Forum Discussion
Auto-Apply Sensitivity Label
_simon22 There are two ways to auto label content in Microsoft 365.
You have created a client-side auto-labeling for a specific sensitivity label. This will automatically apply a label based on the rules when the user creates or edits content after the auto-labeling is set up. It requires the user to interact with the content. For example, if you create a new document, edit an existing document, or send or forward an email, and it matches the rules, then it will be automatically labeled. If your file was created before auto-labeling was set up and you have not edited it since, the file is not labeled.
If you want to label content that is already saved (in SharePoint or OneDrive) or emailed (processed by Exchange Online), then you need to set up an auto-labelling policy. This does not need the user to interact with the file
Full details Automatically apply a sensitivity label to Microsoft 365 data | Microsoft Learn
You may have already checked this, but does your data have a mandatory label applied? Autolabeling doesn't override a manual assigned label.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/apply-sensitivity-label-automatically