How to Get and Update the Exchange Online Management PowerShell Module

Latest Module of Exchange Online PowerShell Module is 3.1 (January 2023)

Last Updated: January 9, 2023

V3.1

Released on January 9, 2023, this version removes the dependency for basic authentication through the WinRM component. V3.1 completes the transition for Exchange Online Management cmdlets to use the REST API instead of Remote PowerShell and lays the foundation for the removal of remote PowerShell connections to Exchange Online (now due in September 2023).

V3.0

On September 20, 2022, Microsoft released V3.0 of the Exchange Online Management module. The updated module is available in the PowerShell gallery. The highlights of the release include:

• Support for certificate-based authentication (app-based authentication) for the cmdlets accessed through the Compliance endpoint.
• Virtually all of the older (non EXO-) cmdlets now use the REST API. This means that the module no longer needs to use Basic authentication in WinRM. The fact that the cmdlets are now REST-based means that they perform better and are more robust against transient failures.
• Support for managed identities in Azure Automation runbook scripts.

See this page for more information.

V2.0.5

On May 11, Microsoft released V2.0.5 of the Exchange Online Management PowerShell module to general availability. This is an update of what’s sometimes called Exchange Online PowerShell V2 (introduced at Ignite 2019). It is recommended that you update to the latest version at your earliest convenience.

The case for using the Exchange Online Management module instead of the older remote PowerShell cmdlets has been made many times. By now it should be a no-brainer, especially with Microsoft’s avowed intention to remove basic authentication for PowerShell as soon as possible and the consequent need to upgrade interactive PowerShell sessions and background scripts to use modern authentication. Here are the highlights of recent releases.

New Cmdlets (2.0.5)

V2.0.5 contains the cmdlets needed to manage the Ownerless Group policy (Get/Set-OwnerlessGroupPolicy) and features in the Viva Insights app for Teams (Get/Set-VivaInsightsSettings).

Support for Linux and MacOS (2.0.4)

As announced at Ignite 2020, this is the version version of the Exchange Online Management module to support Linux and MacOS. For Linux, you need to run Ubuntu version 18.04 or above. For MacOS, it’s Mojave (10.14), Catalina (10.15), and Big Sur (11) and above.

More Secure Connections (2.0.4)

In PowerShell 7, the 2.0.4 module supports browser-based single sign on. See this page for more information.

Real-time policy evaluation (Continuous Access Evaluation or CAE) is supported.

Updated Cmdlets (2.0.4)

The cmdlets used to update user preferences for MyAnalytics have been renamed to make their use more obvious.

Get-UserAnalyticsConfig is now Get-MyAnalyticsFeatureConfig.

Set-UserAnalyticsConfig is now Set-MyAnalyticsFeatureConfig.

The Get-ExoMailboxStatistics cmdlet supports two new properties: LastUserActionTime and LastInteractionTime.

Certified Connections (2.0.3)

The Exchange Online Management module comes with full support for modern authentication, multi-factor authentication, and now (in this version), certificate-based authentication (CBA) to allow scripts to run unattended as background jobs. Certificates can be stored in the certificate store of the local machine or current user. You can also use the CertificateFilePath parameter for the Connect-ExchangeOnline cmdlet to specify the file path to a .pfx file for a certificate. For more information, see this page.

Simultaneous Connections (2.0.3)

Following previous releases of the module, I complained bitterly that running the Connect-IPPSSession cmdlet to connect to the Security and Compliance endpoint removed the session connected to Exchange Online. In other words, you couldn’t do something like run Get-ExoMailbox to fetch a list of mailboxes, then run Connect-IPPSSession, do some work, and then run Get-ExoMailbox again. I may have used some bad words to fully express my opinion on the inanity of this approach.

The developers listened and V2.0.3 includes support for simultaneous connections to Exchange Online and the Security and Compliance endpoints.

Faster Connections (2.0.3)

One of the original characteristics of using the REST-based cmdlets like Get-ExoMailbox or Get-ExoMailboxStatistics was a need to “warm up” the connection. In other words, it took a while for the first connection to be established and ready for use. Microsoft says that V2.0.3 is much faster at making the initial connection and in practice it seems like the improvement is marked. Results will vary depending on the cmdlet and number of objects in the tenant, but the connections are certainly snappier than before.

Limited Cmdlet Imports (2.0.3)

Only 17 cmdlets are in the Exchange Online Management module, but when you connect to Exchange Online, over 700 cmdlets are imported into the session, all of which demand some memory. If you want to restrict memory usage to a minimum, you can specify the list of cmdlets needed by a session or script when you run the Connect-ExchangeOnline cmdlet. For example, this command will create a session with the 17 cmdlets from the module plus two imported from Exchange Online:

Connect-ExchangeOnline -CommandName Set-Mailbox, Set-CASMailbox

After the session starts, you will only be able to run Set-Mailbox and Set-CASMailbox from the set available for Exchange Online. Other cmdlets like Get-PublicFolder, New-TransportRule, or Get-UnifiedGroup are unavailable.

Take Care with Updates

When you do update the Exchange Online Management module, make sure that you include the Scope parameter to force the install of the module files onto the local disk. Otherwise you might end up like me and have some modules in OneDrive for Business and others local, with all the confusion that entails. After removing all traces of previous versions to give myself a clean start, I ran:

Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement -Scope AllUsers -Force

To check that the module is in the right place, run the command below and make sure that the module isn’t located in OneDrive for Business:

Get-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement | Select Path
Path
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C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\ExchangeOnlineManagement\2.0.3\ExchangeOnlineManag...

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For more information and lots of examples of using PowerShell to manage Exchange Online, subscribe to the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook.