Can You Change the 'Select a Label' Text in Microsoft Office?
Question details
Administrators want to know if they can customize the default "Select a label" text displayed in the sensitivity-label dialog.
- Product
- Microsoft Office
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Configuring organization-wide data protection and compliance policies for documents and emails.
- Observed behavior
- The application displays a mandatory "Select a label" message that administrators currently cannot edit or customize.
Check if your organization uses Microsoft Purview Information Protection and ensure you have the necessary administrator privileges to manage compliance settings.
Handling the Default Sensitivity Label Prompt
Understand the limitations of the built-in Microsoft Purview prompt and discover what can be customized instead.
The "Select a label" message is a built-in product design element. It serves as a strict reminder for users to apply mandatory organizational sensitivity labels before saving or sending a file. Currently, Microsoft does not provide a native option to alter this specific UI text.
Log in to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal to manage your overall label policies, even though the dialog text itself cannot be altered.
While the main prompt is fixed, you can customize the actual label names (e.g., 'Confidential', 'Public') and their hover descriptions to provide specific guidance to your users.
If modifying the 'Select a label' text is critical for your organization's workflow, submit a formal feature request to Microsoft via the Microsoft 365 admin center or the Feedback portal.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of the 'Select a label' prompt in Office?
This prompt is generated by Microsoft Purview Information Protection to ensure users apply a mandatory sensitivity label to their files and emails, helping organizations enforce strict data security policies.
Can I change the actual names of the sensitivity labels?
Yes. Although the main 'Select a label' dialog text cannot be modified, administrators can fully customize the names, descriptions, and colors of the individual sensitivity labels within the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.
Why can't administrators customize built-in UI text in Office?
Certain user interface elements, like the mandatory compliance labeling prompt, are hard-coded into the Microsoft Office application to maintain consistency and ensure standard compliance behavior across all enterprise environments.
