SharePoint On-Premises to SharePoint Online: Complete Feature Mapping¶

Status: Authored 2026-04-30 Audience: SharePoint architects, migration leads, and platform engineers who need a comprehensive understanding of how every on-premises SharePoint feature maps to SharePoint Online. Scope: 50+ features across content management, search, workflows, forms, customization, security, and administration.

How to read this document¶

Each feature is mapped with:

• On-premises capability -- what the feature does in SharePoint Server.
• SPO equivalent -- the corresponding SharePoint Online capability.
• Migration complexity -- XS (trivial), S (small), M (medium), L (large), XL (redesign required).
• Notes -- migration considerations, blockers, and workarounds.

Complexity ratings assume experienced SharePoint administrators with M365 familiarity. Organizations without Power Platform expertise should add one complexity level for workflow and form migrations.

1. Pages and user experience¶

2. Content management¶

3. Search¶

4. Workflows¶

SharePoint 2010 Workflows and SharePoint 2013 Workflows are not supported in SharePoint Online as of November 2020 (2010) and April 2024 (2013). All workflows must be migrated to Power Automate.

5. Forms¶

6. Customization and development¶

7. Security and permissions¶

8. Business connectivity and integration¶

9. My Sites and social¶

10. Administration¶

11. Collaboration and social features¶

12. Infrastructure and operations¶

13. Migration tool support matrix¶

Which features are handled by which migration tool:

14. PowerShell assessment script for feature usage¶

# Comprehensive feature usage assessment
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell

$featureReport = @()

Get-SPSite -Limit All | ForEach-Object {
    $site = $_
    $rootWeb = $_.RootWeb

    # Check for InfoPath
    $infoPathCount = ($site.AllWebs | ForEach-Object {
        $_.Lists | Where-Object { $_.BaseTemplate -eq 115 }
    } | Measure-Object).Count

    # Check for workflows
    $workflowCount = ($site.AllWebs | ForEach-Object {
        $_.Lists | ForEach-Object { $_.WorkflowAssociations }
    } | Measure-Object).Count

    # Check for sandbox solutions
    $sandboxCount = ($site.Solutions | Measure-Object).Count

    # Check for custom content types
    $customCTCount = ($rootWeb.ContentTypes | Where-Object {
        $_.Group -ne "Document Content Types" -and
        $_.Group -ne "List Content Types" -and
        -not $_.Hidden
    } | Measure-Object).Count

    # Check for managed metadata columns
    $mmsColumns = ($rootWeb.Fields | Where-Object {
        $_.TypeAsString -eq "TaxonomyFieldType" -or
        $_.TypeAsString -eq "TaxonomyFieldTypeMulti"
    } | Measure-Object).Count

    # Check for custom master pages
    $customMaster = $rootWeb.CustomMasterUrl -ne $rootWeb.MasterUrl

    $featureReport += [PSCustomObject]@{
        SiteUrl          = $site.Url
        SizeMB           = [math]::Round($site.Usage.Storage / 1MB, 2)
        SubSiteCount     = $site.AllWebs.Count
        InfoPathForms    = $infoPathCount
        Workflows        = $workflowCount
        SandboxSolutions = $sandboxCount
        CustomContentTypes = $customCTCount
        ManagedMetadataCols = $mmsColumns
        CustomMasterPage = $customMaster
        CompatLevel      = $site.CompatibilityLevel
        LastModified     = $site.LastContentModifiedDate
    }
}

$featureReport | Export-Csv -Path "C:\Migration\feature-usage-report.csv" -NoTypeInformation

# Summary
Write-Host "Sites with InfoPath: $(($featureReport | Where-Object { $_.InfoPathForms -gt 0 }).Count)"
Write-Host "Sites with Workflows: $(($featureReport | Where-Object { $_.Workflows -gt 0 }).Count)"
Write-Host "Sites with Sandbox Solutions: $(($featureReport | Where-Object { $_.SandboxSolutions -gt 0 }).Count)"
Write-Host "Sites with Custom Master Pages: $(($featureReport | Where-Object { $_.CustomMasterPage }).Count)"
Write-Host "Sites with Managed Metadata: $(($featureReport | Where-Object { $_.ManagedMetadataCols -gt 0 }).Count)"

15. Migration complexity summary¶

Migration blockers (no direct SPO equivalent)¶

These features have no SPO equivalent and require architectural redesign:

1. Farm solutions (full-trust code) -- must be rewritten as SPFx, Azure Functions, or Power Platform
2. Custom service applications -- must be re-architected as Azure services
3. Business Connectivity Services (BCS) -- must be replaced with Power Platform custom connectors
4. Custom timer jobs -- must be replaced with Azure Functions or Power Automate
5. InfoPath form libraries with code-behind -- must be redesigned in Power Apps
6. SharePoint Designer workflows with custom activities -- must be redesigned in Power Automate
7. Custom master pages -- must be replaced with modern theming and SPFx extensions
8. Server-side event receivers -- must be replaced with webhooks and Power Automate

12. Feature parity assessment by SharePoint version¶

References¶

• SharePoint Online limits
• Deprecated features in SharePoint Online
• SharePoint 2010 workflows retirement
• SharePoint Framework overview
• Power Automate SharePoint connector
• Power Apps SharePoint integration
• Microsoft Search overview

Maintainers: csa-inabox core team Last updated: 2026-04-30