💡 Our Technical Review in summary
Summary
- Microsoft has announced the official retirement of SharePoint Designer 2013, following the Microsoft Fixed Lifecycle Policy.
- Support will officially end on July 14, 2026, with retirement enforcement rolling out across all environments (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, and DoD) through late July 2026.
- This move is part of a broader strategy to transition legacy SharePoint customizations and workflow automation to modern platforms like Power Automate.
Impact
- End of Life: After the July 2026 deadline, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, bug fixes, or technical support for SharePoint Designer 2013.
- Workflow Disruption: Legacy workflows built using SharePoint Designer 2013 may cease to function or will no longer be supported, requiring a transition to Power Automate.
- No Extensions: Microsoft has explicitly stated that no extensions or exceptions will be granted beyond the retirement date.
- Customizations: Site customizations handled via SharePoint Designer 2013 will be deprecated, and admins must look toward modern SharePoint framework (SPFx) or Power Platform alternatives.
Action Required
- Inventory and Assessment: Immediately audit your Microsoft 365 environment to identify all active SharePoint Designer 2013 workflows and site-level customizations.
- Migration Planning: Use the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) version 4.1 or higher to assess and migrate supported workflow actions directly to Power Automate.
- Manual Reconstruction: Identify complex workflows that cannot be automatically migrated and plan for manual rebuilding within Power Automate.
- Documentation Update: Revise internal IT documentation, helpdesk knowledge base articles, and governance policies to reflect the transition to modern tools.
- User Communication: Notify site owners and power users of the impending retirement to ensure any “shadow IT” workflows are accounted for before the July 2026 cutoff.
Microsoft Official Update
Service: N/A
Category: planForChange
Severity: normal
[Introduction]
Microsoft is retiring SharePoint Designer 2013, which follows the Microsoft Fixed Lifecycle Policy and will reach end of support on July 14, 2026. This retirement aligns with our commitment to modernize workflow automation and customization experiences using supported tools such as Power Automate.
[When this will happen]
End of support begins in mid-July 2026, with retirement enforcement occurring between mid-July and late July 2026 across all Microsoft 365 environments (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, and DoD).
[How this affects your organization]
Who is affected: Organizations that use SharePoint Designer 2013 for SharePoint workflows or site customizations.
What will happen:
- Microsoft will no longer provide support, security updates, or fixes for SharePoint Designer 2013.
- No extensions or exceptions will be offered beyond the retirement date.
- Workflows built with SharePoint Designer 2013 will require migration to supported alternatives such as Power Automate.
- The SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) can migrate supported workflow actions to Power Automate.
[What you can do to prepare]
We recommend the following actions before July 14, 2026:
- Review existing SharePoint Designer 2013 workflows and customizations.
- Plan and complete migration to supported technologies.
- Update internal documentation, helpdesk knowledge bases, and user communications.
- Use the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) 4.1 to assess and migrate supported workflow actions to Power Automate.
- Note: The SharePoint Migration Tool lets you migrate SharePoint Designer 2013 workflows to Power Automate.
- Review SharePoint Designer 2013 lifecycle details and workflow migration guidance as part of your planning.
No extension options will be available after the retirement date.
Learn more:
- Guidance: Migrate from classic workflows to Power Automate flows in SharePoint | Microsoft Learn
- Microsoft Fixed Lifecycle Policy | Microsoft Learn
- SharePoint Designer 2010 and 2013 workflow migrations to Power Automate | Microsoft Learn
- SharePoint Designer 2013 Lifecycle | Microsoft Learn
[Compliance considerations]
No compliance considerations identified. Review as appropriate for your organization.
