PowerShell

Get Important Emails from User Mailbox Using Graph PowerShell

In the workplace, keeping track of important emails is vital for staying on top of key communications. Administrators often need to monitor or help users filter out high-priority messages from their inbox. Using Microsoft Graph PowerShell, you can automate the process of retrieving all emails marked as "important" in a user’s mailbox, ensuring no critical messages go unnoticed.

This article explores a simple PowerShell script that retrieves important emails from a user’s mailbox. This solution can be useful for auditing, monitoring, or reporting purposes, helping administrators manage mailboxes more efficiently.

The Script: Get Important Emails from User Mailbox

# Connect to Microsoft Graph
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Mail.Read"

# Define the user whose important emails you want to retrieve
$UserId = "user@yourdomain.com"

# Retrieve emails marked as 'important' from the user's mailbox
$importantEmails = Get-MgUserMessage -UserId $UserId -Filter "importance eq 'high'" -Property Subject ReceivedDateTime Sender

# Display important emails
if ($importantEmails.Count -gt 0) {
    Write-Host "Important Emails in $UserId's Mailbox:"
    $importantEmails | Select-Object Subject ReceivedDateTime Sender | Format-Table
} else {
    Write-Host "No important emails found in $UserId's mailbox."
}

# Disconnect from Microsoft Graph
Disconnect-MgGraph

How the Script Works

Connect to Microsoft Graph: The script starts by connecting to Microsoft Graph using the Mail.Read scope. This permission allows the script to access the user's mailbox to retrieve emails.
Identify the User: The $UserId variable specifies the user whose mailbox will be queried for important emails. This can be changed to target different users as needed.
Retrieve Important Emails: The Get-MgUserMessage cmdlet retrieves messages from the user's mailbox. The filter importance eq 'high' is used to only return emails that have been marked as important.
Display the Results: The important emails are displayed in a table format showing the subject, received date, and sender of each email.
Completion: If no important emails are found, the script informs you that the mailbox contains no such emails. Once done, the script disconnects from Microsoft Graph.

Further Enhancements

Export Important Emails to CSV: Extend the script to export the list of important emails to a CSV file for reporting or analysis.

$importantEmails | Export-Csv -Path "C:\Reports\ImportantEmails.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Flag or Organize Important Emails: After retrieving the important emails, the script can automatically flag them for follow-up or move them to a specific folder for better organization.
Apply Multiple Filters: Enhance the filter to retrieve emails that are both important and meet additional criteria, such as emails received within a certain time frame or from specific senders.

$importantEmails = Get-MgUserMessage -UserId $UserId -Filter "importance eq 'high' and receivedDateTime ge 2023-10-01"

Monitor Multiple Users: Modify the script to loop through a list of user mailboxes and retrieve important emails from each one.

$users = @("user1@domain.com", "user2@domain.com")
foreach ($user in $users) {
    # Logic for retrieving important emails from each user
}

Possible Errors & Solutions

Error	Cause	Solution
No important emails found	The mailbox might not contain any emails marked as important.	Confirm that the user has important emails in their mailbox or adjust the filter to match existing emails.
Insufficient privileges to complete the operation	The connected account does not have the necessary permissions to read mailbox content.	Ensure the account has the `Mail.Read` permission assigned in Azure AD and that admin consent has been provided if necessary.
The term 'Get-MgUserMessage' is not recognized	The Microsoft Graph PowerShell module might not be installed or updated.	Install or update the Microsoft Graph PowerShell module using: `Install-Module Microsoft.Graph`
Invalid filter clause	The filter syntax might be incorrect or improperly formatted.	Verify the filter syntax and ensure that the property names and values (such as importance and 'high') are correctly specified.

Conclusion

Retrieving important emails using Microsoft Graph PowerShell is a simple yet powerful way to automate mailbox management. By filtering for emails marked as "high importance," administrators can quickly identify critical messages that need attention, ensuring they are properly addressed.

With further enhancements, this script can be customized to automate various email management tasks, such as exporting important emails, flagging them for follow-up, or applying multiple filters. By automating these processes, you can streamline email management and improve communication efficiency in your organization.

Try implementing this solution today to simplify the task of monitoring high-priority emails in your Microsoft 365 environment!