Set up an Office 365 journaling rule

Last published : Apr 17, 2026
You can create an Office 365 journaling rule for all users, or for an existing distribution group. The rule can be configured to journal internal messages, external messages, or all messages
Note: The following procedure describes how to set up an Office 365 journaling rule manually. You do not need to perform this procedure if you choose to automatically provision journaling in Office 365 from theProvisioningtab in Archive Administration. The automatic provisioning option creates a single journaling rule in Office 365 for all users and all messages.
To set up an Office 365 journaling rule
  1. Open your web browser and navigate to the Office 365 sign-in page, https://portal.office.com
  2. Sign in with administrator credentials.
  3. In Office 365 click the Admin app to open the Office 365 Admin center.
  4. In the left menu bar of the Office 365 Admin center, expand Admin centers, and selectCompliance.
  5. In the Compliance admin center, select Data life cycle management, and thenExchange(legacy).
  6. In the Exchange (legacy)section, selectSettings>Undeliverable Reports.
Specify an email address where you want to receive the undelivered reports, and click Save.
  1. Review the value for the Send undeliverable journal reports to setting:
    • Click Select address, and then clickBrowse to select a dedicated mailbox. Or select an external contact to send NDRs to.
    • Click Save.
      Note: Veritas recommends configuring an alternate journal mailbox when configuring a journal rule in Exchange or Exchange Online for sending content to Veritas Alta Archiving. This mailbox should be in a location that is not in either the source or target of the journal stream (i.e. not Exchange Online or Veritas Alta Archiving) but rather a 3rd party location that is being monitored for activity (i.e. the presence of NDRs indicating that there is a mail delivery problem) in addition to other monitoring of the journal stream. More Information: When configuring a journal rule it is customary to provide an alternate journaling mailbox to send NDR (Non-Delivery Reports) to should the destination address for the journal reports in the journal rule be unreachable. Microsoft specifies inhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/security-and-compliance/journaling/configure-journalingthat this alternate journaling mailbox address should not be an Exchange Online mailbox. From a fault tolerance perspective, it would make sense that the alternate journaling mailbox should also not be a target provided by Veritas Alta Archiving as this is the same target for the journal rule.
  2. Navigate to Exchange (legacy)>Journal rules.
  3. Click the +New Ruleicon to display theNew journal rule dialog box.
  4. In the Send journal reports to field, specify your Veritas Alta Archiving Office 365 journal address.
  5. In the Journal rule name field, enter a suitable name for this rule.
  6. If you want the rule to apply only to a specific distribution group or user, do as follows:
    • From the If the message is sent to or received from...drop-down menu, selectA specific user or group.
    • Select the distribution group or user, and then click Add.
    • Click OK. Thenew journal rule dialog now lists the selected group or user.
  7. From the Journal the following messages... drop-down menu, select one of the following:
    • all messages-internal messages only-external messages only
  8. ClickSave.
  9. Click Yes to create the rule.
  10. The journal rule displays as disabled on the journal rules page. Select the ON check box to enable journaling.
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Setting up Office 365 journaling
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