SharePoint Alerts Retirement: What Organizations Need to Do Now
Microsoft has announced the retirement of SharePoint Alerts, one of the most widely used notification features in SharePoint.
For nearly two decades, SharePoint Alerts allowed users to receive notifications when content changed in lists and document libraries. These alerts became essential for organizations managing documents, tasks, records, and compliance workflows.
With SharePoint Alerts being retired, organizations must now determine how they will continue notifying users when important content changes.
This guide explains:
- What the SharePoint Alerts retirement means
- Why many organizations rely heavily on alerts
- Why Power Automate is not a direct replacement
- How organizations can replace SharePoint Alerts
- How to migrate existing alerts before they disappear
Why SharePoint Alerts Became So Widely Used
SharePoint Alerts provided a simple, self-service way for users to stay informed about changes to SharePoint content.
Users could easily create alerts that notify them when:
- Documents are added to a library
- Files are modified
- List items change
- New tasks appear
- Content relevant to their team is updated
Users could choose to receive notifications:
- Immediately
- Daily summaries
- Weekly summaries
Because alerts were easy for non-technical users to create, they became one of the most heavily used features in SharePoint.
Many organizations now have thousands of active SharePoint alerts across their Microsoft 365 environment.
What Happens When SharePoint Alerts Are Retired
When Microsoft removes SharePoint Alerts, the following will occur:
- Existing alerts will stop sending notifications
- Users will no longer be able to create new alerts
- Alert configurations may be lost if not exported beforehand
For organizations that rely heavily on alerts, this can create significant operational risk.
Examples of common scenarios impacted include:
- Legal teams monitoring document changes
- Compliance teams tracking policy updates
- Project teams following task changes
- Operations teams monitoring list activity
Without alerts, users may not realize that critical content has changed.
Why Power Automate Is Not a True SharePoint Alerts Replacement
Microsoft often recommends Power Automate as an alternative notification mechanism.
While Power Automate is powerful for workflow automation, it is not a direct replacement for SharePoint Alerts.
SharePoint Alerts were designed to allow end users to easily create their own notifications.
Power Automate requires users to create flows, which introduces complexity and administrative overhead.
| Feature | SharePoint Alerts Power Automate | |
| End users create alerts themselves |  |
Limited |
| Simple notifications for list or library changes | |
Requires flow creation |
| Daily or weekly summary alerts | |
Requires custom flows |
| Easy alert management for users | |
More complex |
For organizations with hundreds or thousands of alerts, recreating them in Power Automate is typically impractical.
Can Existing SharePoint Alerts Be Migrated?
One of the biggest challenges organizations face is preserving existing alerts.
Before SharePoint Alerts are retired, organizations should:
- Assess the number of alerts in use
- Export the alert configuration
- Determine how those alerts will be recreated
Without taking action, organizations risk losing the alert configurations that users depend on every day.
Replacing SharePoint Alerts with Alert Plus
To address this gap, Bamboo Solutions released Alert Plus, a modern replacement for SharePoint Alerts built for SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365.
Alert Plus recreates the familiar SharePoint Alerts experience while supporting modern cloud environments
User-Created Alerts
Users can create alerts directly within SharePoint just like they did with SharePoint Alerts.
Users can receive notifications when:
- Items are added
- Items are modified
- Items are deleted
- Documents are uploaded
- Metadata changes occur
This preserves the self-service alert model users expect.
Administrative Alerts
Alert Plus includes administrative capabilities that allow organizations to:
- Create alerts for groups of users
- Monitor changes across multiple sites
- Support compliance and governance scenarios
Summary Alerts
Alert Plus supports:
- Immediate alerts
- Daily summaries
- Weekly summaries
This allows users to reduce notification noise while staying informed.
Migrating Existing SharePoint Alerts
Organizations can export their current SharePoint alerts and migrate them into Alert Plus.
This allows users to continue receiving notifications without manually recreating alerts.
Steps Organizations Should Take Now
With the SharePoint Alerts retirement approaching, organizations should begin planning now.
1. Assess Existing Alerts
Identify how many alerts currently exist across your SharePoint environment.
3. Evaluate Replacement Solutions
Organizations should evaluate solutions that:
- Replace SharePoint Alerts
- Allow users to create alerts themselves
- Support alert migration
- Scale across Microsoft 365
4. Plan Migration Early
Waiting until alerts stop working may disrupt users.
Planning early allows organizations to migrate alerts gradually and avoid business disruption.
2. Identify Critical Alerts
Determine which alerts support:
- Compliance monitoring
- Legal workflows
- Operational processes
- Document management
