How to use it
Start at the step that matches where the farm is. Microsoft supports one way from SharePoint Server 2016 or 2019 to Subscription Edition, a database attach to a new farm (overview of the upgrade process, checked on 1 November 2026), so every step below leads to it.
Knowledge's SharePoint answers were measured against SharePoint Online. None of them is linked here: on SharePoint Server, each would be a claim nobody has tested.
1. Not started
Should this farm move to Subscription Edition, and on what evidence?
- Versions and lifecycle · Field Guide, chapter 7
What the end of support on 14 July 2026 leaves a 2016 or 2019 farm with. - The state of SharePoint in 2026: what is gone, what is current, and what to build on · Analysis
What ended in 2026, what replaced it, and what to build on. - SharePoint 2016, 2019, Subscription Edition and Online: what actually changes · Analysis
What changes between the editions, and the licensing that decides between them. - What decides the destination · Field Guide, chapter 3
The constraints that close a destination, and the ones that only price it. - Building the business case · Field Guide, chapter 5
What the decision costs, on numbers you can defend. - Microsoft end of support · Tool
The date each version left support, and the step that follows. - SharePoint Compass · Tool
A rules-based read of your answers: what is retired, the risks, and the destination they point to. - Not covered yet. The lifecycle tool has no Subscription Edition row yet; the editions comparison covers its support policy.
2. Discovery
What does the farm hold, and what does each piece depend on?
- Know your estate before you choose its future · Field Guide, chapter 2
What an inventory has to hold before any destination is chosen. - Inventory and decide every customisation · Field Guide, chapter 15
What the farm has installed, what the sites use, and the decision for each customisation. - Farm solutions that run with elevated privileges · Field Guide, chapter 17
Every operation that runs with more rights than whoever starts it. - Migrating SharePoint 2016 and 2019 to Subscription Edition: the scripts · Analysis
The inventory to take on the old farm before touching anything. - InfoPath · Tool
A planner for the forms InfoPath still serves, and where each replacement runs. - SharePoint Designer · Tool
What still runs of the old workflow platforms, where each kind goes, and a planner for them. - Subscription Edition migration pack · Tool
The customisation, elevated-privilege and farm inventories as workbooks, from a description of the farm.
3. Designing the target farm
What does the new farm need before any content arrives?
- Build the farm, and nothing on it yet · Field Guide, chapter 23
What the new farm runs before any database arrives, and what it must not have yet: no web application, and no service application the wizard created. - Farm solution, SharePoint Framework or external service: deciding each customisation on Subscription Edition · Analysis
Where each kept customisation should run: in the farm, in the browser, or outside it. - Migrating privileged SharePoint server-side code requires an authorization design · Analysis
The authorisation design privileged code needs before it moves. - Developing for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition: the practices that hold up · Analysis
The SharePoint Framework version the farm accepts, and how to build within it. - Subscription Edition migration pack · Tool
The compatibility matrix against Microsoft's list of what was deprecated or removed. - Not covered yet. Topology and MinRole, backup and recovery design, and monitoring are not covered on this site yet.
4. Executing the migration
How do the databases move, and in what order?
- Work in the order Microsoft documents · Field Guide, chapter 23
Microsoft's four phases in order: the farm, the copy, the service applications, then web applications, customisations, test and attach. - Migrating SharePoint 2016 and 2019 to Subscription Edition: the scripts · Analysis
The sequence in PowerShell, from the old farm to the checks before anyone is let in. - Migrating SharePoint without stopping the business · Analysis
The write freeze, the waves and the way back around the attach. - Subscription Edition migration pack · Tool
The runbook and the task tracker, with the same identifiers in every document. - Not covered yet. Cutover and rollback between two farms have no chapter of their own yet.
5. Validating and operating
How do you prove the attach worked, and keep the farm supported?
- Prove the attach worked before anyone uses it · Field Guide, chapter 23
The readings that prove each attach before anyone uses it, and the functional checks after them. - Subscription Edition migration pack · Tool
The test matrix, with the evidence each test needs. - SharePoint 2016, 2019, Subscription Edition and Online: what actually changes · Analysis
How Subscription Edition is serviced, and what keeps a build supported. - Not covered yet. Health Analyzer review, monitoring, patch cadence and recovery operations are not covered on this site yet.