How Microsoft categorizes data for online services

Data used to deliver online and professional services

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Customer data

Customer data is all data, including text, sound, video or image files, and software that you provide to Microsoft or that’s provided on your behalf through your use of Microsoft enterprise online services, excluding Microsoft Professional Services. It includes customer content, which is the data you upload for storage or processing and apps you upload for distribution through a Microsoft enterprise cloud service.

For example, customer content includes Exchange Online email and attachments, Power BI reports, SharePoint Online site content, or instant messaging conversations.

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Diagnostic data

Diagnostic data includes all data “collected” or “obtained” from software that you locally install for use in connection with the Microsoft enterprise online service. It is used to help Microsoft ensure the client software is secure and performing properly.

For example, Microsoft collects information about how long it takes to launch an app, whether an add-in has crashed, and how many times a sign-in has been attempted. Diagnostic data can also be referred to as telemetry data. It does not include names, email addresses, or file content.

Service-generated data

Service-generated data includes all data “generated” or “derived” by Microsoft through the operation of an online service. Microsoft aggregates this data from our online services and uses it to make sure performance, security, scaling, and other services that impact the customer experience are operating at the levels our customers require.

For example, to understand how to ramp up data center capacity as a customer's use of Microsoft Teams increases, we process log data of their Teams usage. We then review the logs for peak times and decide which data centers to add to meet this capacity.

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Professional services data

Professional Services Data means all data, provided to Microsoft, or processed by Microsoft, upon authorization and through an engagement with Microsoft to obtain Professional Services. Professional Services Data includes support data that is provided to Microsoft during technical support for an online service.

For example, include text, sound, video, image files, or software provided to Microsoft during troubleshooting.

Other Microsoft data definitions

Administrator data

Administrator data is information about administrators supplied during signup, purchase, or administration of Microsoft services, such as names, phone numbers, and email addresses. It also includes aggregated usage information and data associated with your account, such as the controls you select. We use administrator data to provide services, complete transactions, service the account, and detect and prevent fraud.

Payment data

Payment data is the information you provide when you buy something online with Microsoft. It may include a credit card number and security code, name, billing address, and other financial data. We use payment data to complete transactions and to detect and prevent fraud.

Personal data

“Personal Data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. An identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, such as a name, an identification number, location coordinates, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

Microsoft uses the same GDPR definition for personal data. It includes pseudonymized data. In addition to being a subset of administrator data and payment data, personal data is a subset of each of the data categories presented above.