What is Azure Information Protection?

Note

Are you looking for Microsoft Purview Information Protection, formerly Microsoft Information Protection (MIP)?

The Azure Information Protection add-in for Office is now in maintenance mode and will be retired April 2024. Instead, we recommend you use labels that are built in to your Office 365 apps and services. Learn more about the support status of other Azure Information Protection components.

Azure Information Protection (AIP) is part of Microsoft Purview Information Protection (formerly Microsoft Information Protection or MIP). Microsoft Purview Information Protection helps you discover, classify, protect, and govern sensitive information wherever it lives or travels.

AIP extends the labeling and classification functionality provided by Microsoft Purview with the following capabilities:

AIP also provides the encryption service, Azure Rights Management, that's used by Microsoft Purview Information Protection.

For a comprehensive list of capabilities from Microsoft Purview Information Protection, see Protect your sensitive data with Microsoft Purview.

AIP unified labeling client

The Azure Information Protection unified labeling client extends labeling, classification, and protection capabilities to additional file types, as well as to File Explorer and PowerShell.

For example, in File Explorer, right-click one or more files and select Classify and protect to manage the AIP functionality on the selected files.

Classify and protect from the File Explorer

Download the client from the Microsoft Azure Information Protection download page.

On-premises scanner

The on-premises scanner enables administrators to scan their on-premises file repositories for sensitive content that must be labeled, classified, and/or protected.

The on-premises scanner is installed using PowerShell cmdlets provided as part of the unified labeling client, and can be managed using PowerShell and the information protection scanner area in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

For example, configure the content scan job setting for the on-premises scanner within the Microsoft Purview compliance portal:

Screenshot of how to configure content scan jobs on information protection scanner.

For more information, see:

Download the scanner installation together with the client from the Microsoft Azure Information Protection download page.

Microsoft Information Protection SDK

The Microsoft Information Protection SDK extends sensitivity labels to third-party apps and services. Developers can use the SDK to build built-in support for applying labels and protection to files.

For example, you might use the MIP SDK for:

  • A line-of-business application that applies sensitivity labels to files on export.
  • A CAD/CAM design application that provides support for built-in labeling.
  • A cloud access security broker or data loss prevention solution that reasons over data encrypted with Azure Information Protection.

For more information, see the Microsoft Information Protection SDK overview.

Next steps

To get started with AIP, download and install the unified labeling client and scanner.

Get familiar with AIP using our initial tutorials:

When you're ready to customize AIP further, see Admin Guide: Custom configurations for the Azure Information Protection unified labeling client.

To get started with the MIP SDK, see Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) SDK setup and configuration.

Additional resources

Resource Links and description
Subscription options and licensing guidance Microsoft 365 licensing guidance for security & compliance
FAQs and known issues Frequently asked questions for Azure Information Protection
Known issues - Azure Information Protection
Support options Support options for Azure Information Protection
Yammer Information protection team
Release management and supportability AIP unified labeling client - Release management and supportability

See also:
- Removed and retired services
- What's new in Microsoft Purview risk and compliance solutions
- Microsoft 365 roadmap

Top Ignite sessions

See the following recorded sessions from Ignite 2020: