Guest Users are not able to change labels on files

Question

Hi Community

Once more we need your help.

In Microsoft Purview Information Protection we have got several sensitivity labels in place. We have got:

Public (accessible for anyone, can be sent by mail to any recipient)

Internal (accessible only for internal users)

External (accessible for all internal users and our IT partner)

Confidential (accessible only for a group of people inside our company)

Basically they work fine. Here's our problem:

We would like our partner (they can only access files that are labeled with the specific label "External") with their accounts to be able to remove or change a label of a file. Sometimes they have to send a file to a third party partner via e-mail and therefore they need to remove/change the label. We even configure owner rights on the specific label for them but this doesn't help.

Can anybody help us out on how to configure this to achieve our goal?

Thank you very much!

Regards,

Thomas

Answer 1

@Thomas Lenz

Greetings & Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum! Thanks for posting your query!

It sounds like you’re encountering an issue with external partners being unable to change or remove the "External" label from files, even though they have been assigned owner rights on the label. This is a common challenge when working with Microsoft Purview Information Protection and sensitivity labels, especially when guest or external users are involved.

Here are few considerations to check which might help you:

Assign them as internal users - If possible, convert their accounts to internal users within your organization, which would grant them the necessary permissions to manage sensitivity labels.

Review Label Policy Settings - Ensure that your label policies allow external users to modify or remove labels. There might be restrictions in place that prevent guest users from altering labels, even if they have owner rights.

Permissions beyond Owner Rights - While granting owner rights on the label gives them some control, it might not be sufficient for them to modify or remove labels. You may need to adjust permissions to allow external users to perform these actions on labeled files.

Access Control - Even if they have access to the file, make sure their permissions are configured correctly both at the label level and at the file access level. There could be access control settings that prevent them from altering the label.

Test with a New External User - Sometimes, the issue may stem from specific configurations or the way external users are set up. Testing with a new external user might help identify if it’s a broader issue with guest user permissions.

For additional information, please refer the following Microsoft documentations:

• Sensitivity label change enforcement
• Support for external users and labeled content

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.

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