Custom Labels XML
In the Salesforce Metadata API, Custom Labels are structured differently from many other metadata types:
CustomLabels is the top-level metadata container.
Individual labels are represented as CustomLabel entries.
Each CustomLabel is a subcomponent of the CustomLabels metadata type, not a standalone top-level metadata object.
Example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CustomLabels xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
<labels xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
<fullName>Order_Status_Message</fullName>
<language>en_US</language>
<protected>true</protected>
<shortDescription>Order Status Message</shortDescription>
<value>Your order is being processed</value>
</labels>
<labels xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
<fullName>Order_Shipped_Message</fullName>
<language>en_US</language>
<protected>true</protected>
<shortDescription>Order Shipped Message</shortDescription>
<value>Your order has been shipped</value>
</labels>
</CustomLabels>
Root element is <CustomLabels>. Each label is a <labels> node (representing an individual CustomLabel subcomponent).
As a result, all individual labels are stored and retrieved together as a single metadata file.
Why these cannot be filtered today
Retrieval filters only operate on top-level metadata items. As a result, subcomponents (such as individual CustomLabel entries) cannot be filtered independently.
This behavior is not specific to Gearset, but rather a constraint imposed by the structure of the Salesforce Metadata API.
This limitation is a known issue, and there is an open suggestion in the Gearset feedback forum proposing support for filtering individual CustomLabel entries.
If this functionality would be valuable for your workflow, we encourage to vote for the suggestion in the feedback forum to help prioritize its implementation.