SharePoint 2016: Deadline shortened to the end of 2025
The previous SharePoint on-premises solution (SharePoint 2016) is reaching the end of its life cycle. Microsoft is constantly reducing the resources available for the development of on-premises products (on-premises products are software and IT solutions that are installed and operated locally on a company’s own hardware instead of via cloud services).
New risks, new deadline: 2025
As the risk of potential new incidents and zero-day vulnerabilities continues to increase, the deadline for decommissioning SharePoint 2016 must be brought forward to the end of 2025.
Due to the increased number of absences in December, it is recommended that the migration be completed by the end of November 2025.
SPO service
The new SharePoint Online (SPO) service is ready for use. SPO sites can now be created independently via the ETH SPO homepage.
Responsibility as site owner
Clearing the SharePoint 2016 sites and content. This affects around 250 SharePoint 2016 sites at ETH.
Migration paths
Depending on the requirements for structures and content, there are various options: deletion, archiving or recreation, or migration to SharePoint Online.
Support
The ETH SPO homepage provides instructions, recommendations, training courses and information on migration.
My sites
If you are a site owner, you can view your assigned sites on the SharePoint migration page.
Important to note
SPO is a shared, external cloud service; data classified as «strictly confidential» must not be stored there. 203.28_Weisung_Inventarisierung_Klassifizierung_2025-01 (Directive Inventory Classification) (See > Appendix 1b: Classification recommendations according to confidentiality)
Contact
If you still have questions after consulting the information and instructions on the ETH SPO homepage, please contact
- for department/group-specific questions about SharePoint, please contact the ISGs (departments contacts with login) / IKs (IT coordinators)
- for general questions about the SharePoint service, please contact the ITS Service Desk or sharepoint@id.ethz.ch
Please see the Internal ETH news: SharePoint 2016 will be deactivated at the end of 2025 https://ethz.ch/staffnet/en/news-and-events/internal-news/archive/2025/11/sharepoint-2016-will-be-deactivated-at-the-end-of-2025.html