Auto-Labeling for specific sites only

Question

Auto-Labeling for specific sites only

Mark Sannuti (C-Admin) 175

Our company uses one domain url : https://mycompany.sharepoint.com

I want only specific sites to auto label files containing PII, but they all start with , https://mycompany.sharepoint.com

If I add the following url to the auto labeling policy, https://mycompany.sharepoint/sites/site1

will the site url, https://mycompany.sharepoint/sites/site2 also have auto labeling enabled without adding /sites/site2 to the policy?

My goal would be too have, sites/site2 with no auto labeling capabilities and sites/site1 with auto labeling capabilities.

Hope that makes sense.

Accepted answer

0 additional answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Smaran Thoomu 29,415 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Mark Sannuti (C-Admin)
In Microsoft Purview auto-labeling policies the scope is evaluated against the exact locations you configure. If you add https://mycompany.sharepoint.com/sites/site1 as the location, the policy will only apply to that site collection. It will not automatically cascade to other site collections like /sites/site2, unless you explicitly include them.

So in your case:

/sites/site1 → Auto-labeling enabled (since you added it).

/sites/site2 → Auto-labeling not applied (since it’s not in scope).

This allows you to control which sites are subject to auto-labeling. If you need fine-grained control at the library or folder level, keep in mind that Purview currently supports scoping at the site (collection) level, not below.

Docs for reference: Configure auto-labeling policies.

Hope this helps. If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

Mark Sannuti (C-Admin) 175 Reputation points

2025-08-20T12:41:12.3933333+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I thought the same that when you put in the scope in the auto labeling policy it would only work in that specific URL (documents) , however, that is not the case. I'm not sure if it is the way SP is configured, but I can auto label in /sites/site2 and it is not in the policy. Could this be a flaw in MS Purview or could there be additional configurations? Seems it may be basing it on the lowest URL Domain, https://mycompany.sharepoint.com?
Smaran Thoomu 29,415 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-08-20T19:22:45.7366667+00:00
Mark Sannuti (C-Admin) By design, auto-labeling policies in Microsoft Purview should only apply to the specific SharePoint Online site collections you target in the policy. If your scope /sites/site1, the expectation is that /sites/site2 remains unaffected unless explicitly included.

If you’re seeing labels being applied in /sites/site2 even though it’s not in scope, a few things to double-check:

Reopen the auto-labeling policy in the Purview compliance portal and confirm whether the SharePoint location is listed at the site collection level (/sites/site1) and not at the root (mycompany.sharepoint.com).

Sometimes, if the broader root domain is selected at the start, it can include all sites under it.

Verify if there are any other sensitivity label policies configured that include the entire SharePoint domain or “all locations.” Overlapping policies can make it appear like /sites/site2 is covered by the same rule.

Auto-labeling can take some time to propagate. If a previous configuration included /sites/site2 and you’ve since updated the policy, labeling activity may still reflect the older scope until policy sync completes.

The intended behavior is site-specific, not domain-wide. If, after checking policy scope and overlaps, the issue persists, this may require a support case with Microsoft to verify whether it’s a Purview configuration issue or a product bug.

I would suggest confirming the exact scope in the Compliance Portal and checking for overlapping policies. If you’re certain the scope is correct and /sites/site2 is still getting auto-labeling applied, it’s best to raise a support request with Microsoft for deeper investigation.

Hope this helps. If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
Mark Sannuti (C-Admin) 175 Reputation points

2025-08-22T15:14:46.8966667+00:00

This was a strange one, but it turns out as I aspected the our Dev tenant setup is different from the Prod set up. Not sure what configurations are different, but the scope functionality in the policy works as expected in our prod environment. Thanks for sending the documentation as well.

Share via

Auto-Labeling for specific sites only

0 additional answers

Your answer