Stop guessing who can see it.
A label gives your team a shared way to distinguish everyday work from customer details, private employee records, and information approved for the public.
FREE DATA LABELING STARTER
Give your information
clear boundaries.
A public brochure and a payroll spreadsheet should not travel the same way. Start with a few clear labels that help your people know what they can share—and what needs more care.
Build my first labeling plan →No account neededNo file uploadsA plan you can download
WHY LABEL YOUR DATA?
Make the right choice easier.
Connect information to handling rules.
Agree on who approves sharing, where information belongs, and what to do when someone is unsure. Use the same words across teams.
Give your controls a starting point.
In Microsoft Purview, sensitivity labels can carry configured protections such as encryption. A label name alone does not restrict access. How Microsoft sensitivity labels work ↗
A SIMPLE STARTING VOCABULARY
Four labels. A shared understanding.
These are suggested names, not a mandatory standard. Match them to your organization’s existing policy if it has one.
Public
Approved for anyone to see.
Example: a published brochure.
Confirm approval before release.Internal
Routine information for people inside the business.
Example: general team procedures.
Keep within approved workspaces.Confidential
Information for specific people with a business need.
Example: customer contacts or a draft contract.
Review recipients and sharing permissions.Restricted
Highly sensitive information needing the tightest handling.
Example: payroll bank details or credentials.
Limit access and agree specific protections.START WITH ONE GROUP OF INFORMATION
What should you label first?
Think about a type of file or email, not its actual contents. Your answers stay in this page and disappear when you reload, unless you download your plan.
YOUR DRAFT STARTING POINT
Your labeling plan
How to handle this information
Your first week
Put the plan into practice
This tool suggests a classification; it does not inspect, label, or protect your files. Have the data owner confirm the result against your organization’s policy.
Start small. Make it usable.
Does labeling automatically protect a file?
No. Labels can identify sensitivity without applying protection. Your administrator must configure and test any encryption, access restrictions, or related policies you want to enforce. A filename or a colored badge is not an access control.
Will this keep information out of AI tools?
This starter does not change access or AI settings. Decide which information may be used in approved AI tools, then verify permissions and the protection controls supported by each tool. Do not assume a label alone blocks AI access.
Is this the same as retention or training AI?
No. Sensitivity labels describe how carefully information should be handled. Retention rules address how long to keep it. Annotating examples for AI training is a separate kind of data labeling.
How do I get started in Microsoft 365?
Ask your administrator to check feature licensing, define labels and handling rules, and publish a label policy to a small pilot group. Test ordinary work and external sharing before expanding. Microsoft’s rollout guidance ↗
Microsoft references reviewed September 30, 2026. The four-label vocabulary and first-week exercise are WAPCITI starting suggestions.