Microsoft Purview integration

Question

Could you let me know How to connect SharePoint, OneDrive and Exchange to Microsoft purview? These are my cloud applications and I want to connect it to purview for data discovery and classification.

I do see options to connect other cloud applications. However I am not sure about how to connect my cloud teams, sharepoint, exchange applications for data discovery and labeling.

Answer 1

Microsoft Purview connects to Microsoft 365 (SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Exchange Online, Teams) in a different way than it connects to external sources like AWS, Salesforce, or SQL databases. You do not manually connect Microsoft 365 workloads (SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Exchange Online, or Teams) to Purview like you do for external data sources. They are automatically integrated once Microsoft Purview Information Protection and Data Loss Prevention features are enabled in your tenant.

Integration Model: Built-in Microsoft 365 Data

Workload	Integration Type	What Purview Can Do
SharePoint Online	Built-in	Automatically scanned by Purview's data classification engine when files are stored or shared. Sensitivity labels and retention labels can be applied automatically or manually.
OneDrive for Business	Built-in	Same as SharePoint Online (since they share the same underlying service). Scanning, classification, and policy enforcement happen automatically.
Exchange Online	Built-in	Messages and attachments are analyzed for sensitive info; DLP and sensitivity labeling apply automatically.
Teams / Microsoft 365 Groups	Built-in (via SharePoint/Exchange storage)	Files shared in Teams chats go through OneDrive/SharePoint, messages through Exchange. All content inherits Purview controls from those services.

To enable and use Purview for M365 apps

1. Ensure Purview Compliance portal access Go to https://compliance.microsoft.com → You should see "Microsoft Purview" at the top.
2. Verify licensing You need Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance, or equivalent add-on for:
   • Information Protection (Sensitivity Labels)
   • Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
   • Data Classification
   • Insider Risk / Communication Compliance (if needed)
3. Activate Information Protection and Data Classification
   • In the Purview portal → Data classification → turn on the Content Explorer and Activity Explorer.
   • In Information Protection, define and publish sensitivity labels (e.g., "Confidential", "Public").
4. Automatic Discovery and Classification
   • Microsoft's built-in classifiers and sensitive info types start scanning data stored in SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange automatically.
   • You can view discovered items in Content Explorer within Purview.
5. Optional: Define auto-labeling policies
   • In Purview → Information protection → Auto-labeling policies Target specific locations: SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange.
   • These automatically classify and label data matching rules or sensitive info types.
6. For Teams
   • No direct connector needed. Teams stores chat messages in Exchange Online and shared files in SharePoint/OneDrive.
   • Labels and DLP policies applied to those locations cover Teams as well.

The "Connectors" you see in Purview Data Map (e.g., Azure SQL, AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, SAP, etc.) are for Microsoft Purview Data Catalog/Data Map — used for cataloging non-Microsoft data sources for unified governance. Microsoft 365 apps are governed automatically under Information Protection and Compliance, not through those connectors.

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hth

Marcin