If you use SharePoint Alerts to get email notifications when files are added or lists are updated, you’re not alone. You may or may not have heard that Microsoft is planning to retire this long-standing feature.
While this change might feel disruptive at first, there are good reasons behind the move—and better tools available to take its place.
Why Is Microsoft Retiring SharePoint Alerts?
Classic SharePoint Alerts have been around for years. They’re easy to use, but they’re also limited in how they work and what they can do. Microsoft is phasing them out for a few key reasons:
- Legacy Technology: Alerts are part of SharePoint’s older architecture, which doesn’t align well with the modern Microsoft 365 services.
- Security and Flexibility: Alerts offer little customization and no centralized way to manage them. Newer tools offer better control.
- Better Options Now Exist: Power Automate and Microsoft Copilot can handle notifications with far more intelligence and flexibility.
What You Can Use Instead?
Microsoft is encouraging users to switch to Power Automate, a tool built into Microsoft 365 that lets you create workflows between apps and services, including SharePoint.
Here are two common alert scenarios and how to rebuild them with Power Automate:
- Get Notified When a File Is Added to a Library
With Power Automate, you can set up a flow that:
- Watches a specific document library.
- Triggers when a new file is created.
- Sends you an email, a Teams message, or a mobile push notification.
You can even add filters, for example, only get notified when someone uploads a PDF to a certain folder.
- Weekly Digest from a SharePoint List
If you use alerts to send a weekly summary from a list (like client comments or status updates), Power Automate can do that too:
- Set up a flow to run on a schedule (weekly, bi-weekly, etc.).
- Pull list items that have changed in the past 7 days.
- Format them into a clean summary table.
- Email that digest to your team.
The result? One clean, consistent message instead of a stream of alert emails.
What About Copilot and Agents?
We’re still in the early days, but Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Agents will eventually handle more proactive notifications and summaries, surfacing the right info without users needing to ask for it.
But for now, Power Automate is your best bet for replacing legacy alerts.
The official timeline has been stated as the following: SharePoint Alerts in SharePoint Online are being retired, with a phased rollout starting in July 2025 and ending in July 2026, according to Microsoft. New tenants will be the first to lose the ability to create new alerts starting in July 2025, with all tenants affected by September 2025
Change is always a little inconvenient, especially when it involves long-used features like SharePoint Alerts. But the upside here is that the alternatives offer a lot more power, control, and potential for automation.
If your team relies on alerts today, it’s worth planning the move sooner than later. Once you’ve switched, you might find you don’t miss them at all. – Need help, reach out to KnowledgeWave we have training and consulting options for Power Automate. Call us today! 800.831.8449.
