When will Classic Google Sites shut down / sunset / retire?

Classic Google Sites is set to shut down at end of 2021. Perhaps you received this email:

You won’t be able to edit classic Google Sites starting December 1, 2021. Starting January 1, 2022, classic Google Sites will no longer be viewable.

Dear Google Workspace Administrator,

As previously communicated in August 2020 and April 2021, classic Sites is no longer available for website creation. If you haven’t already done so, enable new Sites creation for your users today.

We’re writing to remind you that the following changes will happen to your classic Sites:

• Starting December 1, 2021, users in your domain(s) {DomainName} will no longer be able to edit their remaining classic Sites.

• Starting January 1, 2022, classic Sites will no longer be viewable unless they are converted to new Google Sites.

If you want your organization’s classic Sites content to continue to be viewable without interruption, make sure all of your existing classic Sites are migrated by December 31, 2021. Review the transition timeline below for more details.

What do I need to know?

In 2016, we launched an updated Google Sites designed to help you create websites without programming skills, optimize across mobile and desktop, and co-build with real-time collaboration. In 2017, we announced that we’re replacing classic Sites with our new Google Sites product. We shared more details about the transition timeline in August 2020 and sent a reminder in April 2021.

Below is the remaining transition timeline:

• Starting December 1, 2021 — Editing of remaining classic Sites will be disabled.

• Starting January 1, 2022 — Any remaining classic Sites will automatically be transitioned as follows:

  • Downloaded as an archive and saved to the website owner’s Google Drive.

  • Replaced with a draft in the new Google Sites for website owners to review and publish.

• After this process has taken place for a given site: When you or your users try to visit the classic Site, you will no longer see the website content if it hasn’t been published in new Google Sites.
  
  Note: We anticipate the transition process for all remaining classic Sites will take up to three months to complete. You’ll receive a notification once this is completed for your domain. During the transition period, you and your users will still be able to take action on remaining classic Sites.

Important: Some sites may not be automatically replaced with a draft new Google Site due to page count limits or other factors. Please see this help center article to understand if your site may be impacted and take action before December 31, 2021.

Read what’s new in Google Sites.

What do I need to do?

Use the Classic Sites Manager to help your users make the transition. This console helps you with the following actions:

• View all classic Sites in your domain.

• Convert, archive, or delete your websites.

• Update owners.

• Disable editing on specific sites.

• Export a summary report of your classic Sites to Google Sheets for project management.

If you don’t take any action, the changes outlined in the transition timeline above (under What do I need to know?) will automatically be applied to your domain. For more details about this process, refer to the Sites Help Center.