New client for Azure Information Protection

It has been a busy week for the Azure Information Protection team. Not only did they release a brand new client for unified labeling (version 2.4.38.0), the scanner now supports these unified labels and for Office Insiders: the integrated client. Great stuff.

Preview client

Let’s start with the new (preview) client. I want to focus on two specific new functions. First is a new PowerShell cmdlet called “Export-aiplogs”. What this cmdlet does is quite easy to understand…. It gathers all logs on the workstation and created one zipfile.

Very easy to use. One quick tip: use the .zip extension when running the cmdlet. Or rename the created file to <file.zip> afterwards. The reason is simple: your compression software won’t recognize the file… Duh….

Another little, but nice, new feature: the label coloring. Yes! The little label icon representing the classification now changes color as-well. Very subtle 🙂

There are many more enhancements, especially if you are still working with an older version of the client. Check these out!

Integrated client

Now for the integrated client. The funny thing is, this client is not new. It’s been here for iOS, macOS and Android for some time. But now it’s here in Office for Windows!

To be able to use it, you will need to have labels published to the users running Office. You also will need to have an Office Insider build installed on the machine. That’s crucial, as the Sensitivity option will not be displayed.

With the new Office version, the option is displayed. And you can select your label for the document. You will notice some things:

1. The option is positioned at the right-most area of the ribbon;
2. The selected label is displayed at the bottom of the screen;
3. You will see your username displayed when selecting the label;
4. There’re no more labels below the ribbon;
5. If you want to remove a label, there’s no button for that. Just “deselect” the current label and it will be removed;
6. If you’ve de-installed the earlier client add-in, there’s no more Windows Explorer or PowerShell to use….

The label even displays the tooltip. Very nice!

Conflicting clients?

What about the client add-in (the “fat”-client)? Well….. If you have this client installed on the Windows machine and also as an add-in for Office, then ….

1. You can still use the Windows Explorer to classify and protect documents;
2. You can still use the Powershell cmdlets;
3. The new integrated client will not appear in your Office clients.

Ok, but what if I still need the Windows Explorer or PowerShell function, but I want to use the new integrated option? Well, you can. When you disable to Office add-in, the new integrated client will appear. And you can still use the Windows Explorer or PowerShell functions as-well.

But….. Why would you want to do this? If you (or specific users) need all of the rich functionality of the “fat”-client, then why not just keep that one? And let the other users enjoy the new integrated feature. Just a thought….

I hope this article provided you with more information on the new integration client. I’m really looking forward to Ignite 2019 and to see what enhancements we can expect in the months to come!