Retention Labels: Publish & Auto-Apply
Publish retention labels so users can apply them, or configure auto-apply policies to classify content at scale. Use adaptive scopes to target specific users, sites, or mailboxes dynamically.
Getting retention labels to work
Creating a retention label is like printing a filing instruction. Publishing it puts it on everyone’s desk. Auto-applying it sends a robot to file everything for you.
Retention labels do nothing until they’re published (so users can apply them) or auto-applied (so Purview applies them automatically). Adaptive scopes make policies smarter — instead of targeting “all Exchange mailboxes,” they dynamically target “mailboxes of all employees in the Finance department.”
Publishing retention labels
A publish policy makes retention labels visible in users’ apps:
| Setting | What It Configures |
|---|---|
| Labels to publish | Which retention labels appear in the label picker |
| Users and groups | Who can see and apply the labels |
| Locations | Where labels are available — Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, M365 Groups |
| Default label | Optionally set a default retention label for the location |
Where users apply retention labels
| Location | How Users Apply |
|---|---|
| Outlook | Right-click email → Assign policy |
| SharePoint / OneDrive | Document library → Column “Retention label” → Select label |
| Microsoft 365 Groups | Applied at the group/site level by admins |
Auto-apply retention label policies
Auto-apply removes the dependency on users to classify content correctly:
Auto-apply conditions
| Condition | How It Works | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| SIT match | Apply when content matches a sensitive info type | Financial records, patient data, PII |
| Keywords or searchable properties | Apply based on specific words or metadata | Project names, document types |
| Trainable classifiers | Apply when AI classifies the content | Contracts, resumes, source code |
| Cloud attachments | Apply to files shared as links in email or Teams | Shared documents that need retention |
Scenario: Zara auto-applies retention at Atlas Global
Zara configures auto-apply policies at Atlas Global:
- Employee contracts: Trainable classifier detects contracts → auto-apply “Employment Record — 5 Year” label
- Financial reports: SIT matches for financial data + keyword “quarterly report” → auto-apply “Financial — 7 Year” label
- Project documents: Keyword query for “project deliverable” in document properties → auto-apply “Project — 3 Year” label
These run as background services, scanning SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange. Auto-apply takes 7 days to process existing content, then handles new content continuously.
Adaptive scopes
Traditional (static) scopes require you to manually select specific sites, users, or groups. Adaptive scopes use dynamic queries that automatically include or exclude locations based on attributes.
| Feature | Static Scope | Adaptive Scope |
|---|---|---|
| How targets are selected | Admin manually adds specific users, sites, or groups | Dynamic query based on attributes — automatically updates |
| Maintenance | Must manually update when users join, leave, or change roles | Automatically reflects changes in Entra ID or site properties |
| Limit per policy | Up to 1,000 individual locations per policy | Unlimited — query can match any number of locations |
| Examples | Specific SharePoint sites: site1, site2, site3 | All SharePoint sites where Department = 'Finance' |
| Best for | Small, stable sets of locations | Large, dynamic organisations where people move between departments |
Types of adaptive scopes
| Scope Type | Attributes Available | Example Query |
|---|---|---|
| User scope | Entra ID attributes: department, city, country, company, title | Department = “Finance” AND Country = “US” |
| SharePoint site scope | Site URL, site name, refinable strings | Site URL contains “/finance/“ |
| Mailbox scope | Mailbox attributes: CustomAttribute1-15 | CustomAttribute1 = “Trading” |
Creating an adaptive scope
- Microsoft Purview portal → Data lifecycle management → Adaptive scopes
- Name the scope (e.g., “All Finance Users”)
- Choose scope type — user, site, or mailbox
- Build the query — select attributes and values
- Save — the scope is now available for any retention policy or label policy
Exam tip: adaptive scope advantages
The exam tests when to use adaptive vs static scopes. Key advantages of adaptive scopes:
- No 1,000-location limit — static scopes cap at 1,000 individual locations per policy
- Automatic updates — when a user changes department, the scope adjusts automatically
- Supports attribute-based queries — target by department, country, job title, site URL, or custom attributes
- Required for some features — certain retention features only work with adaptive scopes
If a question describes a large, dynamic organisation where employees frequently change roles, adaptive scopes are the answer.
Scenario: Dr. Liam uses adaptive scopes
St. Harbour Health has 5,000 employees across 12 clinics. Staff frequently transfer between clinics. Dr. Liam needs a 6-year retention policy for all clinical mailboxes.
With static scopes, he would manually add each clinical staff mailbox — and update the list every time someone joins, leaves, or transfers. With 400+ clinical staff changes per year, this is unsustainable.
With adaptive scopes:
- Scope type: User scope
- Query: Department = “Clinical” OR Department = “Nursing” OR Department = “Physician”
- Result: The scope automatically includes new clinical hires and excludes departing staff — zero manual maintenance.
Atlas Global has 15,000 employees across 40 countries. Zara needs a retention policy that applies to all Finance department mailboxes. People move in and out of Finance frequently. What scope type should she use?
Dr. Liam configured an auto-apply retention label policy for patient records (SIT: patient health identifiers) on Monday. By Wednesday, he checks and finds that only a small fraction of existing patient records have been labelled. What is the most likely explanation?
🎬 Video coming soon
Next up: Retention: Policies, Precedence & Recovery — understand how retention policies work at scale, how precedence resolves conflicts, and how to recover deleted content.