We are introducing a new option for the action that can be taken on an item at the end of its retention period. This feature will enable you to manage the lifecycle of an item by specifying different retention settings for each phase of an item’s lifecycle.
This feature introduces a new action in the retention label creation wizard named “Change the label”. Choosing this option for a label will automatically apply a new label, and label settings when the item reaches the end of its retention period.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 88827.
When an item reaches the end of its retention period a new label can be automatically applied. This feature is useful for multi-stage retention when there are different retention settings in each phase of a file’s lifecycle.
When this will happen
Rollout will begin in early July and is expected to be complete by end of August.
How this will affect your organization
For many organizations, the lifecycle of a file or email is not comprised of a single phase. Instead, multiple stages require different restrictions and retention settings. To enable automatic management of each phase of an item’s lifecycle, we’re introducing the ability to link multiple retention labels together. This capability provides the ability to configure multi-stage retention.
If you’d like to automatically apply another label when a retention period is completed for an item, create a new retention label. In the Retention settings step, under the ‘At the end of the retention period’ section, select the “Change the label” action. You’ll then be asked to choose an existing retention label to apply at the end of the retention period.
It is also possible to use this feature for more than two sequential phases of retention. For example, let’s say Label A has the action ‘Change the label’ at the end of its retention period, and Label B is selected as the next label. Label B can also use the action ‘Change the label’ and select Label C as the next label. Note that at the time of creating and configuring Label A, Label B must already exist to appear under the action ‘Change the label’. Likewise, at the time of creating Label B, Label C must already exist to be used under the action ‘Change the label’.
What you need to do to prepare
No action is needed to enable this change. However, you may want to communicate this change to your administrators or team responsible for Records Management at your organization.
Access the Records Management solution in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal:
- 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
To learn more about supported scenarios and cases, please visit our documentation: Configure retention settings to automatically retain or delete content
Message ID: MC397450
Published: 05 July 2022
Updated: 05 July 2022
