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Adaptive Scopes

Adaptive Scopes is a Microsoft Purview feature that targets retention and compliance policies dynamically, using queries against user, site, or Microsoft 365 Group attributes instead of static location lists. The queries run daily, so policy coverage adjusts automatically as people change roles, sites are created, and groups evolve, with no manual policy edits required. Three scope types cover users, SharePoint sites, and Microsoft 365 Groups, each with its own set of attributes.
Related Features
Preservation Hold Library, Retention Labels, Retention Policies

Common Use Cases

  • Department-based retention: define an adaptive scope targeting all SharePoint sites where the department attribute equals Legal, automatically including new Legal sites without policy edits
  • Role-based compliance: scope eDiscovery holds or retention policies for all users with a specific job title or license type, dynamically adjusting as HR makes role changes
  • Geography compliance: target data residency or retention policies to all sites in a specific region attribute, supporting GDPR or data sovereignty requirements
  • M365 Group lifecycle: scope policies to all M365-connected team sites, automatically capturing newly created groups that match defined criteria
  • Sensitive team targeting: apply strict retention to all sites tagged with a specific sensitivity label or classification attribute at the site level

Benefits

  • Self-maintaining policies: as users join, leave, or change roles, adaptive scopes automatically adjust policy coverage without admin intervention
  • Reduced administration: eliminates the need to manually add new sites or users to static policy lists, reducing compliance gaps from delayed updates
  • Attribute flexibility: scopes can query Entra ID attributes such as department, country, and job title, or SharePoint site properties for highly targeted coverage
  • Simulation mode: test adaptive scope queries before deployment to verify which locations will be captured, reducing misconfiguration risk
  • Scales with growth: as organizations add sites or users, adaptive scopes grow automatically, particularly valuable in large or rapidly changing tenants

How It Works

  • Reusable query: an adaptive scope is attached to a policy for retention or communication compliance, and the policy applies to whatever the query matches
  • Three scope types: Users covers Exchange mailboxes, OneDrive, and Teams chats; SharePoint sites covers sites and OneDrive; Microsoft 365 Groups covers group mailboxes, sites, and Teams channel messages
  • User scopes: query Entra ID attributes such as department, job title, office, country or region, and Exchange custom attributes
  • Site scopes: query Site URL, Site name, and custom RefinableString00-99 managed properties
  • Group scopes: query name, display name, description, email addresses, alias, and custom attributes
  • Daily evaluation: queries run once a day against the directory, so membership updates automatically with no admin action
  • Many-to-many reuse: one policy can use multiple adaptive scopes, and one scope can be reused across multiple policies

Limits and Nuances

  • Directory data quality: scopes are only as good as your Entra ID attributes and site properties, and a typo in a value silently returns an empty scope, so verify results in Scope details
  • Not real-time: queries run once daily, and a new scope can take up to five days to fully populate; wait before attaching it to a policy
  • Licensing: Adaptive Scopes require Microsoft 365 E5 or equivalent Purview compliance licensing; matched users without a qualifying license do not get the policy applied
  • Adaptive or static, not both: you choose the scope approach when creating a policy and cannot mix the two types in one policy
  • No Preservation Lock: adaptive scopes do not support it; use static scopes where a regulatory lock is required
  • Query limits: 200 characters per attribute value, 10 attributes or groups per query, and 10,000 characters in an advanced query
  • Site scope defaults: SharePoint site scopes include OneDrive and group-connected sites by default; filter with the SiteTemplate property in KeyQL to include or exclude site types
  • Permissions: creating a scope requires the Scope Manager role, included in Compliance Administrator, Records Management, and Organization Management role groups

Common Questions About Adaptive Scopes

What are Adaptive Scopes in Microsoft Purview?

Adaptive Scopes are dynamic, query-based targeting rules for Microsoft Purview policies. Instead of picking specific users, sites, or groups by hand, you define a query against attributes such as department, site URL, or group name. The query runs daily, so retention and compliance policies automatically follow organizational changes without anyone editing the policy.

How are adaptive scopes different from static scopes?

A static scope is a fixed list of locations you select when creating the policy, and it only changes when an admin edits it. An adaptive scope is a saved query that re-evaluates membership every day. Static scopes are simpler and support Preservation Lock; adaptive scopes scale better and avoid the gaps that appear when nobody updates the list.

How quickly do adaptive scope changes take effect?

Scope queries run once daily, so attribute changes in Entra ID typically appear within a day. A newly created scope, however, can take up to five days to fully populate its membership. Microsoft recommends waiting a few days after creating a scope before attaching it to a policy, and verifying membership in the Scope details view.

What license is required for Adaptive Scopes?

Adaptive Scopes require Microsoft 365 E5 or equivalent Microsoft Purview compliance licensing, such as the E5 Compliance add-on. Users who match the query but lack a qualifying license do not get the policy applied to them, which is worth checking whenever the member count in Scope details looks higher than expected.

Can one adaptive scope be used by multiple policies?

Yes. An adaptive scope is a reusable building block – you create it once under Settings, Roles and scopes in the Purview portal and then select it in as many retention or communication compliance policies as you need. A single policy can also combine several adaptive scopes, for example one per region or department.

Do Adaptive Scopes work with SharePoint sites?

Yes – the SharePoint sites scope type targets sites by URL, name, or custom RefinableString properties, and it covers OneDrive accounts as well. It pairs naturally with a well-structured intranet: when sites carry consistent naming and properties, scopes practically write themselves. That is one reason Greg builds LookBook 365 sites with clean, predictable site structures from day one.