MC1464926: SharePoint Online Phases Out Classic Publishing Sites and Pages and Disables Custom Scripting

📢 Official Microsoft Message Center Announcement

[What and why:]

Microsoft SharePoint continues to evolve to help organizations create and manage content more securely, easily, and intelligently. As part of this evolution, we’re introducing upcoming changes to classic publishing sites, classic user-created pages, and custom scripting in SharePoint Online, with a two-phase rollout designed to give organizations time to assess usage, plan modernization, and move to modern SharePoint experiences.

Beginning March 1, 2027, classic publishing site creation and publishing feature activation will be disabled for all existing tenants. For new tenants created on or after that date, no new classic pages can be created by default; adding or updating custom scripts and related changes will be disabled.

Beginning October 1, 2028, all existing classic user-created pages will be set to read-only and custom scripting enforcement will extend to all tenants.

Affected classic user-created page types include wiki pages, web part pages, blog pages, publishing pages, and custom ASPX pages created using SharePoint Designer or third-party solutions.

None of these changes affect classic page content; existing pages will remain accessible for viewing.

[Rollout schedule:]

• Worldwide: We will begin rolling out early March 2027 and expect to complete by early April 2027.
• GCC: We will begin rolling out early May 2026 and expect to complete by late May 2027.
• GCC High: We will begin rolling out early May 2027 and expect to complete by late May 2027.
• DoD: We will begin rolling out mid-June 2027 and expect to complete by early July 2027.

[Impact on your organization:]

1. Creation of new classic publishing sites, and activation of the classic publishing feature, will be turned off for site collections and subsites. Below is the list of affected site templates, and classic templates aren’t affected.

2. Classic user-created pages — wiki pages, web part pages, blog pages, publishing pages, and custom ASPX pages — will become read-only. For existing tenants, users can still open and view these pages, but can no longer create or edit them.

3. The ability to add or update custom scripts and related settings will be disabled. Existing scripts will continue to function.

[Action required / Recommendations:]

Discover and assess your classic environment 

• Identify usage of classic sites and pages across your tenant. Use the Standard Purview Audit log category (SharePoint Classic Activities) and events (ClassicPageCreated, ClassicPageEdited, and ClassicPageViewed) to identify active classic page usage, and leverage the Microsoft 365 Assessment Tool to understand the overall classic scope and modernization feasibility.

Prioritize based on business importance and usage

• If your assessment finds no classic content, none of these changes apply to you — no action needed. Otherwise, focus first on high-value or frequently updated classic sites and pages, and identify where modernization will have the greatest impact. Classifying content by business criticality can help guide a phased migration plan.

Transform to modern SharePoint experiences

• Use modernization tools such as SharePoint PnP Modernization and SharePoint PnP Page Modernization Agent to convert classic pages where applicable. Microsoft will continue enhancing the tooling to accelerate page modernization with best-effort fidelity reservation, but it may not fully automate complex scenarios; modernization is a project that typically requires planning, resourcing, and highly customized pages often need redesign or manual rebuilding.

Adopt a phased migration strategy

• Combine centralized IT-led planning and prioritization with distributed execution by site owners over time. Most organizations find success by modernizing in waves rather than attempting a single large-scale migration.

[Learn more:]

• Deprecation of Classic SharePoint Online Pages | Microsoft Learn
• Modernize your classic SharePoint sites | Microsoft Learn 
• Transform classic pages to modern pages | Microsoft Learn 
• Microsoft 365 Assessment Tool
• SharePoint Page Modernization Agent 

Source: Microsoft Message Center • Analysed by MWPro