Skip to main content

Accessing the Clutter Folder with EWS in Office365\Exchange Online

To start off the new year I thought I'd look at how you can go about using some of the new features that are being introduced in Exchange Online. One of the big new features is Clutter which we all saw at MEC is Austin and is now being rolled out to Office365 tenants. If you don't know what clutter is check out http://blogs.office.com/2014/11/11/de-clutter-inbox-office-365/ but basically it is Machine learning (AI or skynet for the paranoid) for your Mailbox. Machine learning is one of the fruits of increasing processing power and also the cloud in that software development/rollout cycles are now more closely aligned to what hardware can do. Keep in mind this is just the start of what the technology can do, there is just so far tweaking UI's can go so this to me is where the really exciting future of the tech is and I'm looking forward to see where this goes in the coming year.

Back to the subject at hand when you enable Clutter you end up with a new folder in your Mailbox that hangs of the MsgRoot called Clutter (or the localized equivalent). While there are a number of new objects for Clutter in the new Proxy definitions in EWS there is no Distinguishedfolderid for the Clutter folder like most other Mailbox system folders. So to get the Clutter folder in EWS you will need to either search for it by name of a better way is you can use the ClutterFolderEntryId extended property which is available on the Mailbox's Non_ipm_root folder. When you request this property you will get returned the HexEntryId of the Clutter folder which you then need to convert using the ConvertId operation to an EWSId. You then will be able to bind to the folder as per usual. To put this together in a particular sample here are two example of doing this in c# and powershell. The following will get the Clutter folder and showing the number of Unread Email in this folder.

c#
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
            ExtendedPropertyDefinition ClutterFolderEntryId = new ExtendedPropertyDefinition(new Guid("{23239608-685D-4732-9C55-4C95CB4E8E33}"), "ClutterFolderEntryId", MapiPropertyType.Binary);
            PropertySet iiips = new PropertySet();
            iiips.Add(ClutterFolderEntryId);
            String MailboxName = "jcool@domain.com";
            FolderId FolderRootId = new FolderId(WellKnownFolderName.Root, MailboxName);
            Folder FolderRoot = Folder.Bind(service, FolderRootId, iiips);
            Byte[] FolderIdVal = null;
            if (FolderRoot.TryGetProperty(ClutterFolderEntryId, out FolderIdVal))
            {
                AlternateId aiId = new AlternateId(IdFormat.HexEntryId, BitConverter.ToString(FolderIdVal).Replace("-", ""), MailboxName);
                AlternateId ConvertedId = (AlternateId)service.ConvertId(aiId, IdFormat.EwsId);
                Folder ClutterFolder = Folder.Bind(service, new FolderId(ConvertedId.UniqueId));
                Console.WriteLine("Unread Email in clutter  : " + ClutterFolder.UnreadCount);
            }

Powershell 
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17
 18
 19
 20
 21
 22
 23
 24
 25
 26
 27
 28
 29
 30
 31
 32
 33
 34
 35
 36
 37
 38
 39
 40
 41
 42
 43
 44
 45
 46
 47
 48
 49
 50
 51
 52
 53
 54
 55
 56
 57
 58
 59
 60
 61
 62
 63
 64
 65
 66
 67
 68
 69
 70
 71
 72
 73
 74
 75
 76
 77
 78
 79
 80
 81
 82
 83
 84
 85
 86
 87
 88
 89
 90
 91
 92
 93
 94
 95
 96
 97
 98
 99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
## Get the Mailbox to Access from the 1st commandline argument

$MailboxName = $args[0]

## Load Managed API dll  

###CHECK FOR EWS MANAGED API, IF PRESENT IMPORT THE HIGHEST VERSION EWS DLL, ELSE EXIT
$EWSDLL = (($(Get-ItemProperty -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Path Registry::$(Get-ChildItem -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Web Services'|Sort-Object Name -Descending| Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty Name)).'Install Directory') + "Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.dll")
if (Test-Path $EWSDLL)
    {
    Import-Module $EWSDLL
    }
else
    {
    "$(get-date -format yyyyMMddHHmmss):"
    "This script requires the EWS Managed API 1.2 or later."
    "Please download and install the current version of the EWS Managed API from"
    "http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=255472"
    ""
    "Exiting Script."
    exit
    }
  
## Set Exchange Version  
$ExchangeVersion = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeVersion]::Exchange2010_SP2  
  
## Create Exchange Service Object  
$service = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeService($ExchangeVersion)  
  
## Set Credentials to use two options are availible Option1 to use explict credentials or Option 2 use the Default (logged On) credentials  
  
#Credentials Option 1 using UPN for the windows Account  
$psCred = Get-Credential  
$creds = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential($psCred.UserName.ToString(),$psCred.GetNetworkCredential().password.ToString())  
$service.Credentials = $creds      
  
#Credentials Option 2  
#service.UseDefaultCredentials = $true  
  
## Choose to ignore any SSL Warning issues caused by Self Signed Certificates  
  
## Code From http://poshcode.org/624
## Create a compilation environment
$Provider=New-Object Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider
$Compiler=$Provider.CreateCompiler()
$Params=New-Object System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters
$Params.GenerateExecutable=$False
$Params.GenerateInMemory=$True
$Params.IncludeDebugInformation=$False
$Params.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.DLL") | Out-Null

$TASource=@'
  namespace Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy{
    public class TrustAll : System.Net.ICertificatePolicy {
      public TrustAll() { 
      }
      public bool CheckValidationResult(System.Net.ServicePoint sp,
        System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate cert, 
        System.Net.WebRequest req, int problem) {
        return true;
      }
    }
  }
'@ 
$TAResults=$Provider.CompileAssemblyFromSource($Params,$TASource)
$TAAssembly=$TAResults.CompiledAssembly

## We now create an instance of the TrustAll and attach it to the ServicePointManager
$TrustAll=$TAAssembly.CreateInstance("Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy.TrustAll")
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::CertificatePolicy=$TrustAll

## end code from http://poshcode.org/624
  
## Set the URL of the CAS (Client Access Server) to use two options are availbe to use Autodiscover to find the CAS URL or Hardcode the CAS to use  
  
#CAS URL Option 1 Autodiscover  
$service.AutodiscoverUrl($MailboxName,{$true})  
"Using CAS Server : " + $Service.url   
   
#CAS URL Option 2 Hardcoded  
  
#$uri=[system.URI] "https://casservername/ews/exchange.asmx"  
#$service.Url = $uri    
  
## Optional section for Exchange Impersonation  
  
#$service.ImpersonatedUserId = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ImpersonatedUserId([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ConnectingIdType]::SmtpAddress, $MailboxName) 

function ConvertId{    
 param (
         $HexId = "$( throw 'HexId is a mandatory Parameter' )"
    )
 process{
     $aiItem = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.AlternateId      
     $aiItem.Mailbox = $MailboxName      
     $aiItem.UniqueId = $HexId   
     $aiItem.Format = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.IdFormat]::HexEntryId      
     $convertedId = $service.ConvertId($aiItem, [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.IdFormat]::EwsId) 
  return $convertedId.UniqueId
 }
}

# Bind to the Root Folder
$folderid= new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderId([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.WellKnownFolderName]::Root,$MailboxName)   
$ClutterFolderEntryId = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExtendedPropertyDefinition([System.Guid]::Parse("{23239608-685D-4732-9C55-4C95CB4E8E33}"), "ClutterFolderEntryId", [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.MapiPropertyType]::Binary);
$psPropset= new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.PropertySet([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.BasePropertySet]::FirstClassProperties) 
$psPropset.Add($ClutterFolderEntryId)
$RootFolder = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.Folder]::Bind($service,$folderid,$psPropset)
$FolderIdVal = $null
if ($RootFolder.TryGetProperty($ClutterFolderEntryId,[ref]$FolderIdVal))
{
 $Clutterfolderid= new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderId((ConvertId -HexId ([System.BitConverter]::ToString($FolderIdVal).Replace("-",""))))
 $ClutterFolder = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.Folder]::Bind($service,$Clutterfolderid);
 "Unread Email in clutter  : " + $ClutterFolder.UnreadCount
}
else{
 "Clutter Folder not found"
}

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The MailboxConcurrency limit and using Batching in the Microsoft Graph API

If your getting an error such as Application is over its MailboxConcurrency limit while using the Microsoft Graph API this post may help you understand why. Background   The Mailbox  concurrency limit when your using the Graph API is 4 as per https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/throttling#outlook-service-limits . This is evaluated for each app ID and mailbox combination so this means you can have different apps running under the same credentials and the poor behavior of one won't cause the other to be throttled. If you compared that to EWS you could have up to 27 concurrent connections but they are shared across all apps on a first come first served basis. Batching Batching in the Graph API is a way of combining multiple requests into a single HTTP request. Batching in the Exchange Mail API's EWS and MAPI has been around for a long time and its common, for email Apps to process large numbers of smaller items for a variety of reasons.  Batching in the Gr...
Read more

EWS-FAI Module for browsing and updating Exchange Folder Associated Items from PowerShell

Folder Associated Items are hidden Items in Exchange Mailbox folders that are commonly used to hold configuration settings for various Mailbox Clients and services that use Mailboxes. Some common examples of FAI's are Categories,OWA Signatures and WorkHours there is some more detailed documentation in the https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc463899(v=exchg.80).aspx protocol document. In EWS these configuration items can be accessed via the UserConfiguration operation https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/dd899439(v=exchg.150).aspx which will give you access to either the RoamingDictionary, XMLStream or BinaryStream data properties that holds the configuration depending on what type of FAI data is being stored. I've written a number of scripts over the years that target particular FAI's (eg this one that reads the workhours  http://gsexdev.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/finding-timezone-being-used-in-mailbox.html is a good example ) but I didn't have a gene...
Read more

Sending a MimeMessage via the Microsoft Graph using the Graph SDK, MimeKit and MSAL

One of the new features added to the Microsoft Graph recently was the ability to create and send Mime Messages (you have been able to get Message as Mime for a while). This is useful in a number of different scenarios especially when trying to create a Message with inline Images which has historically been hard to do with both the Graph and EWS (if you don't use MIME). It also opens up using SMIME for encryption and a more easy migration path for sending using SMTP in some apps. MimeKit is a great open source library for parsing and creating MIME messages so it offers a really easy solution for tackling this issue. The current documentation on Send message via MIME lacks any real sample so I've put together a quick console app that use MSAL, MIME kit and the Graph SDK to send a Message via MIME. As the current Graph SDK also doesn't support sending via MIME either there is a workaround for this in the future my guess is this will be supported.
Read more
All sample scripts and source code is provided by for illustrative purposes only. All examples are untested in different environments and therefore, I cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs.

All code contained herein is provided to you "AS IS" without any warranties of any kind. The implied warranties of non-infringement, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are expressly disclaimed.