Microsoft Project Online retires on 30 September 2026. From that date, Project Online data, pages, reporting feeds and APIs stop working, and so do any Power Automate flows that use Project Online triggers or actions. There is no automatic conversion of those flows to Planner or any other service.
For many organisations this sounds like someone else's problem. Project Web App may not have been opened in months. But flows built on the Project Online connector tend to sit quietly on shared connections for years, sending approvals, updating lists and posting to Teams. For UK SMEs, the useful question is simple: does anything still running in your tenant depend on Project Online, and what should happen to it?
This article sets out what stops working, why broken flows will be easy to misdiagnose, and the practical steps to take before the service switches off.
Key takeaways
- Project Online retires on 30 September 2026. Existing environments keep running until then, but new tenants and PWA instances could not be created after 1 April 2026.
- Power Automate flows that use Project Online triggers or actions will stop working and must be redesigned or retired. Microsoft does not convert them automatically.
- Project Online data, PWA pages, reporting feeds, APIs, add-ins and Project-to-SharePoint synchronisation all stop at the same time.
- Project desktop is not retiring and still works as a standalone product, but it can no longer connect to Project Online.
- There is no single replacement. Planner, Project desktop, Dynamics 365 Project Operations and SharePoint each suit different kinds of project work.
What stops working on 30 September
Microsoft's guidance is clear that the whole service-backed layer of Project Online goes, not just the Project Web App front end. That covers more than most people expect.
| Area | What happens after retirement |
|---|---|
| Project Online data | Projects, schedules, tasks, assignments, timesheets, resources, custom fields and portfolio analyses are no longer accessible through the service |
| PWA pages | Project Center, Resource Center, Timesheets, Project Detail Pages and admin settings stop working |
| Reporting and APIs | REST, CSOM, JSOM, ProjectData and OData endpoints become unavailable, so reports and scheduled refreshes that use them fail |
| Power Automate | Flows using Project Online triggers or actions stop and must be redesigned or retired |
| Add-ins, workflows and scripts | PWA add-ins, Project Online workflows, custom web parts and scheduled jobs that call the service stop |
| Connected SharePoint project sites | Content may remain reachable, but synchronisation, Project metadata and PWA-managed permissions end |
| Project desktop | Continues as a standalone product, but can no longer publish to or retrieve from Project Online |
One point catches people out. A connected SharePoint site that still loads is not proof that its Project Online behaviour survives. Microsoft has also confirmed there is no supported way to convert a PWA site collection into an ordinary SharePoint site.
Why broken flows will be hard to spot
The Project Online connector in Power Automate looks like any other Microsoft 365 action. A flow built on it can keep running long after the team stopped using Project Web App day to day, often under the connection of someone who has since changed role or left.
After 30 September, those runs will fail at the connector step rather than at the conditions, the SharePoint list or the Teams message further down. Colleagues will simply notice that an approval never arrived or a status column stopped updating. That looks like a broken flow, not a retired product, and troubleshooting can easily start in the wrong place.
The fix is to find the Project Online steps before the date, so that anything which stops is a decision you made rather than a surprise.
The retirement timeline
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 1 April 2026 | Existing customers can no longer create new Project Online tenants or functional PWA instances |
| 2 April 2026 | SharePoint Add-ins, Azure ACS and SharePoint 2013 workflows retired in Microsoft 365, affecting many older Project Online customisations |
| Until 30 September 2026 | Existing Project Online environments remain operational |
| 30 September 2026 | Project Online retires and service-backed features stop working |
Microsoft's original retirement announcement gave organisations a long runway. For anyone who has not yet acted, the window is now about triage rather than a full migration.
Where the work goes next
There is no like-for-like replacement for Project Online, and Microsoft says as much. The right destination depends on what your projects actually need, and many organisations will use more than one.
| If your projects need | Consider |
|---|---|
| Collaborative task management, Teams integration and light portfolio visibility | Microsoft Planner |
| Detailed scheduling, Gantt views, baselines and dependencies for individual project managers | Project desktop (standalone) |
| Project delivery tied to sales, resourcing, time, billing and profitability | Dynamics 365 Project Operations |
| Simple trackers, approvals and document collaboration | SharePoint lists with Power Automate |
| Advanced on-premises portfolio and capacity management | Project Server Subscription Edition |
For most UK SMEs, the realistic choice is between Planner for everyday work management and a finance-connected option where projects are the business, such as professional services firms that bill by time or milestone. If project data already needs to reach finance, connecting project work to Dynamics 365 Business Central is often a better long-term answer than rebuilding the old PWA setup piece by piece. Reporting that previously drew on Project Online feeds can move to Power BI built on supported data sources.
What UK SMEs should do now
With days rather than weeks remaining, the aim is to capture what you need and make deliberate choices about everything else. We would suggest six priorities.
- Confirm whether you have Project Online at all. If there is no PWA instance in your tenant, none of this applies. If there is, find out who owns it.
- Search your flows. In Power Automate, check personal, shared and team flows for Project Online triggers or actions. Admins can look across environments in the Power Platform admin centre.
- Decide each flow's fate. Either turn it off with a note to its owner, or rebuild the same steps on a supported service such as SharePoint, Planner or Outlook. Do not leave anything running to fail silently.
- Export the data you need to keep. Projects, schedules, timesheets, resources and custom field values will not be reachable after the date. Save required .mpp files and any records with a retention obligation.
- Check your reports. Any Power BI dataset, workbook or script pointing at ProjectData or OData feeds will fail on its next refresh. List the ones that matter and plan a replacement data source.
- Tell people. A short note to project managers and flow owners explaining what stops, and what replaces it, saves a lot of confused support tickets the following morning.
How Advantage can help
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, Advantage helps UK SMEs manage changes like this without disruption. Our team can check your tenant for Project Online dependencies across flows, reports and SharePoint sites, rebuild critical automations on Microsoft Power Platform, and advise on the right long-term home for your project work, whether that is Planner, Microsoft 365 tools or a finance-connected solution in Dynamics 365 Business Central.
The deadline is fixed, but what follows does not have to be rushed. We can help you separate what needs doing this week from what can be planned properly afterwards.
Contact the Advantage team today on 020 3004 4600 or visit our contact page.
Frequently asked questions about the Project Online retirement
Short answers to the questions UK businesses are asking about Project Online, Power Automate and what comes next.
When does Project Online retire?
Project Online retires on 30 September 2026. Existing environments remain operational until that date. After it, Project Online data, PWA pages, reporting feeds, APIs and other service-backed features stop working.
Will my Power Automate flows keep working?
Flows that use Project Online triggers or actions will stop working. Microsoft does not convert them automatically, so each affected flow needs to be rebuilt on a supported service such as SharePoint, Planner or Outlook, or turned off. Flows that do not touch Project Online are unaffected.
Is Project desktop retiring too?
No. Project desktop remains available as a standalone product for scheduling and .mpp files. What stops is its connection to Project Online, so any process that publishes to or retrieves from Project Online needs replacing.
What happens to SharePoint project sites?
SharePoint content such as documents, risks and issues can remain accessible under normal SharePoint policies. However, synchronisation with Project Online, Project metadata and PWA-managed permissions all end. Confirm ownership and access for any content you plan to keep.
What should replace Project Online?
It depends on the work. Microsoft Planner suits collaborative task management in Teams, Project desktop suits detailed scheduling, and Dynamics 365 Project Operations suits project delivery linked to billing and finance. Many SMEs use a combination.
Related Resources
Microsoft Power Platform
Microsoft 365 and Copilot
Dynamics 365 Business Central
Power BI Reporting and Dashboards
Everyday AI That Works for You
