Microsoft Purview – Exploring Retention Labels – 1

Hi All,

Greetings for the day!

We are exploring Microsoft Purview.

Today we will explore RETENTION Labels. This is first article for RETENTION Labels for understanding basics. In next article we will go into deep dive – How to create RETENTION Label, use them and apply. We will discuss the use cases of RETENTION Labels.

This article will also help to prepare the exam SC-401 : Information Security Administrator.

What is RETENTION in Microsoft Purview?

• Microsoft Purview RETENTION helps organizations to manage content lifespan across mail, files, and messages.
• It supports operational, regulatory, and security needs by preserving data that matters and removing what doesn’t.
• Knowing when and how to apply retention is key to protecting data and reducing risk.
• Microsoft Purview provides retention policies to help manage the lifespan of data in a secure, predictable way.
• Retention in Microsoft Purview lets organizations decide how long to keep content and what happens when that time is up. 

What are RETENTION Labels?

• Retention labels let us apply DATA LIFE CYCLE policies at the item level in Microsoft 365. 
• RETENTION Labels ensure content (such as an email, document, or Teams files) is kept for the right amount of time. 
• RETENTION Labels also support proper disposal when the content is no longer needed.
• Retention labels are applied to individual items such as emails, documents, or Teams files.
• Each label defines how long the content should be retained and what happens after that time expires.
• These labels can be applied manually by users or automatically using retention label policies.

Where the RETENTION Labels are used? What are the location where RETENTION labels are supported?

• Exchange Mailbox
• SharePoint sites
• OneDrive accounts
• Microsoft 365 Groups
• Teams files (through SharePoint)
• Loop and Copilot pages

Exchange public folders, Skype, Teams and Viva Engage messages don’t support retention labels.

What permissions are require to create RETENTION Labels?

To create and manage retention labels, our account must be assigned one of these roles in Microsoft Purview:

• Records Management
• Retention Management
• Compliance Administrator

In Microsoft Purview, where we can create RETENTION Labels?

In Microsoft Purview, we can create RETENTION Labels in following solutions

• Data Lifecycle Management and 

• Records Management
  • Records management includes the File plan tool.
  • File plan tool allows for bulk label creation and adds support for optional metadata like file plan descriptors.

Few Important Points about RETENTION Labels

• We can’t configure priorities for retention labels. Only one RETENTION label is applied at a time
• A retention label can be applied manually by an end user or admin, or automatically by using any of the following methods:
  • Auto-apply retention label policy
  • A Microsoft Syntex model
  • Default retention label for SharePoint or Outlook
  • Outlook rules
  • Power Automate compliance action

REFERENCES

• Microsoft Purview Portal: https://purview.microsoft.com/
• How to navigate Microsoft Purview Portal: https://knowledge-junction.in/2023/05/04/mspurview-portal-how-to-navigate/
• Getting Started with Microsoft Purview: https://knowledge-junction.in/2025/06/28/getting-started-with-microsoft-purview/

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more details on RETENTION Labels in Microsoft Purview.

STAY SAFE ! LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL 🙂