Microsoft Teams News: Wiki Page Retiring in January 2024 & There Are Things You Must Do

[Teresa_Cyrus]

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

[#2]

@Teresa_Cyrus 
What about Meeting notes? So if you do now notes via the 3 dots in a meeting, the Wiki pops up. Will it switch to OneNote as well from next (or the other) week on?

By the way: in PP (EA) the migrationtool is already there, but not the block of new wikis. Thats honestly confusing again. It should happen hand in hand. In PP and after that. I guess it will be in rollout.

Regards

[#3]

@Roman Buchwald 

Meeting Notes in the call console is indeed a Wiki, and is added to your team's channel. You will be required to convert it to OneNote later, for Wiki is retiring.

Microsoft has not mentioned changing the MS Team Meeting Notes in the call console - yet.  However, I suspect the meeting notes will be updated to OneNote. When? I am not sure. It has to be sooner than later because the meeting notes are used in the Meeting Recap.

Good News: Based on MS Roadmap (see below), you can add apps to Channel Meetings.  My personal opinion, in order to limit the number of wiki conversions, I would add the OneNote app to future channel meetings. (By the way, I have not received this update yet.)

Here are my thoughts.  This statement includes me too. --> Respectively, be patient. <--
Let Microsoft work out any bugs that they may be encountering.  I rather have a clean workflow when it is rolled out vs working harder with a tool that doesn't function properly.  Also, Microsoft is known to revise timelines.  Stay tuned.

You are doing the right thing - completing your due diligence.  Kudos to you!

I hope this helps. 

RoadMap Details: 

Microsoft Teams: Support apps in Channel Meetings

Meeting organizers and participants can now add apps to meetings in Teams channels for better collaboration and engagement across a variety of scenarios.

• Feature ID: 81122
• Added to roadmap: 2/15/2023
• Last modified: 3/21/2023
• Product(s): Microsoft Teams
• Cloud instance(s): GCC, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)
• Platform(s): iOS, Desktop, Android, Mac
• Release phase(s): General Availability

/Teresa

#traccreations4e

[#4]

Thanks for starting this informative blog @Teresa_Cyrus! 

I may be stating the obvious but wanted to maybe give a couple of discovery pointers to anyone that may need them. I am an admin and did not want to rely on users to complete the discovery work. I had a total of 112 sites with teams and was able to get through these discovery steps over the course of 3 days while still completing other duties.

Start with producing a SharePoint list of Sites with Teams in the SharePoint admin center.

Download it and use it to document what you find/do.

For each Team:

1. In the Teams admin center add yourself to the team and to any private channels
2. Check the tabs for Wiki content. Don't just check the tab labeled Wiki as the tab may have been renamed.
3. If the tab is a Wiki and it's empty, remove it.
4. Check every Channel's tabs. Make sure you expand any hidden channels too.
   1. Optional steps: Open the site in SharePoint. Private channels create their own Sites so make sure you open them too.
   2. Navigate to and open Site Contents.
   3. Open library 'Teams Wiki Data'.
   4. Check under each folder for content.
   5. Delete empty folders or if there is only 1 or 2 'untitled' .mht files.
   6. If nothing is found of value, delete the Library 'Teams Wiki Data'.
   7. It's important to note that I did find folders in the Library that didn't have a folder by the same name as channels for the team with content. I suspect these were from channels that were removed. You may want to keep this content.
5. In your SharePoint spreadsheet, make a note for what you did and if there are any Wiki's present to migrate.
6. Remove yourself from the Team.

Does anyone know how to exclude the Wiki App from being used in Teams? I would love to not allow anyone to add a Wiki now that I completed my research to find all the Wikis!

I did a little test too for new sites getting created.

When you create a New Teams SharePoint site and add a Team or create a new Team in Teams, the Wiki tab was not included and the library 'Teams Wiki Data' was not created. That was a relief! I hope that experience is the same for everyone.

Hope this helps folks to prepare for the next steps!

[#5]

Good content. On average, how many channels per Team Site did you have?

I also did a little digging and found nothing on how to disable the Wiki App.  It has been a hot topic in the past. 

[#6]

@Teresa_Cyrus 

Most had 1 channel but I would have to say 2 channels per team if you are looking at an average. We also utilize private channels and that does create a separate SharePoint site.

I took some time yesterday and wrote the following simple PowerShell script to identify the team, channel, and tab name where the wiki app is being used. It matches my manual results so I am confident it reports correctly. This script doesn't alter anything and it does not have a bunch of bells and whistles. I hope it helps those that can use PowerShell:

#Set Connection Variables
$Tenant = 'your tenant'
$ClientId = 'your client id GUID'
$TenantId = 'your tenant id GUID'
$Thumbprint = 'your certificate thumbprint'

#Import and Connect to Necessary Modules
Import-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell
Connect-SPOService -Url "https://$($Tenant)-admin.sharepoint.com/"
Import-Module -Name Microsoft.Graph.Teams
Connect-MgGraph -ClientID $($ClientId) -TenantId $($TenantId) -CertificateThumbprint $($Thumbprint)

#Setup the object and container Items
$properties = @{Team=''; Archived=''; Channel=''; ChannelType=''; Tab=''; App=''} 
$objectTemplate = New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property $properties 
$Items = @()

#Get all SharePoint Sites with a Team Connected and Sort on Title
$Teams = @(Get-SPOSite -IncludePersonalSite:$False |Where IsTeamsConnected -eq $True |Sort Title)

#Process Each Team
ForEach ($T in $Teams) {
    $Team = Get-MgTeam -TeamId $($T.GroupId)
    $Channels = @(Get-MgTeamChannel -TeamId $($T.GroupId) |Sort DisplayName)
    #Process Each Channel in the Team
    ForEach ($C in $Channels) {
        $Tabs = @(Get-MgTeamChannelTab -TeamId $($T.GroupId) -ChannelId $($C.Id) -ExpandProperty TeamsApp |Sort DisplayName)
        #Process Each Tab in Each Channel in the Team
        ForEach ($TA in $Tabs) {
            #Only output an item where the App for the Tab is 'Wiki'
            If ($($TA.TeamsApp.DisplayName) -eq 'Wiki') {
                $objectCurrent = $objectTemplate.PSObject.Copy() 
                $objectCurrent.Team = $($Team.DisplayName) 
                $objectCurrent.Archived = $($Team.IsArchived) 
                $objectCurrent.Channel = $($C.DisplayName) 
                $objectCurrent.ChannelType = $($C.MembershipType)
                $objectCurrent.Tab = $($TA.DisplayName) 
                $objectCurrent.App = $($TA.TeamsApp.DisplayName)
                $Items += $ObjectCurrent
            }
        }
    }
}
#Print the Results to the screen
$Items |Select Team, Archived, Channel, ChannelType, Tab, App |Format-Table

#Export Results to a CSV File
$Items |Select Team, Archived, Channel, ChannelType, Tab, App |Export-Csv -Path $Home\TeamsWithWikiApp.csv

#Disconnect from SPOService and MgGraph
Disconnect-SPOService
Disconnect-MgGraph

[#7]

Great! Thanks for sharing.

Collaboration at its finest!

[#8]

@Teresa_Cyrus 

Thank you so much for this! Here is the one thing I can't figure out...any help would be greatly appreciated.

• My problem is that the yellow banner to export to OneNote only appears when I am using Public Preview (EA). We don't allow public preview for most of our users so they cannot perform the export operation
• Also, I recall hearing that as it stands right now, users shouldn't be able to create NEW wiki tabs. However, even if I'm on public preview, I can STILL create new wiki tabs.
  • Yes, I get the warning but I can still create new wiki tabs in the standard version of Teams
• I am version 1.6.00.8767

[#9]

Hi Michael,
same here even in Europe in (I guess) most of the regular tenants; with only admin access to PP.
I think we need to wait till the newer version than that from March 29th comes to us. I think that the PP ist not the best reference and in normal mode the app button will disappear next to the convertion...as u expect correctly.
Happy to hear from around the world in which version or which context next to PP (EA) the phase 1 really did start.
Wondering why MC496248 is not updated somehow.

Regards from GER

[#10]

@pnthrzrule @Roman Buchwald 

Sorry for the delay. It was Easter weekend in the USA.  

You have a valid question.  Thank you for sharing. I am an independent advisor, so here is my "logical" response I don't have any details from Microsoft.

* MS allows the EA users to use the products first to ensure it works correctly before rolling out to the remaining users. 

* I recommend you inform your organization of this change to prevent Wiki Page creations.

* If you are an IT Admin and plan to convert the sites yourself, respectively, start converting. 
* Or give the site owners temporary EA access so they can begin converting.

Here are my additional thoughts, MS indicated that Wiki will be unsupported starting in June.  Will they extend that date for GA users since the exporting tool is not available yet?

I hope this helps.

/Teresa

[#11]

@Teresa_Cyrus My users are starting to see this and the "Get Details" button isn't available so my users have no idea how to save their wikis. This is really bad.

[#12]

@KevinCrossman 

Sorry to hear that your clients are having trouble.

I reviewed both my desktop and outline MS Teams versions and received the banner with Get Details. However, I am an Early Access (Public Preview) User.
Try the following:
- Check if the issue occurs differently between EA and Standard Users.
- Have the user sign out of MS Teams and log back in again.
- Check for Updates by clicking on the more options left of the Profile, select About, and choose Check for Updates
- Give it a few days if the above suggestions don't work.

If you get nervous, check out the video to download content from SharePoint. Initially, this method served as a backup because it is DOUBLE WORK for peace of mind. The users must export the Wiki Pages to OneNote when the Get Details button becomes available. So give it a few days to see if the Get Details appear.

Please keep us up to date which will help others with the same issue. 

/Teresa

#traccreations4e

[#13]

As a heavy markdown user in both Teams messages, and in channel Wikis, I'm concerned that we may be losing this feature when Wikis go away. I do see all the usual options available in OneNote, so perhaps there is a way to use just the keyboard to do the common tasks, such as mark a word as code, or a sentence as a quote.

[#14]

The messages are absolutly proper. The first just warns or suggest to start over elsewhere. For Not-PP Users.
For PP-Users the wizard can be used, more or less for test reasons.
Just tell your clients to wait for June, when the wizards comes up regularly. Dont let them into the PP, cos they would unnecessarily turn on Teams2.0 😞
Thans @kevin. Cos we now know from your screeni (the german one is different) that the feature for the 99% of users just starting even in Phase 1 not in March, not in April, not in May (oh boy). In June 🙂

[#15]

Ah @Teresa: If June is right, MS should clarify whats "summer" (Phase 2) means. July would be a panic maker, August would be ok. Agree?

[#16]

Hi @Teresa_Cyrus ,

I'm in Australia and haven't seen any banners or received notification that Wikis are going to be retired!  All of my business' manuals are kept in Teams Wiki 😬.  Wondering why some are receiving banners advising of retirement, and others aren't?  Am I missing something?!

Thanks you!

[#17]

@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 ?

[#18]

@ogouret 

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

[#19]

@simoyrose 

Please check with your IT Administrator.  The retirement announcement was posted in the Admin Center Message Center.

Also, I have had several GCC users sharing that they have not received the message or banner notices.  I am not sure which region they were in. So, thank you for sharing your region.

MS "usually" roll out features and updates in a regional phase, but I am not absolutely sure why you have not received the notification. Please keep me and others in this thread informed. 

If you find this information helpful, please like this post. Thank you in advance.

/Teresa

#traccreations4e

[#20]

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 ...

[#21]

Yes, super confusing esp. regarding to the (never updated) 3-phase announcment:
I just quoted to my community of over a tousand keyusers the following steps or (safe) recommandations. Even MS will prob not know for sure. So safety and migration first:
[very shortend]
1) from now on: Export-function and prob in weeks block of new wikis. But still access to tabs...to convert
2) someday in 2023 (might even be June! if Teresa isnt right that they forgot to change June in 2024): Block of these tabs as well. Access and convert option only on a way not regarding the tabs
3) 2024: Complete (well not for admins) block of everything.

So: Convert till early summer!