Increase Email Message Size Limits in MS Exchange Server

Updated On - December 6, 2022 by Nasir Khan | Reading Time: 4 minutes

Data is always the priority for businesspersons and organizations, especially data in Exchange Server. We all know that data can grow enormously in business, and users may also need to share data to the maximum possible size. For sharing big files in the Exchange server, administrators seek to increase email message size limits in the MS Exchange server. If you also deal with large files and seeking a way to increase email message size limit in Exchange server, then you’re on the right blog. Here I’ll mention a step-by-step process to increase Exchange server message size.

Ways to Increase email message size limits in MS Exchange Server

Exchange administrators can increase email message size limit in Exchange server using two ways which are:

1. Exchange management shell cmdlets
2. Exchange Admin center (EAC)

 Considerations for limiting message size

• Maximum incoming and outgoing message sizes
• Maximum message size and mailbox storage quotas
• Users that are permitted to send/receive emails that exceed the existing message size limits

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Method1: Exchange management shell cmdlets

Before increasing the email size, you need to check the current size of the email message, which you can do by running the following cmdlets in the Exchange management shell.

Get-SendConnector | Format-List -Property Identity, MaxMessageSize

This cmdlet will show the current maximum email size in send connector; for the receiver end, run the following command

Get-ReceiveConnector | Format-List -Property Identity, MaxMessageSize

 Now to change the email message size, run the following command

Set-TransportConfig -MaxSendSize 35MB -MaxReceiveSize 35MB

(Note: you can define the email size as per your requirements).

 Moreover, you can set the limits for the get-tranportconfig by running the following command

get-transport config | Set-TransportConfig -maxsendsize 50MB -maxreceivesize 40MB; get-receive connector | set-receive connector -maxmessagesize 35MB; get-send connector | set-send connector -maxmessagesize 25MB; get-mailbox | Set-Mailbox -Maxsendsize 20MB -maxreceivesize 80MB

NOTE: The aforementioned cmdlets make no distinction between whether or not attachments are present. Large messages with no attachments may be terminated instantly.

 To avoid receiving attachments larger than a specific size restriction, run the following cmdlet:

New-TransportRule -Name LargeAttach -AttachmentSizeOver 30MB -RejectMessageReasonText “Message attachment size over 30MB – email rejected.”

Method2: Use the Exchange Admin Centre Console to increase message size limit in Exchange Server

It is a less complicated and technical procedure. Users only need to follow the instructions as instructed carefully. Consider these steps to acquire a thorough picture of this solution.

• Log in to your Exchange organization’s Exchange Admin Center Console using administrator credentials.
• On the left pane, pick the mail flow feature, go to the receive connectors menu, select the front end connector, and click the three dots (also known as More) option. Then select Organization transportation settings.
• A new page titled Organization transport settings will appear. On the left pane, select the limitations option. Now, multiply the desired number of figures by the three possibilities supplied. Maximum recipient number, Maximum receive message size (MB), and Maximum send message size (MB). After entering the desired digits, select the Save option.
• As a result, the transmit and receive message limits in Exchange 2013 have been increased.

 Important: Exchange administrators can also create a new mail flow rule that rejects big attachments in emails sent from a certain sender’s email address. Administrators must use the Exchange Admin Center’s mail flow > rules to accomplish this. Select the Create a new rule option after clicking the + button. Then enter information such as “big attachment” for Name, “Apply the rule for specific senders,” “Reject the message with the explanation” for Do the following section, “Enforce” as rule mode, and then click Save to save this rule. This will limit the huge attachments from the selected senders, saving some storage space.

Related Blog: Manual Methods to Export Exchange Archive Mailbox to PST

Problems with maximum size limitations

When an inbound email message exceeds the pre-set size restrictions, it might trigger a slew of issues with the account. The following are some of the error messages:

• “552: Message size exceeds the maximum allowed.”
• “Message size exceeds outgoing message size limit, system undeliverable.”
• “The maximum attachment size has been exceeded.”
• “The size of the message you are attempting to send exceeds the server’s global size limit.” The message was not sent; try again with smaller message size.”

So, these are both methods to increase email message size in Exchange Server. But as you can see, both methods are full of technical processes, and it is not easy for novice users to accomplish. Apart from this, there is a possibility that your mailbox or complete Exchange database may get corrupt if you make any misstep during the process. Also, the manual solutions are lengthy and need careful execution to avoid any mistake affecting the Exchange settings or any other related error.

If you’re facing any error or glitch during the process or your Exchange mailbox has gone corrupt due to large emails, I suggest you use the Regain Exchange recovery solution. It is one of the most used and effortless ways for Exchange users to recover and migrate the Exchange database. The tool is laced with several user-oriented features, which make it a must-have utility for Exchange users. You can have a free version of Regain Exchange EDB recovery tool and check its skills and advantages without investing.

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 Summing Up

There are several ways to increase email message size limits in Exchange Server. The two ways discussed in this guide are using Exchange management shell cmdlets and the Exchange Admin Centre console. The first method is more technical and requires more effort to be implemented. The second method is not as technical but needs a good understanding of host Exchange and does not require any tools to be installed on your Exchange server.

The main objective of this article was to explain how to increase email message size limits in Exchange. As you can see, many steps are involved in increasing the limits in Exchange Server using Exchange Management Shell cmdlets. However, the EAC has a simple, easy-to-use interface, and it is the recommended solution for increasing message size limits. Also, if your exchange mailbox has gone corrupt due to large emails, you can use the Regain Exchange recovery tool.