Esri Community Read-Only Period Begins August 13th
Beginning Thursday, August 13th, Esri Community will enter a Read-Only mode during which existing content can be viewed, but new posts, comments, kudos, or other forms of engagement cannot be added. Users will also be unable to create new accounts. This is a necessary requirement during the final stages of our platform migration, and it is expected to last a little over a week.
Barring unknown circumstances, Esri Community is expected to launch on the new platform on Monday, August 24th.
Steps You Should Take Now
The vast majority of Esri Community data is automatically being migrated to the new platform; however, there are some out-of-scope items not migrating that you may wish to preserve:
Post Drafts
Unpublished Blog and Document post drafts will not be migrated to the new platform.
Affected Users:
- In Places, Esri staff, Esri Community MVPs, and members with the Blog Author role can create Blog drafts. Only Esri staff and Esri Community MVPs can create Document drafts.
- In User Groups, anyone who has joined a User Group as a member can create Blog or Document drafts.
Action: Either (1) publish drafts that are ready to be made public ahead of August 13th, or (2) copy and save them to your device in a word processing document until they can be recreated in the new platform.
The current platform does not provide a method for automatically locating all of a members’ post drafts. You’ll need to identify specific Blog or Document dashboards they’re stored in. Here are some guides that can help: Locate Document Drafts and Locate Blog Drafts.
The new platform has a built-in feature for easily locating all your post drafts.
Place Managers may want to save drafts produced by Guest Bloggers on their behalf or connect with their Guest Bloggers to recommend that they take this step.
Helpful Links and Welcome Messages
Helpful Links and Welcome Messages are custom components sometimes found in Places and User Groups. These will not be migrated to the new platform.
Affected Users:
- Esri staff with the Place Manager role and User Group Owners.
Action: Navigate to the Place(s) you oversee or the User Group(s) you own. If there are Welcome Messages or Helpful Links you would like to preserve, save these to your device in a word processing document.
The new platform does not currently feature Welcome or Helpful Links features. Our team is exploring solutions, but there won’t be a close parity solution at launch. The Esri Community team will be available to help implement alternative approaches where there is a continued need for these resources.
Old Private Messages & Private Message Attachments
Private Messages more than two years old will not be migrated (PMs less than two years old will be migrated). Additionally, attachments on Private Messages — regardless of age — will not migrate.
Affected Users:
- Any members with Private Messages older than two years, or whose Private Messages have attachments.
Action: Review your Private Messages. Save any attachments and/or messages you would like to preserve to your device.
Bookmarks
Members’ in-platform bookmarks will not be migrated.
Affected Users:
- Any members with saved bookmarks.
Action: Locate your bookmarks by clicking on your Avatar and selecting “My Profile” from the dropdown menu. Then scroll down your profile to find any saved bookmarks on the right-hand side. Save post URLs as bookmarks on your browser or in a word processing document on your device.
GIF showing how to locate bookmarked posts saved in your Esri Community account.
The new platform has its own Bookmarks feature, which you can use to re-save post URLs to your profile after launch.
Notification Subscriptions
Subscriptions to Places, boards, posts, or labels will not be migrating.
Affected Users:
- Any members who have subscribed to receive activity notifications on Places, boards, posts, or labels.
Action: Review your subscriptions. For Places and posts you would like to continue receiving notifications for, either bookmark each one to your browser or save a list of URLs to a word processing document on your device. Create a list of labels, as well as the Place or User Group each is featured in so that they can be easily located on the new platform after launch. The new platform offers parity features that can be used to follow content for notifications.
With limited exceptions, boards will no longer be used to separate post types in the new platform. Instead, most Places and all User Groups will feature activity feeds that include available post types. Where needed, feed and search filters can be used to identify specific post types and statuses.
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Questions? Our Esri Community 2026 Migration FAQ may already have the answers. If not, ask in a comment or email our team at [email protected]