Overview
Description: With the deprecation of SharePoint alerts, users must create rules in SharePoint teams to send change alerts.
Environment: Microsoft SharePoint
Background: Starting in July of 2026, Microsoft is retiring the alerts for SharePoint notifications. They propose SharePoint Rules as an alternative.
Solution
With the retirement of SharePoint alerts, receiving notifications for changes or updates now involves creating rules.
These rules are granular and set conditional statements for meeting the criteria of sending an email notification. These email notifications can be set up for SharePoint lists and document libraries. Please follow Microsoft’s support article to create a rule.
Limitations
The rules suffice to meet the basic alert function but have some notable limitations:
- Lists can only have 15 rules
The rules apply to the list/library and not on a per user basis- The rules are only applicable to lists and document libraries
- The notification is email only, and it cannot be sent to a distribution group
- Multi-line text rules and complex conditions are not supported
- The rules cannot be scheduled or reoccurring
- The recipient cannot receive summaries or customize notification frequency