MC393184: Records Management – Configure a record label to start unlocked for user-driven records declaration

Coming soon to general availability, we are introducing a new capability to better manage the lifecycle of documents labeled as a record. This feature enables Records Management administrators to create retention labels that will mark contents in SharePoint and OneDrive as records but will not be “locked” (restricted for edits) until a user manually locks it. This will help customers who use automatic or default labeling of content which includes documents in a draft state which are not yet final and will need to become a locked record until they reach this stage of their lifecycle. This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 88509.

Organizations sometimes need the ability to declare a file as a record after a period of collaboration. This update allows records managers to apply a record label to content but allow collaboration. Users can then toggle a switch when ready to lock the file and prevent edits.

When this will happen

Rollout will begin in late July and is expected to be complete by mid-August.

How this will affect your organization

Records Management administrators can still choose to create record labels that start as a locked record, as has been the case until now. This new configuration of a record label can be set from the retention label creation experience that currently exists in the Records Management solution of the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

Currently, items marked as a record in SharePoint or OneDrive are locked by default and users must unlock them to generate a new version before editing it. With this update, users can assign this new type of record label to content that will classify it with the appropriate retention label but will provide the flexibility to edit the content until they manually lock it (when the document is deemed to be finalized).

This change does not impact the restrictions applied to the file while the record is unlocked, and all behaviors documented as to what actions are allowed or blocked still apply.

What you need to do to prepare

There is nothing you need to do to receive this feature and it will not affect your existing record labels. You may consider updating any training or reference material for your Records Management administrators and evaluate if you would like to use this new capability.

You can access the Records Management solution here:

• Microsoft Purview compliance portal for WW and GCC cloud environments
• Microsoft Purview compliance portal for GCC-High cloud environments
• Microsoft Purview compliance portal for DoD cloud environments

Learn more

• Microsoft Docs > Microsoft 365 > Manage data lifecycle & records > Get started with records management

Message ID: MC393184
Published: 16 June 2022
Updated: 16 June 2022