: To use the Queue Viewer, the user must be assigned with Organization Management and Server Management permissions.

By visiting View>>Options on the Queue Viewer interface, you can modify the settings like Refresh interval (seconds) and Number of items to display on each page as per your requirements.

Though checking email queue is possible via running Exchange Management Shell cmdlets as well, due to its technical nature and complexity, we are not discussing it in our blog.

Read also: Reconnect A Disconnected Mailbox in Exchange Server

Actions which you can perform on Email Queues

Using Queue Viewer, you can perform multiple actions on email queues like – View, Retry, Suspend and Resume. Let us know the steps for performing these actions on the queues.

First of all you need to open the Queue Viewer tool from from the Mail flow tools section of Exchange Toolbox. Then use following instructions to perform actions based on your requirements.

To view queues

1. Go to the Queues tab, click on it. All the email queues connected to your server will get listed.
2. Use Export List to export this list of queues to the desired file format.

To retry queues

You can retry the queue which means manually trying before the scheduled retry timing.

1. Click on the Queues tab.
2. Then, click on Create Filter option.
3. From the queue property drop-down list, select Status, then select Equals from the comparison operator list and finally click on Retry option from the value list.
4. Click on Apply Filter. You will get the list of queues with Retry status.
5. Select the desired queues, right-click on it and select Retry option.
6. The status would change to Active if connection is made.

To suspend queues

Users can suspend the queue via Queue Viewer tool.

1. Move to the Queues tab.
2. From the list of the queues, select the desired queues and right-click on the queues.
3. Select Suspend option from the drop-down list.

To resume queues

Resuming queues means changing its status from suspended to active, to restart the message delivery.

1. Click on the Queues tab.
2. The list of queues will be displayed.
3. Click Create Filter and click Status (queue property)>>Equals (comparison operator)>>Suspended (value) list.
4. Click on Apply Filter. The suspended queues will get listed.
5. Select the desired queues, right-click on it and select Resume option.

So, these were the actions which any Exchange administrator can perform using Queue Viewer tool. But that’s not all. One can perform different actions over the messages in queues as well. Let us know what these are and how to perform.

Actions which you can perform on messages in Email Queues

As mentioned earlier, the user must have administrative permissions to run the Queue Viewer. Then, they can open the tool from the Mail flow tools within Exchange Toolbox.

The various actions that can be performed on email messages in queues are Remove, Suspend and Resume messages. Let us know how to perform it after launching the Queue Viewer tool.

To remove messages in queues

1. Go to the Messages tab and click on it.
2. The list of messages available on the server. If you want to view messages from a single queue, switch to the Queues tab and double-click on the desired queue. Then click on the Server/Queue tab.
3. Select the desired messages from the list, right-click on it and then select Remove option. A confirmation message will appear. Click Yes to continue.

Note: You can remove all messages from a selected queue by right-clicking the queue and selecting Remove Messages option.

To suspend messages in queue

1. Click on the Messages tab. You can view all messages in the queue.
2. To view messages from a selective queue, switch to the Queues tab and double-click on the desired queue. Click on the Server/Queue tab.
3. Now select your desired messages, right-click and then select the Suspend option from the drop-down list.

To resume suspended messages in queue

1. Click on the Queues tab, double click on the selective queue and click on Server or Queue tab.
2. Now, click on Create Filter option. From the message property, select Status; from comparison operator, select Equals and from value option, select Suspended. Click on Apply Filter option.
3. The messages with Suspended status will appear.
4. Select the desired messages from the list, right-click on it and then select Resume option.

So, these were all the benefits of the Queue Viewer. As you have seen, it helps you to check email queue in Exchange Server and perform multiple actions on queues and messages like View, Retry, Resume, Suspend, Remove, etc.

However, for more advanced and easy Exchange Server tracking, we suggest you to try the professional Kernel Exchange Reporter tool. The Exchange Reporter tool tracks email flow, OWA access and generates various reports such as Directory Reports, Message Delivery Reports, Mailbox Information Reports, Mailbox Traffic Reports, Public Folder Reports, Server Traffic reports, and Storage Reports for Exchange Server. These reports can be saved in multiple formats like HTML, .docx, CSV or PDF. It also delivers mailbox folder reports like size/growth of mailbox folders, total size of attachments sent within or outside the organization, etc. and thus, helps you to manage Exchange mailbox sizes with enough information in hand. The interface is user-friendly and compatible with all Exchange Server versions including Exchange 2016 and 2019.