Communities

Question

Communities

Karen Kerslake 0

After the end of December 2026 which subscription still has the Communities function? I need this to continue the work of our action group.

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

No Microsoft subscription will preserve the Communities feature after its retirement starting in December 2026; Microsoft recommends moving the action group to a group chat or, if organizational collaboration is required, to a work-or-school team with channels.^1^

What this means for subscriptions

The retirement applies to Communities in Teams for personal use, including Communities currently available through:

Microsoft Teams Free
Microsoft 365 Personal
Microsoft 365 Family

Purchasing or upgrading one of these subscriptions does not exempt the community from retirement. Teams business licenses do not provide the personal-use Communities feature; they provide organizational teams and channels instead.^2^

Prepare the action group now

Create the replacement space.
- For a straightforward discussion group, create a group chat in Teams and manually add the members.
- If the group needs separate subjects, structured membership, files, and longer-term administration, consider a Microsoft Teams work-or-school license and create a team with channels.
Manually notify and add members.
Microsoft will not automatically convert the community into a group chat. Members and content will not transfer automatically.^1^
Export content before access ends.
- Open the Export My Data page linked from Microsoft’s retirement notice.
- Sign in with the Microsoft account used for the community.
- Select chat history, media, or both.
- Submit the request and periodically check its status.
- Download the export when it is ready.
Export the required data before leaving or deleting the community. Removed members cannot export its data, and deleting the community removes members’ access.^1^

Existing communities can continue temporarily while the retirement rolls out, but new community creation will be disabled during that process. Do not rely on an existing community remaining available beyond the announced retirement.

References

Answer 2

Hello Karen Kerslake,

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not announced any subscription that will continue to include Communities in Teams for personal use after the retirement begins in December 2026. Moving to another personal Microsoft 365 plan therefore would not preserve this feature.

To keep your action group connected, you can create a group chat in Teams and manually invite the current members. Please note that the community, its members, and its content will not transfer automatically, so it is also important to export any messages or media you want to retain before leaving or deleting the community.

Teams for work or school is not affected by this change, but it requires an eligible organizational account and is managed separately.

You can find Microsoft’s official announcement and export instructions here: Communities in Microsoft Teams for personal use is going away. Thank you so much for your understanding.

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