Learn about connectors for third-party data

Microsoft 365 lets administrators use data connectors to import and archive non-Microsoft, third-party data from social media platforms, instant messaging platforms, and document collaboration platforms, to mailboxes in your Microsoft 365 organization. One primary benefit of using data connectors to import and archive third-party data in Microsoft 365 is that you can apply various Microsoft Purview solutions to the data after you import it. This approach helps you ensure that your organization's non-Microsoft data complies with the regulations and standards that affect your organization.

Watch this interactive guide that demonstrates how to create data connectors to import and archive third-party data and examples of applying compliance solutions to data after you import it to Microsoft 365.

Third-party data connectors

The Microsoft Purview portal provides native third-party data connectors from Microsoft to import data from various data sources, such as LinkedIn, Instant Bloomberg, and Twitter. It also provides data connectors that support the Insider risk management solution.

In addition to these native data connectors, Microsoft works with the following partners to provide many more third-party data connectors in portals. Your organization works with these partners to set up their archiving service before creating a corresponding data connector in one of the portals.

• TeleMessage
• 17a-4 LLC
• CellTrust

The third-party data listed in the next sections (except for HR data and physical badging data that the Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management solution uses) imports into user mailboxes. The Microsoft Purview solutions that support third-party data apply to the user mailbox where the data is stored.

Microsoft data connectors

The following table lists the native third-party data connectors available in the Microsoft Purview portal. The table also summarizes the compliance solutions that you can apply after you import and archive third-party data in Microsoft 365. For a more detailed description of each compliance solution and how it supports third-party data, see the Overview of compliance solutions that support third-party data section.

Select the link in the Third-party data column to go the step-by-step instructions for creating a connector for that data type.

Third-party data	Litigation hold	eDiscovery	Retention settings	Records management	Communication Compliance	Insider Risk Management
Bloomberg Message
ChatGPT Enterprise AI interactions
Facebook
Generic EHR healthcare
Human resources (HR)
ICE Chat
Instant Bloomberg
LinkedIn
Physical badging
Twitter

TeleMessage data connectors

The following table lists the third-party data connectors available through the partnership with TeleMessage. The table also summarizes the compliance solutions you can apply to third-party data after you import and archive it in Microsoft 365. For more information about each compliance solution and how it supports third-party data, see the Overview of compliance solutions that support third-party data section.

Before you can archive third-party data in Microsoft 365, you need to work with TeleMessage to set up their archiving service for your organization. For more information, select the link in the Third-party data column to go the step-by-step instructions for creating a connector for that data type.

You can also use TeleMessage data connectors in GCC environments in the Microsoft 365 US Government cloud. For more information, see the Data connectors in the US Government cloud section in this article.

Third-party data	Litigation hold	eDiscovery	Retention settings	Records management	Communication Compliance	Insider Risk Management
Android
AT&T Network
Bell Network
Enterprise Number
Hong Kong CSL Network
O2 Network
Rogers Network
Signal
T-Mobile
Telegram
TELUS Network
Verizon Network
WeChat
WhatsApp

17a-4 data connectors

The following table lists the third-party data connectors available through a partnership with 17a-4 LLC. The table also summarizes the compliance solutions you can apply to third-party data after you import and archive it in Microsoft 365. For a detailed description of each compliance solution and how it supports third-party data, see the Overview of compliance solutions that support third-party data section.

Before you can archive third-party data in Microsoft 365, you need to work with 17a-4 LLC to set up their archiving service (called DataParser) for your organization. For more information, select the link in the Third-party data column to go the step-by-step instructions for creating a connector for that data type.

You can also use 17a-4 data connectors in GCC environments in the Microsoft 365 US Government cloud. For more information, see the Data connectors in the US Government cloud section in this article.

Third-party data	Litigation hold	eDiscovery	Retention settings	Records management	Communication Compliance	Insider Risk Management
BlackBerry
Bloomberg
Cisco Jabber
Cisco Webex
FactSet
Fuze
FX Connect
ICE Chat
InvestEdge
LivePerson Conversational Cloud
Quip
Refinitiv Eikon Messenger
ServiceNow
Skype for Business Server
Slack
SQL
Symphony
Zoom

CellTrust data connectors

The following table lists the third-party data connector available through a partnership with CellTrust. The table also summarizes the compliance solutions you can apply to third-party data after you import and archive it in Microsoft 365. For a more detailed description of each compliance solution and how it supports third-party data, see the Overview of compliance solutions that support third-party data section.

Before you can archive third-party data in Microsoft 365, you need to work with CellTrust to set up their archiving service, CellTrust SL2, for your organization. For more information, select the link in the Third-party data column to go the step-by-step instructions for creating a CellTrust SL2 connector.

Third-party data	Litigation hold	eDiscovery	Retention settings	Records management	Communication Compliance	Insider Risk Management
CellTrust SL2

The CellTrust SL2 data connector is also available in GCC environments in the Microsoft 365 US Government cloud. For more information, see the Data connectors in the US Government cloud section in this article.

Provision a service principal for third-party data connectors

For parter third-party data connectors, you must configure a service principal. Complete the following steps to configure a service principal for your organization:

1. Open PowerShell and confirm the Azure ClI is installed:

   az version
   

2. Sign in with the administrator account for your organization:

   az login
   

3. Run the following cmdlet to create the service principal for your organization:

   az ad sp create --id <PartnerAppId>
   

Overview of Microsoft Purview solutions that support third-party data

The following sections describe how Microsoft Purview solutions help you manage the third-party data listed in the previous table.

Litigation hold

Place a Litigation hold on a user mailbox to retain third-party data. When you create a hold, specify a hold duration (also called a time-based hold) so that deleted and modified third-party data is retained for a specified period and then permanently deleted from the mailbox. Or just retain content indefinitely (called an infinite hold) or until the Litigation hold is removed.

eDiscovery

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is the primary legal investigation tool in Microsoft 365. This powerful tool lets you add custodians to a case, place a custodian's data on hold, and load a custodian's third-party data into a review for further analysis such as themes and duplicate detection. After you load third-party data into a review set, you can query and filter it to a narrow result set. eDiscovery lets you manage third-party data that might be relevant to your organization's legal or internal investigations.

Retention settings

Apply a retention policy to user mailboxes to retain and then delete third-party data (and other mailbox content) after the retention period expires. Use retention policies to delete third-party data of a certain age or use retention labels to trigger a disposition review when the retention period for third-party data expires.

Records management

The records management feature in Microsoft 365 lets you declare third-party data as a record. Users can manually apply a retention label that marks third-party data in their mailbox as a record. Or you can auto-apply retention labels by identifying sensitive information, keywords, or content types in third-party data.

Communication compliance

Use Communication compliance to examine third-party data to make sure it's compliant with your organization's data standards. You can detect, capture, and take remediation actions for inappropriate messages in your organization. For example, you can monitor the third-party data that you import for offensive language, sensitive information, and regulatory compliance.

Insider risk management

Signals from third-party data, like selective HR data, can be used by the Insider risk management solution to minimize internal risks by letting you detect, investigate, and act on risky activities in your organization. For example, data imported by the HR data connector is used as risk indicators to help detect departing employee data theft.

Use eDiscovery tools to search for third-party data

After you use data connectors to import and archive third-party data in user mailboxes, you can use Microsoft 365 eDiscovery tools to search for third-party data. You can also use eDiscovery tools to create query-based holds associated with eDiscovery cases to preserve third-party data. For more information about eDiscovery tools, see Learn about eDiscovery.

To search for (or place a hold on) any type of third-party data that you imported to user mailboxes by using a data connector, use the following search query. Be sure to scope the search to user mailboxes.

kind:externaldata

Use this query in the Keywords box for a search associated with an eDiscovery case.

You can also use the kind:externaldata property:value pair to narrow the scope of searches to third-party data. For example, to search for items imported from any third-party data source that contain the word contoso in the Subject property of the imported item, use the following query in the Keywords box:

subject:contoso AND kind:externaldata

Alternatively, you can use the Message kind condition to configure the same query.

To search for a specific type of archived third-party data, use the itemclass mailbox property in a search query. Use the following property:value format:

itemclass:ipm.externaldata.<third-party data type>

Every item imported by a third-party data connector includes the itemclass property with a value that corresponds to the third-party data type. For example, to search for Facebook data that contains the word contoso, in the Subject property of the imported item, use the following query:

subject:contoso AND itemclass:ipm.externaldata.facebook*

Here are a few examples for itemclass values for different types of third-party data.

Values for the itemclass property aren't case-sensitive. In general, use the name of the third-party data type (without spaces) followed by a wildcard ( * ) character.

For more information about creating eDiscovery search queries, see Keyword queries and search conditions for eDiscovery.

Data connectors in the US Government cloud

Some data connectors are available in the US Government cloud. The following sections show the specific government environments that support third-party data connectors. For more information about US Government clouds, see Microsoft 365 US Government.

TeleMessage data connectors in the US Government cloud

17a-4 data connectors in the US Government cloud

CellTrust data connectors in the US Government cloud