Office 365 Auto Journaling Setup Guide

Updated May 2026 

Overview

This guide walks you through enabling Office 365 auto journaling to work with your TrackerRMS platform. Auto journaling automatically captures copies of email messages and makes them available for TrackerRMS to import and manage through your O365 plugin connection.

 

Prerequisites

• Admin Rights: You must have Exchange Online Administrator or Global Administrator permissions in your Office 365 tenant.
• TrackerRMS Plugin: Ensure the user’s TrackerRMS O365 plugin is already configured.

 

⚠️  Important Notes Exchange Online does not support delivering journal reports to an Exchange Online mailbox. You must specify an on-premises archiving system or a third-party archiving service (such as TrackerRMS) as the journaling mailbox. The classic Microsoft Purview compliance portal (compliance.microsoft.com) was retired in December 2024. You must now use the new Microsoft Purview portal at purview.microsoft.com. Exchange security and compliance features — including journaling — are no longer available in the new Exchange Admin Center. Use Microsoft Purview exclusively.

 

Step 1: Access the Journaling Configuration

The new Microsoft Purview portal is the only supported method for configuring journaling as of December 2024.

 

Option A: New Microsoft Purview Portal (Required)

1. Sign in at

    https://purview.microsoft.com

2. Navigate to:

    Solutions > Data lifecycle management > Exchange (legacy)

3. Select

    Journal rules

 

Option B: Classic Exchange Admin Center (Legacy — Limited Support)

⚠️  Note on Legacy EAC The Classic Exchange Admin Center still supports journaling rule management for now, but Microsoft’s development investment is focused on the new Purview portal. New deployments should use Option A above.

 

4. Sign in at

    https://admin.microsoft.com

5. Go to: Admin centers > Exchange
6. Navigate to: Compliance management > Journal rules

 

Step 2: Configure Undeliverable Journal Reports

Before creating journal rules, configure where undeliverable journal reports (NDRs) are sent. This is critical — if the journaling mailbox becomes unavailable, failed reports are retried for up to 24 hours before an NDR is generated.

 

Using the New Microsoft Purview Portal (Recommended)

7. Navigate to: Solutions > Data lifecycle management > Exchange (legacy)
8. Click the gear icon for Settings

   

9. In Send undeliverable journal reports to, enter a dedicated address (e.g.

    ndr@yourdomain.com

10. Click Save

 

Using the Classic Exchange Admin Center

11. Navigate to: Compliance management > Journal rules
12. Click Select address next to “Send undeliverable journal reports to”
13. Enter a dedicated NDR address (e.g. ndr@yourdomain.com)
14. Click Save

 

⚠️  Important Emails sent to the undeliverable address will not themselves be journaled. Use a dedicated mailbox for this purpose. The alternate journaling mailbox cannot be an Exchange Online mailbox — it must be an external or on-premises address. If the alternate journaling mailbox also becomes unavailable simultaneously, rejected journal reports will be lost and cannot be retrieved.

 

Step 3: Create the TrackerRMS Journal Rule

Option A: Journal All Messages (Simplest Setup)

Using the New Microsoft Purview Portal (Recommended)

15. Go to: Journal rules > + New rule
16. Configure:
    • Send journal reports to: journal@tracker-agent.com
    • Journal rule name: TrackerRMS Auto-Journal
    • Journal messages from: Apply to all messages
    • Type of message to journal: External messages only
17. Click Next, review, then Submit

 

Using the Classic Exchange Admin Center

18. Go to: Compliance management > Journal rules
19. Click + (Add)
20. Configure:
    • Name: TrackerRMS Auto-Journal
    • Apply to all messages
    • Journal the following messages: External messages only
    • Send journal reports to: journal@tracker-agent.com
21. Click Save

 

Option B: Targeted Journaling Using Distribution Groups (Advanced)

Create Distribution Groups

To Include Specific Users Only:

22. Go to: Teams & groups > Active teams & groups
23. Add group: Distribution
24. Name it: TrackerRMS-Journal-Include
25. Add only the desired users
26. Click Save

 

To Exclude Specific Users:

27. Create group: TrackerRMS-Journal-Exclude
28. Add users you want to exclude
29. Create a rule that applies to all users EXCEPT this group

 

Configure Journal Rule with Group Targeting

Using the New Microsoft Purview Portal:

30. Go to: Journal rules > + New rule
31. Configure:
    • Send journal reports to: journal@tracker-agent.com
    • Journal rule name: TrackerRMS Auto-Journal-Targeted
    • Apply to: A specific user or group
    • Type of message: External messages only
32. Click Next, review, then Submit

 

Step 4: Verify Journal Rule Configuration

Using the New Microsoft Purview Portal

33. Go to: Solutions > Data lifecycle management > Exchange (legacy) > Journal rules
34. Confirm the rule appears and Status is On

 

Using the Classic Exchange Admin Center

35. Go to: Compliance management > Journal rules
36. Confirm the rule appears with ON checkmark

 

Step 5: Test the Configuration

37. Send a test email from a user to an external recipient
38. Wait 5–10 minutes
39. Check if journal@tracker-agent.com receives the report
40. Confirm in TrackerRMS that the message is processed

 

Understanding Journal Rule Scopes

• External messages only — Recommended for TrackerRMS. Note: messages where both sender and recipient are in accepted domains of the same organisation are treated as internal, even if from external-appearing sources.
• All messages — Includes both internal and external.
• Internal messages only — For internal-only capture.

 

Self-Service Journaling Management

Client Benefits

• No need to contact TrackerRMS to update journaling users
• Group membership changes take effect within 15–30 minutes
• Helps manage cost and compliance flexibly
• Audit trail via Office 365 logs
• Scalable for large teams

 

Best Practices

• Use clear naming (e.g. TrackerRMS-Journal-Include)
• Document group purpose
• Review membership regularly
• Use multiple rules for different departments

 

Example Scenarios

• Journal only Sales team
• Exclude Executives
• Department-based journaling
• Temporary project-based journaling
• Easy onboarding/offboarding

 

Important Considerations

Security & Compliance

• Use trusted archiving destinations only
• Monitor journal delivery regularly
• Ensure compliance with all applicable privacy regulations
• Restrict access to journaling mailboxes to only those with a direct need

 

Performance & Storage

• Test thoroughly before large-scale rollout
• Monitor performance after enabling journaling
• Configure alerts for failed deliveries

 

Reliability & Delivery

• Journal reports are retried for up to 24 hours if the journaling mailbox is temporarily unavailable
• After 24 hours, an NDR is generated and sent to the alternate journaling mailbox
• Set JournalingReportNdrTo to receive failure notifications
• If a message matches multiple journal rules, a report is sent to each configured journaling mailbox

 

Troubleshooting

Journal rule isn’t working

• Verify the rule is enabled in the Microsoft Purview portal
• Check that journal@tracker-agent.com is receiving mail
• Ensure mail flow is properly configured

 

Messages not being journaled

• Emails in quarantine won’t be journaled until released
• Check for transport rules interfering
• Review rule scope
• Verify the sender/recipient are not both in the same accepted domain (these are treated as internal)

 

Access Issues

• Ensure you are using microsoft.com — journaling configuration is no longer available in the new Exchange Admin Center
• Verify you have Exchange Online Administrator or Global Administrator permissions

 

TrackerRMS Help  •  Updated May 2026  •  v1.3  © Copyright 2023–26