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Microsoft Teams News: Wiki Page Retiring in January 2024 & There Are Things You Must Do
Before saying "Peace Out" to Wiki Page in January 2024, you must do some things.
This in-depth video discusses what to expect, Microsoft's timelines, and a guide to completing the transition.
Now, you can work your magic - efficiently!
- Video Date January 20: Peace Out https://youtu.be/y7BtR9NlMyE
- Updated Video February 27: Revised Timelines https://youtu.be/seXrZ5awhGs
- Date: 3/21/2023: Download Wiki from SharePoint https://youtu.be/9BKk2zh1y84
If you want a backup of your Wiki Pages, this video shows you how to download Teams Wiki Pages from SharePoint to your local drive. Once the files are downloaded, then open the Wiki files in Microsoft Word. Note: This process should NOT replace Microsoft's requirement to export Wiki Page to OneNote.
Date: 4/30/2023: https://youtu.be/4ugFh6sLcP8
Tips and insights on Exporting Teams Wiki to OneNote
5/14/2023 "Perfect Wiki for Teams" App: A Microsoft Teams Wiki Alternative
Video: https://youtu.be/jSk6SQRN4sk
In this thread, several users were searching for an alternative wiki app. I conducted a review on the "Perfect Wiki for Teams" app. It is a great app! Check out the video.
/Teresa
#traccreations4e
REVISED: Regarding the Wiki Libraries in SharePoint, the wiki pages will remain on SharePoint. However, the Wiki Page and App are not available in January 2024.
I created a video on exporting the Wiki libraries content to a zip file and opening the pages into a Word file as a BACKUP. It will be available later this week. I will update this post with the link when it is available.
Stay tuned.
/Teresa
#traccreations4e
- Anything new on here about when it will be removed exactly from teams? We have converted all the wikis to OneNote (which i absolutely hate... ^^) but we are using the wikis for better clarity as well (and even more).
So it would be really nice if anyone know, when MS will delete the wiki-button on teams and finally say goodby to it.In January 2024, all Teams Wiki pages and the Wiki app will not be accessible.
Congrats on converting your Wiki pages to One Note, even though you hated it.
Have a good day.
Hi Teresa! Thank you for the information - very helpful!
Have a good day (and weekend) too!
Here is a link to Microsoft's official messaging on this topic: https://admin.microsoft.com/Adminportal/Home?ref=MessageCenter/:/messages/MC496248
It seems this should have already occurred?
Since the Microsoft's announcement of retiring the wiki app, several users asked about an alternative. I completed an application review on the "Perfect Wiki for Teams." I was really impressed!
Check out the video: Video: https://youtu.be/jSk6SQRN4skThanks for the recommendation, but to replace the free built-in Wiki feature with a product we'd have to pay for is not an option.
Likely when the time comes for GCC to have Teams functionality reduced by the removal of WiKis I'm going to recommend to all my users to use Word or Excel for their various notes and stay away from OneNote. Afterall, Microsoft could one day decide OneNote is going to be retired just like Wikis are now. I'll hedge our bets with Word/Excel as they'll likely stick around for the long haul.
Thanks again for the information it's appreciated.
Thanks for your input. This could go either way.
I just want to give users options.
/Teresa
#traccreations4e
When does this change happen for GCC? I have no banners on my Wiki pages in Teams to warn my users about this.
I looked in the Roadmap and don't see it mentioned either.
- I can see that I can still create Wiki pages, while MS said otherwise in its roadmap, is it the same for you all ?
Yes. I was able to create a Wiki Page as of this week. But don't get too comfortable because you will not have that luxury one day.
Yes I am able to create wikis as well. Microsoft needs to update their dates. The following is the only message I see:
- Great content here, congrats.
IMHO OneNote is not the best target for migrating Wiki, instead I'd wait for Loop APIs. What's your opinion about that?First, users can't wait for Loop. It is too new and has a learning curve. They must convert content from Wiki to "Something" sooner than later.
Next, I haven't started using Loop API yet. I want to use it to develop a strategy and best use case. Still, according to Microsoft's information, the Loop app is meant for the collaborative gathering of information and brainstorming during the early stages of a project. While OneNote can also be used for gathering information, it is more commonly used as a replacement for wikis, where administrative assistants can create final content for onboarding, team manuals, processes, and more.
Personally, I was a big fan of the desktop versions of OneNote 2016 and 2019 for this purpose because they offer several advantages vs. Teams and Online versions, such as:
- saving as a standalone notebook on SharePoint,
- granting access to channel members and non-members,
- titling sections independently of channel names,
- creating templates, and
- having additional features to improve the user experience.
- Finally, I can post a link to the desktop notebook on Teams.
However, there's a big caveat: Microsoft will end support for OneNote 2016 and 2019 in October 2025 - no more new features, so it's not wise to transfer content to these apps, as users may end up having to "redo the redo."
If users want to wait on Loop, they can easily download and save the wiki pages as an MS Word or PDF file and then embed the document in Teams Notes. This is a workaround for Private Channels if users are crunched for time. (Yes, I know, it is an extra click. Agh!)
This may be an ongoing project if users are not embracing the Notes Tab as is.
Teresa_Cyrus ok thanks but this isn't great
I deliberately chose wiki over one note to keep things as simple as possible. I don't like the editing experience in one note. Hopefully this means we will see improvements to OneNote in the near future?- Were you editing OneNote in Teams or the Browser? Your experience might be better if you edit in the app.
Hi thehappycheese,
I see that "Happy Cheese" is not so happy with Microsoft's changes.
On the serious side, I encourage you to provide your OneNote requirements in the Feedback Hub.
Feel free to post your link in this thread so that others can vote as they see fit.
Have a good day.
LIMITATIONS:
- It does not export Wiki hyperlinks. (External Links worked for me.)
- Does not export Private Channel Wiki Pages
One person mentioned that the table did not export properly. I tested and had no problems exporting tables.
What a surprise. Another case of Microsoft being Microsoft.
Team's wiki implementation was extremely weak and sub-mediocre (to give it more credit than it deserves) but was a bit useful in some particular cases for light note taking, or maybe minutes of a meeting.
Instead of developing a better product, they kill it.
Surprise, surprise.
Today the message 'Wiki tabs in channels will go away starting in June 2023. You can export your content to a new Notes tab that will be created for this channel.' with a 'get details' button. After clicking that button you have the option to 'Export to Notes'. Here is some information I will pass along as it's NOT how I wanted my Wiki converted to Notes. For those that maybe didn't realize this and it's important to understand because they are opposite each other....
WIKIs have multiple pages with multiple sections in the page
OneNote has multiple sections with multiple pages in the sectionHere's what the exported result was for me:
A site OneNote is created or if already existed it is updated
Each channel Wiki becomes a OneNote Section by the channel name, 'General' for example
Each Wiki page becomes a OneNote page in the OneNote Section
All of the Wiki Sections are inserted 1 after the other in the OneNote page
This may be the desired result, it was not for me. I wanted each channel's content only available in that channel.
My expectation was that a OneNote would be created for each Channel.
Each Wiki page would become a OneNote Section.
Each Wiki section in the page would become a OneNote page in the OneNote Section.
Probably not the best illustration but hopefully it helps to understand what happens.
If my Team and Wikis are like the following before exporting:
They end up like this after exporting:
My links to exported wiki pages/sections were lost. You will need to add those back.
Other links seem to be fine.
Pictures transferred.
It's time consuming but I am splitting out my information into separate OneNotes (1 per channel) recreating the original structure of the Wiki. Reply if you want information on how to do the splitting and I will do my best to describe it.
- Thank you for sharing this valuable information.
- Hi Teresa
Thx for a great post!
Many of my users are having trouble with exporting their Wikis to OneNote. They get this error:
Export didn't complete.
Looks like something went wrong, and you'll need to restart the export. If the problem persists, contact your IT admin for help.
*************************
We have tested Teams version, Teams for Web, Started an app for OneNote, Cleared cache, checked the permissions and settings in the Teams - without results.
Have you, or anyone else in this thread heard of a solution for this? My suspicion is that's an error on some old Teams. We started up with Teams back in 2017'ish.
Thanks in advance for your answer.
Br. Linda Gärtner Nielsen
I also noticed that any conversations that were on the right side of the Wiki page for the entries don't get exported. After the export the Wiki page becomes read only. So you also don't have access to the conversations anymore. Any links or documents in those conversations are then gone. Is there anyway to access this again?
Don't like the structure it becomes in OneNote. Everything is just on one page. The numbering for the content headlines is lost. There is no space or page breaks between the sections. So a lot of edit effort needed to get it back into a readable format.
You might want to do what I did then to get the 'tabs' back. These are the basic steps I did:
- I created a new OneNote tab in the channel where I wanted it to reside.
- I opened both the site OneNote where the wiki exported to and this new OneNote in the app.
- In the new OneNote, create your sections and then copy and paste the 'page' information from the site OneNote to your new OneNote
It's time consuming but nets the results you want.
Teresa_Cyrus
I finally have the message, but its translation in french is quite different from what I understood from the roadmap , it says "Wiki tabs in channels will disappear starting june 2023. You can export your content to a new OneNote tab that will be created in this channel."
According to the roadmap I understood they would disappear only in january 2024 !
Are we sure that our users must migrate all their wiki tabs at the end of june , in 2 months ?I have also noticed an issue : the message doesn't appear in the "Wiki App", is it normal ?
I checked the Message Center in the Admin Center today and Microsoft's last update was March 17th. In my post early in this thread on March 14th, the only change was the rolling out date from early March to late March.
In response to your question, my Wiki Page banner also states:
"Wiki tabs in channels will go away starting June 2023. You can export your content to a new Notes tab that will be created for this channel."It appears to me (as a non-MS employee) that MS forgot to change the date to January 2024. Also, MS mentioned that the Wiki Page will be unsupported starting June 2023.
I will also add that a Microsoft Team Member has marked one of my posts as the best answer where I had referenced the January 2024 retirement date.
I agree that the communications are confusing. If you find this information helpful, please like this post. Thank you in advance.
/Teresa#traccreations4e
- I also saw that MS mentioned that the Wiki Page will be unsupported starting June 2023, the important thing to know is what "unsupported" exactly means ...
