Are there any classic sharepoint customizations that need to be modernized ?

[Asna08]

Summary

Many older SharePoint environments still rely on classic customizations that are no longer best practice or compatible with the modern SharePoint experience. These legacy customizations often include:

Master page customizations (not supported in modern sites)

Custom web parts built with Script Editor or Content Editor

jQuery-heavy UI tweaks

Custom branding via CSS overrides

Sandboxed solutions or farm solutions

InfoPath forms and Designer workflows

Modern SharePoint encourages the use of:

SPFx (SharePoint Framework) for building web parts and extensions

Power Apps & Power Automate for forms and workflows

Modern site theming and branding via site designs

PnP (Patterns and Practices) for provisioning and governance

Modernizing these classic components is crucial for performance, maintainability, and compatibility with Microsoft 365 updates.

Have you encountered any outdated customizations that were hard to modernize? Share your experience below!

Additional information

No response

Example

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[Carterruff]

Many classic SharePoint customisations should be modernised to align with current best practices and ensure compatibility with SharePoint Online. Common examples include custom master pages, server-side code (like farm solutions), and heavily customised web parts that don't support responsive design or cloud readiness. These older approaches often break during updates and are unsupported in the modern experience. Modernising involves replacing them with client-side solutions using SPFx (SharePoint Framework), Power Apps, and Power Automate for workflows. A professional SharePoint consultation can help assess your current environment and guide the transition to a more scalable, secure, and user-friendly modern SharePoint setup.

[SametDulger]

Yes, I’ve worked on several classic SharePoint environments that needed updates to align with the modern experience.

One of the most common issues was custom master pages. Since they aren't supported in modern sites, we had to move branding to the supported theming system and site designs. It required rethinking how branding is handled, but the result was much cleaner and easier to maintain.

Another frequent case was the use of Script Editor and Content Editor web parts with a lot of jQuery and inline scripts. Most of these needed to be rebuilt as SPFx web parts. It took some effort, but it gave us much better control over functionality and compatibility.

We also had to replace InfoPath forms and SharePoint Designer workflows. In many cases, Power Apps and Power Automate worked well, though some complex workflows needed redesign rather than direct migration.

Using tools like the PnP modernization scanner helped a lot to identify what needed to be modernized and where to focus first.

Happy to share more details if needed.