MC1250283 - Sensitivity labels available soon for Viva Engage communities

Introduction

Starting March 31, 2026, Viva Engage communities will support Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels applied to Microsoft 365 groups and their connected SharePoint sites. This update aligns Engage community privacy and governance with existing Microsoft 365 labeling capabilities, helping organizations apply consistent privacy and access controls across all three surfaces.

When this will happen

General availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late March 2026 and expect to complete by early April 2026.

How this affects your organization

Who is affected

• Admins managing Viva Engage communities, Microsoft 365 groups, and SharePoint sites
• Organizations that use sensitivity labels or classification labels today

What will happen

• Viva Engage communities will support Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels assigned to the underlying Microsoft 365 group and connected SharePoint site:

   

• Labels and their access restrictions will synchronize across all three surfaces: Viva Engage, Microsoft 365 groups, and SharePoint.
• Existing Engage communities will not automatically receive sensitivity labels.
• Existing Engage classification labels in your tenant will not be automatically disabled.
• Tenant admins must manually apply labels to existing communities if they want to use this capability.

What you can do to prepare

Admin checklist:

• Review existing Viva Engage communities to determine the appropriate sensitivity label for each.
• Assess whether to continue using existing Engage classification labels or transition communities to sensitivity labels.
• Prepare PowerShell scripts to assign sensitivity labels to existing communities’ connected SharePoint sites once rollout completes.
• Notify helpdesk or governance teams that support labeling, provisioning, or access‑control workflows.
• Update internal documentation where you manage community governance or label usage.

Learn more: Use PowerShell to apply a sensitivity label to multiple sites - Use sensitivity labels to protect content in Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 groups, and SharePoint sites | Microsoft Purview | Microsoft Learn

Compliance considerations

No compliance considerations identified. Review as appropriate for your organization.