Forum Discussion
Data access after Project Online (PWA) retirement
Hi everyone! I asked this same question on Microsoft Learn and received an official reply from AlexDN (Microsoft Team). I’m sharing it here for everyone’s benefit. If you have follow-up questions, please feel free to reply below, I’ll do my best to help or follow up with Microsoft.
Source (Microsoft Learn): https://learn.microsoft.com/pt-br/answers/questions/5602263/armazenamento-de-dados-ap-s-descontinua-o-do-proje
"Dear Leandro Lima,
Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.
Microsoft has announced that Project Online will be retired on September 30, 2026. This change is part of our long-term strategy to modernize project-management experiences in Microsoft 365.
This retirement affects only Project Online. It does not affect Project Desktop, Project Server Subscription Edition, Microsoft Planner, or To Do. I would like to clarify the following details:
1/ What happens to your data after retirement?After September 30, 2026, you will no longer be able to access any data stored in Project Online. This includes project schedules, resource data, and associated SharePoint content.
There will be no grace period or read-only access after the retirement date. All data must be exported or migrated before that date.
2/ What about linked SharePoint sites?SharePoint sites linked to Project Online (such as project workspaces) will also become unavailable after retirement.
You will not be able to access or modify these sites once Project Online is retired.
3/ Can data be exported or migrated?Yes, but only before the retirement date. Microsoft provides tools and guidance to help with this process:
• Use the official Project Online User Data Export script to extract project data in bulk.
• Projects can also be saved manually as .mpp files using Microsoft Project Desktop.
• SharePoint content (documents, lists) must be copied separately using SharePoint export tools.
4/ Migration optionsMicrosoft recommends transitioning to one of the following platforms:
• Planner: a modern cloud-based solution integrated with Microsoft 365.
• Project Server Subscription Edition: an on-premises option that preserves the classic PWA experience.
• Dynamics 365 Project Operations: for advanced project-management and finance needs.These articles may be helpful:
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/end-of-support/end-of-support-2026
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/projectonline/export-user-data-from-project-online
• Microsoft Project Online is retiring: What you need to know — available in English only.
Please understand that our initial response may not immediately resolve the issue. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. Your detailed reply will help us diagnose and investigate the problem more efficiently.If I did not understand what you are looking for, feel free to let me know or share a screenshot. I will be happy to help!
Thank you for your cooperation. I look forward to your response."
This thread is a little old, but I have a question related to this part:
2/ What about linked SharePoint sites?
SharePoint sites linked to Project Online (such as project workspaces) will also become unavailable after retirement.
You will not be able to access or modify these sites once Project Online is retired.
All the resources I have seen here and elsewhere seem pretty clear about "project sites will not persist" or "you will not be able to access your project data, including SharePoint data." I still have one small faint hope.
We are planning a migration from PWA to another platform, but to minimize that migration I was planning to archive hundreds of old, closed, or completed projects first, in this fashion:
- export the Project Schedule as an MPP file
- upload it to the project Shared Documents library
- delete the project from the Project Center, while not deleting the SharePoint subsite
- set all user permissions for the SharePoint subsite to Read-Only
Important note: We not use the “PWA permissions mode”; we are only using the “SharePoint permissions mode”.
All the resources either don't mention the permissions mode or specifically say "your sites won't work because "the PWA permissions" won't be present". But we don't use PWA permissions mode -- we use SharePoint permissions mode. I simply cannot see what connection to PWA is remaining in those subsites once we archive the data and delete the project from the Project Center. That's my small hope.
Perhaps the answer will be "We (Microsoft) don't know what permissions mode you use, so we're going to delete everything anyway." That would be draconian, but at least it will be clear. But it dramatically increases the migration effort -- we have to migrate the active projects to a new platform AND migrate the "archived" SharePoint sites to a new SharePoint site.
Your thoughts, anyone?