⏰ M365 Deprecation & Retirement Timeline¶
Status: 💡 Idea Priority: 🔥 Urgent (Tier 1) Category: 🛠️ Free Tool / 💼 Official Created: 2026-04-11 Part of: Free Tools Section Planned URL: aguidetocloud.com/deprecations/
The Problem¶
"What's being retired and when?" — the #1 admin pain point from Reddit and Tech Community. SharePoint Add-ins die April 2, 2026. Classic workflows dying. Legacy auth disabled. MFA mandatory. Admins are scrambling and there's NO interactive visual timeline — just scattered blog posts and Message Center alerts.
AdminDroid has a popular static blog post, but nobody has an interactive, filterable tool.
The Solution¶
An interactive visual timeline showing ALL upcoming M365 deprecations, retirements, and mandatory changes.
Key Features¶
- Visual timeline — Gantt-style or vertical timeline showing retirement dates
- Filter by product — Teams, SharePoint, Exchange, Entra, Copilot, Power Platform, etc.
- Filter by urgency — Overdue / This Month / This Quarter / This Year / Future
- Impact level — 🔴 Breaking (stops working), 🟡 Action Required, 🟢 Info Only
- Each item links to — Official Microsoft Learn docs, Message Center post, and your blog if relevant
- iCal export — subscribe to deadline calendar
- RSS feed — stay updated on new deprecations
- Data-driven — TOML data file (same pattern as Licensing Simplifier)
- 100% client-side — zero cost
Example Items¶
| Date | Item | Product | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2, 2026 | SharePoint Add-ins end of life | SharePoint | 🔴 Breaking |
| Apr 15, 2026 | Copilot removed from WXP for unlicensed users | M365 Copilot | 🔴 Breaking |
| Jul 14, 2026 | SharePoint 2016/2019 end of support | SharePoint Server | 🟡 Action Required |
| Feb 2025 | MFA mandatory for admin center | Entra ID | 🟡 Action Required |
Why This Is Gold¶
- SEO: "Microsoft 365 end of support" / "M365 deprecation timeline" are heavily searched
- Companion to M365 Roadmap — Roadmap = what's coming, Deprecation Timeline = what's leaving
- Directly useful in customer conversations — "Here's what you need to migrate before April"
- Content loop — Tool → blog post per major retirement → YouTube explainer videos
- Evergreen — Microsoft constantly retires things, so the tool always has fresh content
Tech Stack¶
- Hugo template + TOML data file + client-side JS
- CSS: own accent colour (suggest amber/warning
#F59E0B) - Could later add a pipeline to auto-detect new Message Center deprecation posts
- Estimated effort: 1 session
Data Sources¶
- AdminDroid: M365 End of Support Milestones
- Microsoft Learn: SharePoint Add-In retirement
- Microsoft 365 Message Center (via mc.merill.net)
- M365 Roadmap API (items with "Retired" or "Cancelled" status)
Say "build the Deprecation Timeline" to start building.