SharePoint 2013 Workflow Retirement: Don’t Miss This (New)

Most organizations do not think about workflows until they fail. A purchase request that used to auto-route for approval suddenly sits untouched. An onboarding checklist stops creating tasks. A document that should have been reviewed never reaches Legal.

That’s why SharePoint 2013 workflow retirement deserves attention now, even if your SharePoint environment feels stable today. Microsoft has published a clear retirement timeline for SharePoint 2013 workflows in SharePoint Online (Microsoft 365), and Microsoft also states there is no option to extend beyond the final retirement date.

This blog explains what’s changing, what will stop working, how to find the workflows you actually rely on, and how to modernize with options like Power Automate. Along the way, we’ll also connect workflow planning to bigger lifecycle milestones such as SharePoint 2016 End of Life, SharePoint 2019 End of Life, and the broader shift from SharePoint Classic vs Modern.

What Is the SharePoint 2013 Workflow Retirement?

In SharePoint terms, a workflow automates the movement of documents or items through a sequence of actions related to a business process, such as approvals, notifications, task assignments, and status updates.

The SharePoint 2013 workflow retirement is Microsoft’s plan to turn off and then remove SharePoint 2013 workflows in SharePoint Online, pushing customers toward modern workflow orchestration.

Microsoft calls out Power Automate as the recommended Microsoft solution and also notes that customers can evaluate supported partner solutions where needed.

If you hear teams say, “We don’t use workflows,” it often means one of two things:

• They don’t create new ones anymore, but old ones still run quietly.
• They use them indirectly through legacy sites, older list-based apps, or third-party tools that depend on the SharePoint 2013 workflow engine.

That “indirect dependency” is where surprises and production incidents tend to come from.

When Is SharePoint 2013 Workflow Retirement?

Microsoft’s timeline has two dates you should treat as non-negotiable:

• April 2, 2024: SharePoint 2013 workflows are turned off for newly created tenants.
• April 2, 2026: SharePoint 2013 workflow is removed from existing tenants and fully retired.

Microsoft also states this applies across environments, including Government Clouds and Department of Defense, and that there is no extension option beyond April 2, 2026.

If your organization has multiple tenants (for example, a production tenant plus a newly provisioned tenant for M&A, a carve-out, or a new business unit), that 2024 milestone matters too. It can change what “works out of the box” the moment a new tenant is created.

Why Microsoft Retired SharePoint 2013 Workflows

The short version is that SharePoint workflows were built for a SharePoint-first world. Today’s automation crosses Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, Dynamics, ServiceNow, Azure, and dozens of third-party SaaS systems.

Microsoft’s messaging focuses on moving customers to modern orchestration, where Power Automate connects Microsoft 365 services and hundreds of other services through connectors and governance controls.

In practical business terms, it is the same reason organizations modernize anything else:

• Security and platform consistency
• Better monitoring and auditability
• Fewer “black box” automations nobody owns anymore
• More predictable support and roadmap

How SharePoint 2013 Workflow End of Life Impacts Your Organization

The SharePoint 2013 workflow end of life is not just a change in tooling. It can disrupt core business operations because workflows often sit behind everyday actions like “submit,” “save,” and “upload.”

This is also why the right approach is rarely “migrate workflows later.” If you are planning a broader move and already have a SharePoint Migration Strategy, workflow discovery should be part of it. Same if you are working through a SharePoint Online Migration Checklist.

Migrating content without understanding the automation attached to it is one of the most common ways teams end up with a “successful migration” and a dissatisfied business.

➔ What Will Stop Working?

When SharePoint 2013 workflow is disabled (and later removed), workflow creation and execution in SharePoint Online will no longer function as it did before.

Microsoft also notes that once SharePoint 2013 workflow has been turned off, existing workflows can only be viewed as raw XML.

What Users Will Notice in the SharePoint UI

When SharePoint 2013 workflow is disabled, the workflow experience in the product UI changes. Even if the Workflows feature is enabled, users may not see SharePoint 2013 workflow options where they expect them.

From a business perspective, “what stops working” usually looks like this:

• A request gets created, but no tasks fire
• An approval email never arrives
• A status column never updates, so dashboards and escalations go stale
• Teams start creating manual workarounds, which creates shadow processes and compliance risk

➔ Common Risks Organizations Face During the Retirement

Most workflow problems during the SharePoint 2013 workflow retirement fall into predictable categories:

1. Unknown Ownership: A workflow exists, but the person who built it left years ago. The business still depends on the outcome, but nobody can explain the “why,” only the “what.”
2. Hidden Dependencies: Partner solutions and internal tools sometimes rely on the SharePoint 2013 workflow engine as an orchestration layer. Microsoft recommends checking with third-party workflow vendors to confirm whether they have dependencies on SharePoint 2013 workflow and planning migration to a supported offering.
3. Modernization Drift: Teams plan to modernize, but keep creating new legacy workflows because it is “faster for now.” That “now” becomes expensive later.
4. Broken Trust with Stakeholders: When automation fails, stakeholders do not blame the workflow engine. They blame IT. That’s why the best plans include clear communication, a workflow inventory, and a phased rollout.

Identifying Your Current SharePoint 2013 Workflow Usage

Before you pick a migration path, you need an inventory that answers a simple question: “If this workflow stops tomorrow, who screams first?”

A Practical Inventory Includes:

• Site and URL
• List, library, or content type
• Trigger (created, updated, manual start)
• Business owner and SME
• What the workflow does in plain English
• Systems it touches (email, Teams, external APIs, custom code)
• How often it runs and when it last ran successfully

This is also where many organizations discover they are still running sites in a largely classic experience. If you are already navigating SharePoint Classic End of Life discussions and mapping SharePoint Classic vs Modern, workflows are a natural workstream that ties directly to user experience and governance.

➔ How to Audit Workflows Before They Retire

Microsoft recommends using the Microsoft 365 Assessment tool to understand whether your organization is using SharePoint 2013 workflows and to begin planning migration.

The scanner produces a Power BI Workflow Report that helps you:

• Identify all SharePoint 2013 workflows across the tenant
• Evaluate recency and volume of usage
• See which lists, libraries, and content types use workflows
• Review a Power Automate “upgradability” score based on detected actions

This is one of the cleanest ways to move from gut feel to evidence. If you’re already using a SharePoint Online Migration Checklist, this is a natural place to connect the dots. Do not just migrate content. Bring your automation inventory along with it.

➔ Key Questions to Evaluate Workflow Readiness

Once you have a list, the next step is triage. Here are questions that keep discussions grounded and help teams avoid re-creating the same mess in a new tool:

• Is it mainly approvals and notifications, or does it have heavy branching, loops, and complex exception handling?
• Does it rely on elevated permissions, impersonation steps, or a service account pattern?
• Does it integrate with external systems (ERP, ticketing, file shares, line-of-business apps)?
• What audit trail is required, and where should it live going forward?
• Can the business owner validate that the rebuilt automation matches the outcome, not just the steps?

If answers are unclear, treat that workflow as high risk. It does not mean “do it first.” It means “do not assume it will be quick.”

What Are the Alternatives to SharePoint 2013 Workflows?

There is no single replacement for every workflow. The best answer depends on complexity, governance requirements, and who will own the automation after modernization.

1. Power Automate (Recommended for Most Microsoft 365 Tenants)

For most organizations, Power Automate is the primary replacement path Microsoft points customers toward.

Power Automate often works well when:

• Automation spans Microsoft 365 services, not just SharePoint
• You want modern monitoring, connection management, and governance
• You need connectors to other services

If your use case is simple approvals directly tied to list items or documents, Microsoft also points to Approvals in Lists & Document Libraries as an option, which can reduce the need to recreate a full workflow for basic approval behavior.

2. Migrate with SPMT Where it Fits

If you’re migrating from SharePoint Server, the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) supports migrating workflows to Power Automate, including SharePoint Designer (SPD) 2010 and 2013 workflows, as well as certain classic out-of-the-box workflows.

Microsoft also calls out important constraints, such as:

• list, library, and content-type workflows are supported (not site workflows)
• workflow definitions and associations migrate (not workflow history)

SPMT isn’t a magic button, but it can speed up early-stage workflow modernization. Microsoft says SPMT can migrate SharePoint Designer (SPD) 2010/2013 workflows to Power Automate, supports list, library, and content-type workflows (not site workflows), and migrates workflow definitions and associations (not workflow history data).

For SPD workflows specifically, Microsoft also notes that SPMT can migrate some commonly used actions, but not all actions are currently supported. Depending on how you configure the migration, unsupported actions can either trigger an error and stop the workflow migration, or they may be converted into Compose actions so you can review and update the flow after migration.

And because there are feature gaps between classic SharePoint workflows and Power Automate, Microsoft cautions that a converted flow may not behave exactly the same as the original, so validation is still required.

3. Partner and Third-party Workflow Engines

If you use a third-party platform, confirm whether it depends on SharePoint 2013 workflow “under the hood.” Microsoft explicitly advises customers to check for these dependencies and plan migration to a future offering of the workflow engine where needed.

In real projects, this step is often overlooked. The business might say, “We don’t use SharePoint workflows, we use Vendor X.” But Vendor X might still be using the 2013 engine to orchestrate tasks behind the scenes.

4. SharePoint Designer 2013 and On-prem Considerations

The retirement also affects SharePoint Designer (SPD) 2013 connecting to SharePoint Online to create and run SharePoint 2013 workflows, following the same 2024 and 2026 timeline.

That change is often visible to end users first. When SharePoint 2013 workflow is disabled, SharePoint Designer can show an error stating that user-defined workflows have been disabled by the SharePoint administrator.

Here’s What That Looks Like in SharePoint Designer:

For on-prem, the story is different. Microsoft states that SharePoint Server 2016 and SharePoint Server 2019 can continue supporting SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013 based workflows until those server products reach their end of support dates.

It’s also important to ground lifecycle conversations in actual dates:

• SharePoint Server 2016 extended support ends July 14, 2026.
• SharePoint Server 2019 extended support ends July 14, 2026.
• SharePoint Server 2013 End of Life has already passed (extended support ended April 11, 2023).

If your roadmap includes migrating from SharePoint 2019 to SharePoint Online, treat workflow modernization as a key part of that move, not a side project. Otherwise, you risk investing time in automations that remain tied to older infrastructure and support boundaries.

For SharePoint Server Subscription Edition, Microsoft announced SharePoint Workflow Manager as a newer workflow engine to power the SharePoint 2013 Workflows platform for SharePoint Server, compatible with SharePoint Server 2013, 2016, 2019, and Subscription Edition.

Don’t Wait for Workflow Failure: Prepare Now

If you do only one thing for the SharePoint 2013 workflow retirement, make it this: treat workflows like business processes, not like a SharePoint feature.

A practical approach usually looks like five workstreams that run in parallel:

1. Discovery you Can Defend: Use the Microsoft 365 Assessment tool plus stakeholder interviews to build the inventory. Do not rely on “we think.” Rely on evidence.
2. Prioritization that Matches Impact: Rank workflows by business criticality first, then complexity. A low-complexity workflow that runs payroll-related approvals is still critical.
3. Build the Replacement the Business Actually Wants: This is where a pure “lift and shift” mentality fails. A lot of legacy workflows exist only because SharePoint Designer made it easy to build something quickly. Some of those processes should be redesigned, not preserved.
4. Validation and Cutover Planning: If workflow history does not migrate, you need a plan for recordkeeping. If the workflow creates tasks, you need a plan for in-flight tasks and transitions during cutover.
5. Governance so you Do Not Rebuild the Problem: Even great migrations fail when new legacy workflows keep getting created in the meantime.

Disable New SharePoint 2013 Workflows (Tenant Setting)

While you’re inventorying and modernizing, the last thing you want is new legacy workflows being created. After confirming there’s no business need for new SharePoint 2013 workflows, Microsoft recommends tenant admins disable new 2013 workflow creation using SharePoint Online PowerShell.

This does not remove existing workflows, but it prevents teams from adding more legacy automation during your migration. The guidance uses SharePoint Online PowerShell:

Connect-SPOService -Url https://-admin.sharepoint.com
Set-SPOTenant -StopNew2013Workflows $true

Get a Free SharePoint Workflow Assessment and Consultation

If you want a clear plan and fewer surprises, we offer a free SharePoint workflow assessment and working session to help you:

• Identify where SharePoint 2013 workflows exist and which processes depend on them
• Prioritize what to modernize first based on risk and business impact
• Recommend the best-fit path (Power Automate, approvals in lists, SPMT where appropriate, or a supported partner solution)

This is also a smart time to align workflow modernization with your broader SharePoint Migration Strategy and your SharePoint Online Migration Checklist, so you don’t migrate content first and discover broken processes later. We can also help you map decisions that connect to SharePoint Online vs On Premise considerations and modernization priorities across departments.

Conclusion

The SharePoint 2013 workflow retirement is a deadline-driven change with real operational impact. Microsoft has set a fixed retirement schedule for SharePoint Online and states there is no extension beyond April 2, 2026.

The organizations that handle this well do not treat it as a one-time conversion project. They discover workflows, rank risk, modernize in waves, validate outcomes with business owners, and add guardrails to stop new legacy automation.

If your roadmap includes work tied to SharePoint Classic End of Life, the move from SharePoint workflow patterns built in SharePoint Designer, or lifecycle milestones like SharePoint 2016 End of Life and SharePoint 2019 End of Life, this is the right moment to make workflow planning a first-class workstream.

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SharePoint 2013 Workflow Retirement FAQs

1. Is SharePoint workflow still supported?

It depends on where you run it. In SharePoint Online (Microsoft 365), SharePoint 2013 workflow is being retired and Microsoft recommends moving to Power Automate or another supported orchestration tool. On-prem SharePoint Server can continue supporting classic workflows until the server product reaches its end of support date.

2. Will SharePoint 2013 workflow be retired?

Yes. Microsoft states SharePoint 2013 workflow is turned off for newly created tenants as of April 2, 2024, and will be removed from existing tenants as of April 2, 2026. Microsoft also states there is no option to extend beyond April 2, 2026.

3. What is replacing SharePoint workflow?

For most Microsoft 365 organizations, Power Automate is the primary replacement path Microsoft recommends. For basic approvals on list items and documents, Approvals in Lists & Document Libraries can be a good option. Some organizations also use supported third-party workflow platforms, especially for cross-system processes.