Navigating SharePoint Alerts Retirement and Exploring New Notification Options
- Talanoa Group
- 20 minutes ago
- 3 min read
If your team still relies on SharePoint Alerts to track file changes, list updates, or approvals, this matters.
Microsoft is officially retiring SharePoint Alerts. That means the familiar “Alert Me” option is going away, and at some point, it simply stops working.
This isn’t just a feature change. It’s a shift in how Microsoft expects notifications to work across Microsoft 365.
Let’s break this down in plain English: what’s happening, what your real options are today, and how to avoid replacing one fragile setup with another.
What Is Happening with SharePoint Alerts?
Microsoft is phasing out classic SharePoint Alerts as part of its move away from legacy features. Alerts were built years ago for a very different version of SharePoint.
They’re:
Limited
Hard to manage at scale
Invisible to admins
Not designed for modern workflows
Microsoft’s official guidance is clear: use Power Automate instead. Microsoft has confirmed this in their retirement notice.
Alerts don’t evolve. Automation does.
Why Is Microsoft Retiring SharePoint Alerts?
Alerts worked, but barely.
They fire on everything, lack context, and create Inbox noise. Most teams eventually stop trusting them.
Modern alternatives:
Trigger only when something actually matters
Route messages to Teams instead of email
Track who received what
Support reminders, escalations, and logic
In short: fewer notifications, better signals.
What Are Your Options After Alerts Retirement?
If you’re wondering how to replace SharePoint Alerts, here are some practical alternatives to consider:
1. Power Automate (the real replacement)
Power Automate is the direct successor to SharePoint Alerts and far more capable.
You can:
Notify when a file changes and meets conditions
Send alerts to Teams, email, or both
Delay, escalate, or repeat notifications
Log alerts for audit or reporting
Example:
Notify Finance in Teams only when a contract over $25,000 is uploaded and remind them if it’s not reviewed in 3 days.
This is what Alerts should have been.
2. Leverage Microsoft Teams Alerts and Connectors
Email fatigue is real.
Power Automate lets you post adaptive cards or messages directly into Teams:
Channel posts for shared visibility
Direct messages for accountability
Action buttons instead of long email threads
Teams becomes the alert center, not your Inbox.
Example:
Connect a SharePoint list to a Teams channel to get instant updates when new items are added, helping your team stay aligned without switching apps.
3. Task-based alerts (Planner or To Do)
Sometimes the problem isn’t alerts, it’s follow-through.
Instead of saying “Something changed”, you can:
Create a task
Assign an owner
Set a due date
Track completion
This works well for:
Policy acknowledgments
Document reviews
Approval follow-ups
Example:
Automatically create and assign a task when an employee must acknowledge a new or updated policy stored in SharePoint, with reminders sent until the task is completed.
4. Dashboards instead of notifications
Not everything needs an alert.
For some scenarios, a SharePoint view or Power BI dashboard is better:
“What’s overdue?”
“What changed this week?”
“What needs attention?”
Alerts pull people. Dashboards let people check when they need to.
Example:
Create a dashboard that highlights contracts expiring in the next 30, 60, and 90 days from a SharePoint List, giving Finance and Legal a clear view of what needs attention without sending constant alerts.
What not to do
Instead of asking “How do we replace Alerts?”, ask:
What decisions are we trying to trigger?
Who actually needs to know?
What action should follow the notification?
From there, you design intentional automation, not noise.
Need help replacing Alerts the right way?
If your organization:
Still uses SharePoint Alerts
Is worried about missing critical updates
Wants cleaner notifications without Inbox overload
We help teams replace legacy Alerts with simple, maintainable Power Automate solutions built on the tools you already own in Microsoft 365 without extra subscription costs.
👉 Let’s talk. We’ll help you map what you have today and design something better that actually sticks.