SharePoint Online Classic Pages Retirement Timeline

Introduction

Microsoft is moving SharePoint Online further toward modern experiences by retiring classic pages and classic custom scripting capabilities over the next two years. For IT admins, this is an important planning milestone because classic content will remain accessible, but editing and new creation will be restricted on a fixed timeline.

What’s changing

Microsoft outlined a two-phase rollout for classic SharePoint experiences in SharePoint Online.

Phase 1: Starting March 1, 2027

• Creation of new classic publishing sites will be disabled for all tenants.
• Activating the classic publishing feature for site collections and subsites will be blocked.
• The AllowClassicPublishingSiteCreation tenant setting will be enforced as False.
• For tenants created on or after March 1, 2027, users will not be able to create new classic pages, including:
  • Wiki pages
  • Web part pages
  • Blog pages
  • Publishing pages
  • Custom ASPX pages
• For those new tenants, add/update custom scripting for classic pages will also be disabled by default through DenyAddAndCustomizePages=True.

Phase 2: Starting October 1, 2028

• All classic user-created pages across all tenants will become read-only.
• Users will no longer be able to create or edit classic pages.
• Custom script add/update capability for classic pages will be disabled for all tenants.
• Existing classic content will not be deleted by Microsoft.

Why this matters

Microsoft says classic features are now used by fewer than 5% of monthly active tenants. More importantly, classic page content does not fully align with modern security, governance, mobile, and AI scenarios. It is also not fully represented in the content formats used by Microsoft 365 Copilot, which can reduce response quality when Copilot relies on classic content.

Impact on administrators

SharePoint admins should begin assessing their environment now:

• Use the SharePoint Classic Activities category in Purview Audit logs.
• Review events such as ClassicPageCreated, ClassicPageEdited, and ClassicPageViewed.
• Use the Microsoft 365 Assessment Tool to measure classic content usage and modernization feasibility.
• Prioritize business-critical and frequently updated sites first.

Recommended next steps

• Inventory classic pages and publishing sites across the tenant.
• Build a phased modernization plan rather than a one-time migration.
• Use tools such as SharePoint PnP Modernization and SharePoint Page Modernization Agent.
• Work with site owners to decide which content should be modernized, rebuilt, retired, or replaced.
• Review the Microsoft Learn guidance and Message Center posts for updated timelines and FAQs.

Organizations that still depend on classic SharePoint should treat this as an active migration project now, not a last-minute cleanup effort in 2028.