Compliance Problems

Can Built-In Sensitive Information Types Be Disabled in Microsoft Purview?

Ayan Masood Oct 13, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user wants to know if they can disable, hide, or delete built-in sensitive information types in Microsoft Purview to prevent false positives.

Can Built-In Sensitive Information Types Be Disabled in Microsoft Purview?

Product: Microsoft Purview
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Managing organizational compliance policies and adjusting default sensitive information patterns for specific industries.
Observed behavior: The built-in sensitive information types generate false positives, and the option to delete or disable them is unavailable in the interface.

Before you start

Ensure you have Compliance Administrator or Security Administrator permissions in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal before attempting to manage data classifiers and sensitive information types.

Solution 1Recommended

Customize or Create Custom Sensitive Information Types

Since built-in sensitive information types cannot be deleted or hidden, the recommended workaround is to adjust copies of them or create custom types for your compliance policies.

Microsoft Purview locks built-in sensitive information types to ensure baseline compliance features remain intact across the tenant. If these default patterns generate false positives for your specific organization or region, you must modify a copy of the built-in type or create a new one from scratch to use in your policies instead.

Access the Compliance Portal

Navigate to Data Classification

On the left navigation pane, select 'Data classification', then click on the 'Classifiers' tab.

Open Sensitive Info Types

Click on 'Sensitive info types' to view the list of both built-in and custom classifiers.

Copy and Customize

Select the problematic built-in type and use the copy function to create an editable version. Adjust its confidence levels, primary patterns, or supporting elements to better fit your organizational needs and reduce false positives.

Update Compliance Policies

Once your customized or new sensitive information type is ready, update your Data Loss Prevention (DLP) or other compliance policies to use this new custom type instead of the default built-in one.

Customize or Create Custom Sensitive Information Types

Submit Product Feedback: If you strongly require the ability to completely disable or hide default built-in types from your environment, Microsoft recommends submitting product feedback through the Purview portal as this feature is currently unsupported.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the delete option greyed out for sensitive info types in Purview?

Microsoft Purview prevents the deletion of built-in sensitive information types to maintain baseline functionality and default policy templates across the platform. You can only delete custom types that you or your administrators have created.

How can I reduce false positives in my Purview DLP policies?

To reduce false positives, copy the built-in sensitive information type and increase its confidence level requirements, or add more specific supporting elements (like precise keywords, context, or checksums) to narrow down the matching criteria.

Does creating a custom sensitive information type automatically affect existing policies?

No. Creating a new custom sensitive information type will not impact your existing policies until you actively edit those policies and configure them to use the newly created custom type instead of the built-in defaults.

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