Classic SharePoint Retirement Countdown: 2027 and 2028 Action Plan

Countdown to the classic cutoffs: March 2027 creation block, July 2027 webhook move, October 2028 read-only — with an action plan per audience.

Published: Published Oct 28, 2026
Reading time: 2 min read

Before you start

Is this guide for you?

Best entry point: SharePoint
Time investment: 2 min read

Open SharePoint hub Compare options

Direct answer: Three dates drive the plan — March 1, 2027 (no new classic pages in new tenants), July 1, 2027 (remote event receivers retire — move to webhooks), October 1, 2028 (classic user-created pages read-only in existing tenants). Inventory now, migrate content on schedule, modernize customizations per item.

Freshness note (October 2026): Dates reflect Microsoft announcements through mid-2026 and can shift. Re-verify against the Microsoft 365 roadmap before freezing program dates. Depth: Classic Experiences Modernization Roadmap.

The three dates that matter

March 2027 stops creation in new tenants — greenfield stays modern from birth. July 2027 ends remote event receivers — integration code must live on webhooks by then. October 2028 freezes existing classic pages as read-only — content must already live in modern pages or be consciously archived. Put all three on one program timeline; teams that track only October discover the July integration cliff too late.

Actions per audience

Site owners: inventory classic pages (wiki, Web Part, blog, publishing, custom ASPX), decide migrate, archive, or delete per page, and rebuild survivors as modern pages. Developers: enumerate Script Editor and Content Editor usage, JSLink, custom master pages, and Designer workflows; route each to retire, replace with native or Power Platform, or rebuild in SPFx (Script Editor to SPFx). Integration owners: list every remote event receiver, rebuild on webhooks with replay and failure handling, and decommission the old endpoints. Admins: track custom-scripting settings per site and align them with the tenant's modernization posture.

Sequence it like a migration

Run the countdown as a migration program: assessment (assessment guide), waves by site collection with pilots, validation per wave (validation guide), and the modernization backlog (classic-to-modern strategy) as the second track sharing the same gates.

Quarter-by-quarter plan from here

Q4 2026: complete the classic inventory and freeze new classic investment. Q1 2027: migrate or archive priority pages and start the event-receiver-to-webhook rebuilds. Q2 2027: cut over integrations before the July receiver retirement and run the first read-only drill with site owners. Q3 2027–Q2 2028: work the backlog wave by wave with validation. Q3 2028: final delta, freeze, and cutover — no heroics in September 2028.

Planning modernization before the deadlines

If classic inventory, webhooks, or SPFx rebuild scope needs sizing: Book a Modernization Consultation.

Continue with Modernization Roadmap, Classic to Modern, and Explore SPFx.

Tagged

Governance · Architecture · Security

Frequently asked questions

When do classic SharePoint pages become read-only?

For new tenants from March 1, 2027 no new classic pages; for existing tenants, classic user-created pages become read-only beginning October 1, 2028.

When must remote event receivers move?

Remote event receivers retire July 1, 2027 — move to SharePoint webhooks well before that date.

Are list views and forms affected?

List and library views, list forms, and similar experiences are currently out of scope — but custom scripts inside them still face custom-scripting changes.

What replaces classic customizations?

Modern pages and web parts first, Power Apps and Power Automate for forms and workflows, SPFx for justified custom development — decided per item, not by blanket rebuild.

Where should we start now?

Inventory classic pages, scripting usage, and event receivers this quarter; the countdown plan below sequences the rest by audience.