Sensitivity labels in SharePoint Online provide visual indicators through watermarks to help users identify classified content. However, the default diagonal watermark layout can present usability and accessibility challenges. This guide explores watermark configuration options, addresses common user concerns, and provides solutions for managing watermark display in SharePoint documents. Table of Contents Understanding Sensitivity Label Watermarks Watermark Layout Options User Experience and Accessibility Concerns Configuring Watermark Layout at Tenant Level Managing Watermarks at File Level Conclusion References Understanding Sensitivity Label Watermarks Sensitivity label watermarks are visual indicators that appear on documents to display the classification level of content.

Problem Statement Mass applying sensitivity labels programmatically using Microsoft Information Protection SDK (MIP SDK) or PowerShell, the sensitivity label column appears blank in the document library UI, even though the metadata value is correctly set in the backend. This is a display refresh issue where the applied sensitivity labels has not synced to the SharePoint metadata. Root Cause When sensitivity labels are applied programmatically (via PowerShell, Graph API, or migration tools), the metadata is present in the file but not displayed in the interface.

Searching Sensitivity Labels in SharePoint Sensitivity labels are a powerful tool for protecting documents, offering features like watermarks, encryption, and access control at the file level. However, the default Sensitivity column in SharePoint has limitations—it cannot be filtered, indexed, or bulk updated. This blog post explores ways to search for sensitivity label values in SharePoint and highlights some challenges and potential solutions. Challenges with Sensitivity Labels in SharePoint The crawled managed property InformationProtectionLabelId refers to the sensitivity label’s GUID/ID, which is not user-friendly for end users to easily search.

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.