---
title: "Working with Drive Labels"
description: "Drive labels are colour-coded keywords for organising files and folders in group drives. Two types exist: group drive labels, scoped to one drive, and organisation labels, shared across every drive."
category: collaboration
section: drive-and-files
type: Quick Fix
lastUpdated: 2026-08-26
locale: en
canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/collaboration/working-with-drive-labels
---

# Working with Drive Labels


Drive labels are colour-coded keywords that organise the files and folders in a group drive. They can stand for a processing status, a document type, or any classification your organisation needs. Two types exist: group drive labels, which apply only inside the drive where they are created, and organisation labels, which apply across every group drive. The two differ in who creates them and where they can be used.

## What is the difference between the two label types?

**Group drive labels** apply only to the files and folders of the group drive where they are created. By default every group member can create them from the **Label** icon on a file or folder. An administrator or group manager can restrict this to group managers only, through the group's permissions.

**Organisation labels** apply across every group drive in your organisation, so the same keyword follows your files whatever drive they sit in. Only administrators create them, from **Administration → Drives**, in the **Labels** section. In the label picker an organisation label carries a building icon and the tooltip **Organization label**, which sets it apart from a group drive label.

Both types are applied from the **Label** icon on a file or folder. When you select files from more than one group drive at once, only organisation labels are offered, because a group drive label belongs to a single drive.

![Label picker open on a group drive file, showing a group drive label and an organisation label marked with a building pictogram, both applied](/images/collaboration/working-with-drive-labels/01-label-picker-two-types.png)

![Administration Drives page scrolled to the Labels section, showing an organisation label created there](/images/collaboration/working-with-drive-labels/02-admin-drives-labels.png)

## Which type should I use?

Ask whether the keyword is reused in other drives, and whether you want to find every file linked to it regardless of its drive.

- Reusable across drives, or you want to track files organisation-wide: use an **organisation label**. Ask an administrator if you do not have administrator rights.
- Specific to one drive's content: use a **group drive label**.

## What's Next?

- [Creating organisation labels in the Drive](/en/collaboration/creating-organisation-labels-in-the-drive)
- [Managing group labels](/en/communication/managing-group-labels)
- [Drive rights management](/en/collaboration/drive-rights-management)
- [Working with labels](/en/communication/working-with-labels)