How to Set PII Alerts in SharePoint Automatically

SharePoint provides content storage, versioning, and permissions—but it does not provide automated PII alerting. Without automatic notifications, organizations cannot respond quickly to data exposure.

SharePoint limitations include:

• No real-time alerts when PII enters a library
• No scanning of PDFs, images, or scanned IDs
• No OCR for screenshots or photos
• No PII detection rules for GDPR/CCPA
• No monitoring of synced OneDrive folders
• No alerts for external sharing of PII-rich files
• No historical scanning alerts

This means PII can sit inside SharePoint completely undetected—creating compliance and privacy risk.

What PII (Personal Data) Alerts Look Like Inside SharePoint

PII enters SharePoint across multiple workflows. Alerts should trigger for files containing:

• Employee names and contact details
• Addresses
• Phone numbers
• Email addresses
• SSNs and national IDs
• Passports or driver’s licenses
• Birthdates
• Customer lists
• Residency or demographic data
• HR forms
• Client onboarding documents
• Screenshots containing personal data

PII examples Strac detects and alerts on:

• “John Smith”, “Emily Turner” (names)
• +1 (555) 123-4567 (phone numbers)
• user@example.com (emails)
• 123-45-6789 (SSNs)
• Passport numbers
• Driver’s license numbers
• Addresses such as “78 Market Street, NY”
• Any contextual PII extracted via OCR

Alerts include file name, user, location, timestamp, and PII category.

✨What It Means to Alert on PII (Personal Data) in SharePoint

PII alerting ensures organizations are aware the moment personal data enters SharePoint. This supports both operational security and regulatory compliance.

Effective alerting requires:

• Real-time notifications
• Categorization of detected PII
• Context for severity (e.g., SSN vs email)
• Identification of users involved
• Escalation workflows
• Audit trails
• Ability to trigger remediation (redact, delete, block)

SharePoint alone does not offer any of these capabilities.

Strac enables:

• Real-time alerts
• Library-level alert policies
• User-based alert rules
• Alerts for new uploads and version changes
• Alerts for OneDrive sync files
• Alerts for external sharing events
• Alerts integrated with Slack, Teams, Jira, SIEM tools

How to Automatically Alert on PII (Personal Data) in SharePoint with Strac

Strac continuously scans SharePoint files—documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, images, attachments—and triggers alerts the moment PII is detected.

How Strac alerting works:

• Scans new files instantly as they are uploaded or modified
• Detects PII using AI, OCR, and NLP
• Sends alerts directly to security or compliance teams
• Provides detailed context (file path, user, PII category, timestamp)
• Integrates with Slack, Teams, SIEMs, and email
• Supports custom severity levels
• Provides full audit logs for compliance reporting
• Alerts on both real-time and historical detections

Organizations can configure:

• Alert only
• Alert + redact
• Alert + delete
• Alert + workflow escalations
• Alerts for specific PII types (e.g., SSN only)
• Alerts for specific departments or SharePoint sites

Real Examples of PII (Personal Data) Alerts in SharePoint

Example 1 — HR uploads onboarding document containing SSN
Strac triggers an immediate alert and logs the event.

Example 2 — Customer uploads screenshot with email + phone number
OCR detects PII inside the image and alerts instantly.

Example 3 — Finance uploads spreadsheet of client contacts
Strac alerts on names, emails, phone numbers, and addresses.

Example 4 — OneDrive sync pushes employee roster
Strac sends a PII alert before the file spreads through SharePoint.

Why Strac Is the Best Way to Alert on PII (Personal Data) in SharePoint

• Automatic real-time PII detection
• Works across SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Slack, Gmail, Salesforce, Jira, and more
• AI + OCR-based detection for all file types
• Supports GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, FERPA, GLBA, and global privacy laws
• Full audit trails
• Zero-agent deployment
• Context-aware alerting reduces noise

🌶️Spicy FAQs on How to Alert on PII (Personal Data) in SharePoint

Does SharePoint alert on PII by default?

No. SharePoint cannot detect or alert on personal data.

Can Strac alert on PII inside images and scanned documents?

Yes. Strac uses OCR to detect PII inside images, screenshots, and scans.

Does Strac alert for historical files?

Yes. Strac can scan and alert on old files stored across libraries.

Can alerts be integrated with Teams, Slack, or SIEM tools?

Yes. Strac supports Teams, Slack, email, Jira, and SIEM integrations.

Can we configure different alert levels for high-risk PII like SSNs?

Yes. Alerts can be customized by PII category and severity.

Try Strac for SharePoint PII (Personal Data) Alerts & DLP

Strac helps you automatically detect, classify, and alert on personal data (PII) across SharePoint libraries, folders, OneDrive sync locations, and attachments—ensuring privacy compliance and immediate visibility.