Issues with Default Sensitivity Labels in SharePoint Document Libraries
Introduction
Default sensitivity labels can be set at the document library level in SharePoint to help manage and protect your data.
However, there are some limitations and issues that you should be aware of like the default sensitivity label does not automatically update existing files within SharePoint and there might be delay in applying the sensitivity label within M365 app. This is described in the documentation for Configuring a default sensitivity label for a SharePoint document library.
Issue with Desktop App
The desktop app offers more features and might be the preferred method for creating and editing files. However, the default sensitivity label is not being applied to files created within the desktop app, even after the file is closed for hours.
As soon as I opened the file within the browser or Teams, the default sensitivity label was applied to the file.
I was able to reproduce this behavior on both my development tenant and production tenant.
Expected Behavior
The expectation is that the default sensitivity label will apply regardless of the medium used for file editing. The current workaround is for end users to verify and manually apply the sensitivity label to those files.
Conclusion
While default sensitivity labels are a powerful tool for data governance, it’s important to be aware of their limitations and ensure that users are trained to manually apply labels when necessary.
References
- Configure a default sensitivity label for a SharePoint document library
- Configuring for Default Sensitivity Labels