Its official Viva Topics is retiring in February 2025

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the upcoming retirement of Viva Topics, retiring for February 2025.  

This was officially declared on the 22nd of February 2024, and marks a significant pivot in Microsoft’s strategic focus particularly towards the enhancement of Copilot. Such transitions, while poignant, are symbolic of the dynamic nature of technology and business, where innovation and change are the only constants now. 

The termination of Viva Topics holds a new era of knowledge management and circulation within the Microsoft ecosystem. Existing Topic pages, a main feature of Viva Topics, will undergo a seamless migration to SharePoint sites. This transition ensures the preservation of the operational framework and governance that users are familiar with. However, it’s pertinent to note the discontinuation of the bespoke knowledge management and analytics features that were uniquely just for Viva Topics. 

Microsoft are huge advocates for the use of SharePoint as the primary channel for publishing and organising knowledge. This strategic redirection ensures the content remains easily discoverable via Microsoft search, while also integrating it seamlessly with Microsoft Copilot across the comprehensive suite of Microsoft 365 applications. Yet, it is with a small bit of nostalgia that we acknowledge the withdrawal of certain functionalities. The automated appearance of Topics across various Microsoft interfaces, including Microsoft search, Office applications, Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint pages. They will sadly be phased out, gone but never forgotten.  

Viva Engage will return to a simplified public topics model, stripping itself of the integrated Viva Topics features. The company will sunset the intuitive interaction with topics, whether through AI-discovered insights, direct links to Viva Topics pages, or the managerial overview of topics.

Nonetheless, the essence of community and engagement that Topics facilitated will not be entirely lost. Users will retain the ability to create, contribute to, and follow topics within Viva Engage, maintaining a sense of the interactive and personalised experience albeit in a more basic form. This transition ensures that topics remain accessible and relevant to all Viva Engage users, fostering a public forum for discussion and discovery for everyone. 

As we navigate this transition, it’s essential to embrace the opportunities that such changes hold. The evolution of technology is a testament to human adaptability. In bidding farewell to Viva Topics, we also open our arms to the next chapter of innovation within the Microsoft ecosystem. We are confident in the continued excellence and transformative potential of its offerings, and we can help you along the journey.  

If you have any related questions about Viva Topics or as a current user and want to understand the transition, please reach out and schedule a conversation with us by clicking the Green ‘contact’ button to the right of the page.