Configuring automatic retention using file plan descriptors – Microsoft SC-400 Certification
By Isabella Morgan / June 11, 2023 / No Comments / ADDITIONAL RESOURCES, IBM and Microsoft Exams
The configuration of a retention policy using file plan descriptors is more advanced than using any of the other available methods, thus it is more customizable than the others but has its limitations as it is more complex to administer. The query language used is Keyword Query Language (KQL) in Microsoft SharePoint; for more information on the query language itself, please refer to the following URL:https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/general-development/keyword-query-language-kql-syntax-reference.
The steps outlined in this section will help us construct a query using file plan descriptors for automatic retention:
- Select the label you wish to use for this scenario and select the Auto-apply a label option:

Figure 12.21 – The Auto-apply a label option presented on the label
2. Give the policy a name and an admin description accordingly.
3. On the Info to label step, select the Apply label to content that contains specific words or phrases, or properties option, as highlighted in Figure 12.22:

Figure 12.22 – The Apply label to content that contains specific words or phrases, or properties option selected
4. This brings us to the KQL editor. The following query contains typical keywords that are usually present in documents or emails for human resources (HR):
(resume AND staff AND employee AND salary AND recruitment AND candidate)
5. Enter your query in the window on the screen, as highlighted in Figure 12.23:

Figure 12.23 – The KQL query in place in the query editor
6. Proceeding with the wizard, we are now on familiar turf once more. Here, we need to select the locations of the information that we are looking for with our query and can explicitly include or exclude individuals from the policy itself:

Figure 12.24 – Selecting the locations for the retention policy
7. After selecting the label we started with, we can now finish the creation of our policy using KQL:

Figure 12.25 – Click Submit to create the KQL-driven policy
And with that, we have configured a policy to look for HR data using KQL. Up next, we will look at how to implement in-place records management in Microsoft SharePoint.