SharePoint 2010 to 2016 Migration - Feature Compatibility - SOAP Web Services

[Jack Humphrey]

SharePoint 2016 still includes the SOAP/ASMX Web Services however we understand that they are still supported but deprecated.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/general-development/choose-the-right-api-set-in-shar...

The client has a utility application that interacts with the Web Services in their current SharePoint 2010 environment. This external utility cannot be updated during the upgrade from 2010 to 2016 to use the preferred CSOM or REST APIs. 

Understandably in 2013 they are not deprecated but SP2013 will go out of support much sooner than 2016. We would like to, therefore, recommend 2016.

Is there a risk that the SOAP/ASMX Web Services will be removed as part of an update to SP 2016 or is it safe to assume that the Web Services will remain as part of SP 2016 and won't be made obsolete until the 2019 release of SharePoint?

[#2]

May I ask why updating the tool is not an option here?

[#3]

I would agree this would be the best option and was my first recommendation but we have been told that it would not be possible.

The move to SharePoint 2016 is not, in this project, a long-term strategic solution (but is longer than the supported life cycle of 2013), so there is an unwillingness to make the changes to a process that ultimately has worked without hitch for 5+ years.

My gut feeling is these Web Services will NOT be removed in the current 2016 product, but I wanted to see what the feeling in the community was as I have been focused on Office 365 for the past year (the web services are still working in SharePoint Online).