Print to PDF is blocked if Mandatory Labeling is enabled

Last Updated: April 5, 2024

ISSUE

Outlook Desktop blocks printing to PDF if Mandatory Labeling is enabled. This change is in all M365 channels beginning in January 2024.

When you attempt to print to PDF the following Microsoft Information Protection errors are displayed:

“Your organization requires sensitivity labels for all files you create or edit, such as PDFs. Files you create from the Print command may lose their sensitivity labels and other content metadata, such as accessibility tags.

Continue to File-> Export to create files that preserve your organization’s policies.“

Note: This error occurs when a label is applied to the email.

Outlook mandatory label error

“Files you create from the Print command may lose their sensitivity labels and other content metadata, such as accessibility tags.”

Note: This error occurs if the label applies encryption.

Outlook mandatory label encryption error

Important:

This error can be misleading since Outlook Desktop does not support exporting files to PDF. This misleading error issue has been escalated to the Outlook Team to request a better error message long term.
The other Office applications such as Word do not provide the capability to print to PDF either. However, those applications do have the capability to export.

STATUS: WORKAROUND

The functionality to print to PDF has been blocked by Outlook Desktop because it violates the label policy. Outlook Desktop does not have the capability to print PDF files with the label applied. The label is not preserved when the email is printed to PDF.

Since Outlook Desktop does not have print to PDF with Mandatory Labeling, consider the following option.

Disable Mandatory Labeling: If you disable Mandatory Labeling you can print to PDF, but you may be prompted for further information or justification to do so.

Additional resources

Apply sensitivity labels to PDFs created with Office apps