Commands › Exchange Online

Start-MailboxSearch

Exchange Online ExchangeOnlineManagement Start-*

Restart or resume a mailbox search that's been stopped. **Note**: As of October 2020, the \*-MailboxSearch cmdlets are retired in Exchange Online PowerShell. Use the \*-ComplianceSearch cmdlets in Security & Compliance PowerShell instead. For more information, see Retirement of legacy eDiscovery tools.

Quick start script

# Start-MailboxSearch — quick start (serv365.ai)
# 1. Connect (app-only shown; interactive: omit the certificate parameters)
Connect-ExchangeOnline -CertificateThumbprint $thumb -AppId $appId -Organization $org

# 2. Run and inspect
Start-MailboxSearch -Identity <SearchObjectIdParameter> | Format-List

# 3. Export for evidence / drift tracking
Start-MailboxSearch | Export-Clixml .\MailboxSearch-$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd).xml

Syntax

Start-MailboxSearch [-Identity] <SearchObjectIdParameter>
 [-Confirm]
 [-DomainController <Fqdn>]
 [-Force]
 [-Resume]
 [-StatisticsStartIndex <Int32>]
 [-WhatIf]
 [<CommonParameters>]

Parameters (7)

Parameter	Type	Required	What it controls
-Identity	SearchObjectIdParameter	yes	The Identity parameter specifies the name of the search. The name is referenced when starting, stopping, or removing the search.
-Confirm	SwitchParameter		The Confirm switch specifies whether to show or hide the confirmation prompt. How this switch affects the cmdlet depends on whether the cmdlet requires confirmation before proceeding.
-DomainController	Fqdn		This parameter is available only in on-premises Exchange.
-Force	SwitchParameter		The Force switch hides warning or confirmation messages. You don't need to specify a value with this switch.
-Resume	SwitchParameter		The Resume switch resumes a stopped, failed, or partially succeeded search from the point it stopped. You don't need to specify a value with this switch.
-StatisticsStartIndex	Int32		The StatisticsStartIndex parameter is used by the EAC to retrieve keyword statistics in a paged operation.
-WhatIf	SwitchParameter		The WhatIf switch shows what the command does without making any changes. You don't need to specify a value with this switch.

Reference facts derived from Microsoft documentation, © Microsoft, licensed CC BY 4.0; restructured with original guidance by serv365.ai.