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Labeling activities that are available in Activity explorer

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Sensitivity label applied

This event is generated each time an unlabeled document is labeled or an email is sent with a sensitivity label.

  • It's captured when saved in native Microsoft Office applications and web applications.
  • It's captured when a label is applied for the Microsoft Purview Information Protection client.
  • Upgrade and downgrade labels actions can also be monitored via the Label event type field and filter.
Source Reported in Activity explorer Note
Word, Excel, PowerPoint Yes
Outlook Yes If a sensitivity label has been applied to any email in an email thread, the same label is automatically applied to subsequent replies on the thread. These labeling events appear in activity explorer as automatic labeling events, even when automatic labeling hasn't been configured.
SharePoint, OneDrive Yes
Exchange Yes
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client and scanner Yes The new label action is mapped to label applied in activity explorer
Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) SDK Yes The new label action is mapped to label applied in activity explorer
Rights Management Service (RMS) Not applicable
Power BI desktop and web No Accessible in the Microsoft 365 audit logs
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps No

Sensitivity label changed

This event is generated each time a sensitivity label is updated on the document or email.

  • For the Microsoft Purview Information Protection client and scanner, and MIP SDK sources, the upgrade label and downgrade label action maps to Activity explorer label changed.
  • It's captured when the action is saved in native Microsoft Office applications and web applications.
  • It's captured when the action occurs for the Microsoft Purview Information Protection client and scanner enforcements.
  • Upgrade and downgrade labels actions can also be monitored via the Label event type field and filter. The justification text is also captured, except for SharePoint and OneDrive.
  • Sensitivity labeling in Microsoft Office apps: Outlook collects the last action that was generated before file save/email send actions. For example, if the user changes label on an email multiple times before sending, the last label found on the email when it is sent is captured in the audit log and then reported in activity explorer.
Source Reported in Activity explorer Note
Word, Excel, PowerPoint Yes
Outlook Yes
SharePoint, OneDrive Yes
Exchange Yes
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client Yes
Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner Yes
MIP SDK Yes
RMS service Not applicable
Power BI desktop and Web No Accessible in the Microsoft 365 audit logs
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps No

Sensitivity label removed

This event is generated each time a sensitivity label is removed from a file or document.

  • This event is captured when the document is saved in Microsoft Office applications and web applications.
  • It's captured when the label is removed for the Microsoft Purview Information Protection client.
  • Sensitivity labeling in Microsoft Office: Outlook collects the last labeling event that was generated before file save/email send actions.
Source Reported in Activity explorer Note
Word, Excel, PowerPoint Yes
Outlook Yes
SharePoint, OneDrive Yes
Exchange Yes
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client Yes The remove label action is mapped to the label removed action in activity explorer
Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner Yes The remove label action is mapped to the label removed action in activity explorer
MIP SDK Yes The remove label action is mapped to the label removed action in activity explorer
RMS service Not applicable
Power BI desktop and Web No Accessible in the Microsoft 365 audit logs
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps No

Sensitivity label file read

This event is generated each time a sensitivity labeled or protected document is opened.

Source Reported in Activity explorer Note
Word, Excel, PowerPoint Yes
Outlook No
SharePoint, OneDrive No
Exchange No
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client Yes The access action is mapped to the file read action in activity explorer
Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner Yes The access action is mapped to the file read action in activity explorer
MIP SDK Yes The access action is mapped to the file read action in activity explorer
RMS service Yes The access action is mapped to the file read action in activity explorer
Power BI desktop and Web No Accessible in the Microsoft 365 audit logs
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps No

Files discovered

This event is generated each time files are discovered when the Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner is used for scanning sensitive data in various locations and finds files.

Source Reported in Activity explorer Note
Word, Excel, PowerPoint Not applicable
Outlook Not applicable
SharePoint, OneDrive Not applicable
Exchange Not applicable
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client Not applicable
Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner Yes The discover action is mapped to the files discovered action in activity explorer
MIP SDK Yes The discover action is mapped to the file discovered action in Activity explorer
RMS service Not applicable
Power BI desktop and Web Not applicable
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Not applicable

Sensitivity label file renamed

This event is generated each time a document with a sensitivity label is renamed.

Source Reported in Activity explorer Note
Word, Excel, PowerPoint Yes
Outlook Not applicable
SharePoint, OneDrive No
Exchange Not applicable
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client No
Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner No
MIP SDK No
RMS service No
Power BI desktop and Web No
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps No

File removed

This event is generated each time the Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner detects that a previously scanned file has been removed.

Source Reported in Activity explorer Note
Word, Excel, PowerPoint Not applicable
Outlook Not applicable
SharePoint, OneDrive Not applicable
Exchange Not applicable
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client Not applicable
Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner Yes
MIP SDK Not applicable
RMS service Not applicable
Power BI desktop and Web Not applicable
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Not applicable

Protection applied

This event is generated the first-time protection is added manually to an item that doesn't have a label.

Source Reported in Activity explorer Note
Word, Excel, PowerPoint No
Outlook No
SharePoint, OneDrive Not applicable
Exchange No
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client Yes
Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner Not applicable
MIP SDK Yes
RMS service Not applicable
Power BI desktop and Web Not applicable
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Not applicable

Protection changed

This event is generated each time the protection on an unlabeled document is changed manually.

Source Reported in Activity explorer
Word, Excel, PowerPoint No
Outlook No
SharePoint, OneDrive Not applicable
Exchange No
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client Yes
Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner Not applicable
MIP SDK Yes
RMS service Not applicable
Power BI desktop and Web Not applicable
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Not applicable

Protection removed

This event is generated each time the protection on an unlabeled document is changed manually.

Source Reported in Activity explorer
Word, Excel, PowerPoint No
Outlook No
SharePoint, OneDrive Not applicable
Exchange No
Microsoft Purview Information Protection client Yes
Microsoft Purview Information Protection scanner Not applicable
MIP SDK Yes
RMS service Not applicable
Power BI desktop and Web Not applicable
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Not applicable

DLP policy matched

This event is generated each time a DLP policy is matched on a document or an email.

Source Reported in Activity explorer
Exchange Yes
SharePoint Yes
OneDrive Yes
Teams Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, and macOS devices Yes
MAC No
On-premises No
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps No

The Endpoint DLP events for devices running Windows 10, Windows 11, and any of the three most recently released major versions of macOS are:

  • File deleted
  • File created
  • File copied to clipboard
  • File modified
  • File read
  • File printed
  • File renamed
  • File copied to network share
  • File accessed by unallowed app

Retention label applied

This event is generated each time an unlabeled document is labeled or an email is sent with a retention label.

  • It's captured at the time of save for a document and at time of sending for an email.
Source Reported in Activity explorer
Exchange No
SharePoint Yes
OneDrive Yes

Retention label changed

This event is generated each time a label is updated on a document or email.

  • It's captured at the time of save for a document and at time of sending for an email.
Source Reported in Activity explorer
Exchange No
SharePoint Yes
OneDrive Yes

Retention label removed

This event is generated each time a label is removed from a file or document.

  • It's captured at the time of save for a document and at time of sending for an email.
Source Reported in Activity explorer
Exchange No
SharePoint Yes
OneDrive Yes

Known issues

  • When the recommended label tool tip is shown to an end user, it isn't captured. However, if the user chooses to apply the recommended label, the label is shown under the How applied field as Recommended.

  • Justification text isn't currently available when downgrading sensitivity labels from SharePoint and OneDrive.

  • Sensitive information types are currently not available for autolabeling activities from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive.