Earlier this month, Microsoft made a surprise announcement that it would be retiring the Office 365 connectors feature from Microsoft Teams. Office connectors in Microsoft Teams allowed third-party services to post content and service updates directly into a Teams channel. For example, if the GitHub connector was installed, all pull request information could be automatically published to a particular Teams channel to keep interested members updated.
At the time of the announcement, Microsoft recommended Power Automate workflows as the alternative solution to replicate the same functionality and provided the following retirement schedule:
- Wave 1 – effective August 15th, 2024: All new connector creation would be blocked within all clouds.
- Wave 2 – effective October 1st, 2024: All connectors within all clouds would stop working.
Developers were unhappy with Microsoft"s decision for two main reasons. First, a three-month deprecation window over the summer holiday period was deemed too short to develop an alternative solution. Second, Power Automate workflows have limitations compared to Office 365 connectors.
Based on feedback from developers, Microsoft has postponed the retirement of Office 365 Connectors in Teams.
Microsoft stated the following regarding the extension:
"We understand and appreciate the feedback that customers have shared with us regarding the timeline provided for the migration from Office 365 connectors. We have extended the retirement timeline through December 2025 to provide ample time to migrate to another solution such as Power Automate, an app within Microsoft Teams, or Microsoft Graph."
Below is the new schedule for retirement of Office 365 connectors in Teams:
- All existing connectors will continue to work until December 2025.
- Using connectors beyond December 31, 2024, will require additional action by connector owners. They need to update the respective URL to post by December 31st, 2024.
- Starting August 15th, 2024, all new creations should be created using the Workflows app in Microsoft Teams.
- At least 90 days prior to the December 31, 2024, deadline, Microsoft will send further guidance about making this URL update.
While the eventual transition to Power Automate is still on the horizon, the extended timeline provides developers with much-needed breathing room to make the necessary adjustments.
Source: Microsoft