Learn about connectors for third-party data
Microsoft 365 lets administrators use data connectors to import and archive non-Microsoft, third-party data from social media platforms, instant messaging platforms, and document collaboration platforms, to mailboxes in your Microsoft 365 organization. One primary benefit of using data connectors to import and archive third-party data in Microsoft 365 is that you can apply various Microsoft Purview solutions to the data after it's been imported. This helps you ensure that your organization's non-Microsoft data is in compliance with the regulations and standards that affect your organization.
Watch this interactive guide that demonstrates how to create data connectors to import and archive third-party data and examples of applying compliance solutions to data after it's imported to Microsoft 365.
Tip
If you're not an E5 customer, use the 90-day Microsoft Purview solutions trial to explore how additional Purview capabilities can help your organization manage data security and compliance needs. Start now at the Microsoft Purview compliance portal trials hub. Learn details about signing up and trial terms.
Third-party data connectors
The Microsoft Purview portal and the Microsoft Purview compliance portal provides native third-party data connectors from Microsoft to import data from various data sources, such as LinkedIn, Instant Bloomberg, and Twitter and data connectors that support the Insider risk management solution.
In addition to these native data connectors, Microsoft works with the following partners to provide many more third-party data connectors in portals. Your organization works with these partners to set up their archiving service before creating a corresponding data connector in one of the portals.
Important
All partner third-party data connector configurations require a provisioned service principal for the partner application. This requirement isn't applicable for native Microsoft third-pary data connector configurations. We recommend working with your partners for details on the relevant Partner Application ID.
To provision a service principal using PowerShell, see Provision a service principal for partner third-party data connectors.
The third-party data listed in the next sections (except for HR data and physical badging data that is used for the Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management solution) is imported into user mailboxes. The Microsoft Purview solutions that support third-party data are applied to the user mailbox where the data is stored.
Important
All Veritas data connectors in Microsoft Purview were retired on June 30, 2024. Non-Veritas data connectors in your organization aren't affected by this change. Contact your Veritas account representative if you have questions about Veritas archiving services.
Microsoft data connectors
The following table lists the native third-party data connectors available in the Microsoft Purview portal and the compliance portal. The table also summarizes the compliance solutions that you can apply after you import and archive third-party data in Microsoft 365. See the Overview of compliance solutions that support third-party data section for a more detailed description of each compliance solution and how it supports third-party data.
Select the link in the Third-party data column to go the step-by-step instructions for creating a connector for that data type.
| Third-party data | Litigation hold | eDiscovery | Retention settings | Records management | Communication compliance | Insider risk management |
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| Bloomberg Message |  |
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| Epic EHR healthcare | |
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| ICE Chat | |
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| Instant Bloomberg | |
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| Physical badging | |
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TeleMessage data connectors
Important
All partner third-party data connector configurations require a provisioned service principal for the partner application. This requirement isn't applicable for native Microsoft third-pary data connector configurations. We recommend working with your partners for details on the relevant Partner Application ID.
To provision a service principal using PowerShell, see Provision a service principal for partner third-party data connectors.
The table in this section lists the third-party data connectors available in partnership with TeleMessage. The table also summarizes the compliance solutions that you can apply to third-party data after you import and archive it in Microsoft 365. See the Overview of compliance solutions that support third-party data section for a more detailed description of each compliance solution and how it supports third-party data.
Before you can archive third-party data in Microsoft 365, you have to work with TeleMessage to set up their archiving service for your organization. For more information, select the link in the Third-party data column to go the step-by-step instructions for creating a connector for that data type.
TeleMessage data connectors are also available in GCC environments in the Microsoft 365 US Government cloud. For more information, see the Data connectors in the US Government cloud section in this article.
| Third-party data | Litigation hold | eDiscovery | Retention settings | Records management | Communication compliance | Insider risk management |
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| Android | |
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| AT&T Network | |
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| Bell Network | |
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| Enterprise Number | |
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| O2 Network | |
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| Rogers Network | |
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| Signal | |
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| Telegram | |
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| TELUS Network | |
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| Verizon Network | |
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17a-4 data connectors
Important
All partner third-party data connector configurations require a provisioned service principal for the partner application. This requirement isn't applicable for native Microsoft third-pary data connector configurations. We recommend working with your partners for details on the relevant Partner Application ID.
To provision a service principal using PowerShell, see Provision a service principal for partner third-party data connectors.
The table in this section lists the third-party data connectors available in partnership with 17a-4 LLC. The table also summarizes the compliance solutions that you can apply to third-party data after you import and archive it in Microsoft 365. See the Overview of compliance solutions that support third-party data section for a more detailed description of each compliance solution and how it supports third-party data.
Before you can archive third-party data in Microsoft 365, you have to work with 17a-4 LLC to set up their archiving service (called DataParser) for your organization. For more information, select the link in the Third-party data column to go the step-by-step instructions for creating a connector for that data type.
17a-4 data connectors are also available in GCC environments in the Microsoft 365 US Government cloud. For more information, see the Data connectors in the US Government cloud section in this article.
| Third-party data | Litigation hold | eDiscovery | Retention settings | Records management | Communication compliance | Insider risk management |
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| BlackBerry | |
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| Bloomberg | |
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| Cisco Jabber | |
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| Cisco Webex | |
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| FactSet | |
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| Fuze | |
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| FX Connect | |
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| ICE Chat | |
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| InvestEdge | |
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| LivePerson Conversational Cloud | |
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| Quip | |
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| Refinitiv Eikon Messenger | |
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| ServiceNow | |
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| Skype for Business Server | |
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| Slack | |
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| SQL | |
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| Symphony | |
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| Zoom | |
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CellTrust data connectors
Important
All partner third-party data connector configurations require a provisioned service principal for the partner application. This requirement isn't applicable for native Microsoft third-pary data connector configurations. We recommend working with your partners for details on the relevant Partner Application ID.
To provision a service principal using PowerShell, see Provision a service principal for partner third-party data connectors.
The table in this section lists the third-party data connector available in partnership with CellTrust. The table also summarizes the compliance solutions that you can apply to third-party data after you import and archive it in Microsoft 365. See the Overview of compliance solutions that support third-party data section for a more detailed description of each compliance solution and how it supports third-party data.
Before you can archive third-party data in Microsoft 365, you have to work with CellTrust to set up their archiving service (called CellTrust SL2) for your organization. For more information, select the link in the Third-party data column to go the step-by-step instructions for creating a CellTrust SL2 connector.
| Third-party data | Litigation hold | eDiscovery | Retention settings | Records management | Communication compliance | Insider risk management |
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| CellTrust SL2 | |
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The CellTrust SL2 data connector is also available in GCC environments in the Microsoft 365 US Government cloud. For more information, see the Data connectors in the US Government cloud section in this article.
Provision a service principal for partner third-party data connectors
For parter third-party data connectors, you must configure a service principal. We recommend working with your partners for details on the relevant Partner Application ID.
Complete the following steps to configure a service principal for your organization:
Open PowerShell and confirm the Azure ClI is installed:
az versionLogin with the administrator account for your organization:
az loginRun the following cmdlet to create the service principal for your organization:
az ad sp create --id <PartnerAppId>
Overview of Microsoft Purview solutions that support third-party data
The following sections describe some of the things that the Microsoft Purview solutions can help you to manage the third-party data listed in the previous table.
Litigation hold
You place a Litigation hold on a user mailbox to retain third-party data. When you create a hold, you can specify a hold duration (also called a time-based hold) so that deleted and modified third-party data is retained for a specified period and then permanently deleted from the mailbox. Or you can just retain content indefinitely (called an infinite hold) or until the Litigation hold is removed.
eDiscovery
The three primary eDiscovery tools in Microsoft 365 are Content search, Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Standard), and Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Premium).
- Content search. You can use the content search tool to search mailboxes for third-party data that you imported. You can use search queries and conditions to narrow your search results, and the export the search results.
- eDiscovery (Standard). This tool builds on the basic search and export functionality by enabling you to create cases that let you control who can access case data, place a hold on user mailboxes or mailbox content that matches search criteria. That means you can place an eDiscovery hold on the third-party data that was imported to user mailboxes.
- eDiscovery (Premium). This powerful tool expands the case functionality of eDiscovery (Standard) by letting you add custodians to a case, placing custodian's data on hold, and then loading a custodian's third-party data into a review for further analysis such as themes and duplicate detection. After you load third-party data into a review set, you can query and filter it to a narrow result set. Both eDiscovery (Standard) and eDiscovery (Premium) let you manage third-party data that may be relevant to your organization's legal or internal investigations.
Retention settings
You can apply a retention policy to user mailboxes to retain and then delete third-party data (and other mailbox content) after retention period expires. You can also use retention policies to delete third-party data of a certain age or use retention labels to trigger a disposition review when the retention period for third-party data expires.
Records management
The records management feature in Microsoft 365 lets you declare third-party data as a record. This can be done manually by users who apply a retention label that marks third-party data in their mailbox as record. Or you can auto-apply retention labels by identifying sensitive information, keywords, or content types in third-party data.
Communication compliance
You can use Communication compliance to examine third-party data to make sure it's compliant with your organization's data standards. You can do this by you detecting, capturing, and taking remediation actions for inappropriate messages in your organization. For example, you can monitor the third-party data that you import for offensive language, sensitive information, and regulatory compliance.
Insider risk management
Signals from third-party data, like selective HR data, can be used by the Insider risk management solution to minimize internal risks by letting you to detect, investigate, and act on risky activities in your organization. For example, data imported by the HR data connector is used as risk indicators to help detect departing employee data theft.
Using eDiscovery tools to search for third-party data
After you use data connectors to import and archive third-party data in user mailboxes, you can use Microsoft 365 eDiscovery tools to search for third-party data. You can also eDiscovery tools to create query-based holds associated with eDiscovery (Standard) and eDiscovery (Premium) cases to preserve third-party data. For more information about eDiscovery tools, see eDiscovery solutions in Microsoft 365.
To search for (or place a hold on) any type of third-party data that you've imported to user mailboxes using a data connector, you can use the following search query. Be sure to scope the search to user mailboxes.
kind:externaldata
You can use this query in the Keywords box for a Content search, a search associated with a eDiscovery (Standard) case, or a collection in eDiscovery (Premium).
You can also use the kind:externaldata property:value pair to narrow the scope of searches to third-party data. For example, to search for items imported from any third-party data source that contain the word contoso in the Subject property of the imported item, use the following query in the Keywords box:
subject:contoso AND kind:externaldata
Alternatively, you can use the Message kind condition to configure the same query.
To search for a specific type of archived third-party data, use the itemclass mailbox property in a search query. Use the following property:value format:
itemclass:ipm.externaldata.<third-party data type>
Every item imported by a third-party data connector includes the itemclass property with a value that corresponds to the third-party data type. For example, to search for Facebook data that contains the word contoso, in the Subject property of the imported item, use the following query:
subject:contoso AND itemclass:ipm.externaldata.facebook*
Here are a few examples for itemclass values for different types of third-party data.
| Third-party data type | Value for itemclass property |
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| Bloomberg Message | ipm.externaldata.bloombergmessage* |
| WhatsApp Archiver | ipm.externaldata.whatsapparchiver* |
Values for the itemclass property aren't case-sensitive. In general, use the name of the third-party data type (without spaces) followed by a wildcard ( * ) character.
For more information about creating eDiscovery search queries, see Keyword queries and search conditions for eDiscovery.
Data connectors in the US Government cloud
Some data connectors are available in the US Government cloud. The following sections indicate the specific government environments that support third-party data connectors. For more information about US Government clouds, see Microsoft 365 US Government.
TeleMessage data connectors in the US Government cloud
| Data connector | GCC | GCC High | DoD |
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| Android Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| AT&T SMS/MMS Network Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| Bell SMS/MMS Network Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| Enterprise Number Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| O2 SMS and Voice Network Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| Rogers Network Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| Signal Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| Telegram Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| TELUS SMS Network Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| Verizon SMS/MMS Network Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| WeChat Archiver | Yes | No | No |
| WhatsApp Archiver | Yes | No | No |
17a-4 data connectors in the US Government cloud
| Data connector | GCC | GCC High | DoD |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlackBerry DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Bloomberg DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Cisco Jabber DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Cisco Webex DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| FactSet DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Fuze DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| FX Connect DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| ICE DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| InvestEdge DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| LivePerson Conversational Cloud DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Quip DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Refinitiv Eikon Messenger DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| ServiceNow DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Skype for Business Server DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Slack DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| SQL DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Symphony DataParser | Yes | No | No |
| Zoom DataParser | Yes | No | No |
CellTrust data connectors in the US Government cloud
| Data connector | GCC | GCC High | DoD |
|---|---|---|---|
| CellTrust SL2 | Yes | No | No |
Working with a Microsoft partner to archive third-party data
Another option for importing and archiving third-party data is for your organization to work with a Microsoft Partner. If a third-party data type isn't supported by the data connectors available in the Microsoft Purview portal and the compliance portal, you can work with a partner who can provide a custom connector that will be configured to extract items from the third-party data source regularly and then connect to the Microsoft cloud by a third-party API and import those items to Microsoft 365. The partner connector also converts the content of an item from the third-party data source to an email message and then imports it to a mailbox in Microsoft 365.
For a list of partners that you can work with and the step-by-step process for this method, see Work with a partner to archive third-party data in Microsoft 365.