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Summary
When you open a new email in Outlook or create a new Word document, you might notice a new button that forces you to choose a "Sensitivity Label" (like Public, General, or Confidential). These labels don't add text to the document—they apply real, underlying security rules to protect the data. This guide explains how to choose the right label and what happens when you do.
Before You Start
- You must be using Microsoft 365 apps (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
Instructions
1. Where to Find Sensitivity Labels
You can apply a label to an email while you are writing it, or to a document while you are editing it.
- In Outlook (Desktop): Click the Message tab at the top. Look for the Sensitivity button (it usually has an icon of a lock or a tag).
- In Word/Excel/PowerPoint: Look on the Home tab for the Sensitivity button on the far right side of the ribbon.
- Note: Many companies now force you to choose a label before you are allowed to click Send or Save. If a message is still blocked after you choose a label, the block is coming from a separate content scan — see Understanding DLP: Why Can't I Send This Email?.
2. Choosing the Right Label
Labels differ by company, and the four tiers below are the pattern almost all of them follow.
Your company's IT and Legal departments define the exact labels, but they generally follow this structure:
- Public: Information that is already on your company's public website. (e.g., A press release). Security applied: None.
- General / Internal: Standard day-to-day business data that isn't particularly sensitive but shouldn't be posted on Twitter. (e.g., A cafeteria menu or a team meeting agenda). Security applied: Often adds a watermark or footer.
- Confidential: Sensitive business data. (e.g., Unreleased product designs, internal financial reports). Security applied: Usually encrypts the file and prevents it from being sent to external email addresses like @gmail.com.
- Highly Confidential / Restricted: The most sensitive data in the company. (e.g., Social Security Numbers, exact employee salaries, merger and acquisition plans). Security applied: Strictly limits exactly who can open the file, disables the "Print" button, and disables "Copy/Paste."
3. What Happens When You Label a Document?
When you apply a label, the security travels with the file, no matter where it goes.
If you label an Excel file as Highly Confidential and a coworker accidentally emails it to a competitor, the competitor will not be able to open the file. When they double-click it, Microsoft will check their email address, see they are not authorized, and block access to the data.
4. Changing a Label
If you realize a document was labeled incorrectly, you can usually change it.
- Click the Sensitivity button again.
- Select the new label.
- If you are downgrading a label (e.g., moving it from Confidential down to Public), a pop-up window will appear asking you to type a justification for why you are removing the security. This justification is logged for compliance audits.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom / Error | Potential Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| "You don't have permission to open this file" | Label restriction | The creator of the file applied a strict label that does not include your department. Ask them to change it |
| Cannot send an email to a client | Labeled "Internal Only" | If you label an email as Internal Only, Outlook will physically block it from being sent to an external client |
| The Print button is grayed out | Highly Confidential | This is an intentional security feature. You cannot print highly restricted documents |
"Your organization requires you to label this item"
This message is a company policy doing its job, not a fault. Microsoft calls it mandatory labeling: your organization has told Office that work here carries a label, so the app asks for one before it lets you carry on.
When it appears depends on what you are doing:
- Word, Excel and PowerPoint ask when you open or save an unlabeled file. If the prompt arrives on open, you can apply a label or choose to open the file read-only instead.
- Outlook asks at the moment you send an unlabeled message, so the email waits in front of you rather than going out unclassified.
Pick the label that matches the data — the four tiers in Choosing the Right Label are what to match it against — and the prompt clears. Two things worth knowing afterwards:
- You can change a label later, but while this policy is on you cannot strip a label off entirely.
- If your organization has set a default label, Office applies it for you and the prompt does not appear at all.
If the message returns after you apply a label, or the label list is empty when it opens, ask IT which label policy is assigned to your account and whether it has finished reaching your version of Office. If the label applies cleanly and the message still refuses to send, the block is a separate content scan — see Understanding DLP: Why Can't I Send This Email?.