Upcoming changes to classic publishing sites, classic user-created pages and custom scripting in SharePoint Online

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Major Update: This post contains a significant change that may impact your organisation.

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