Classic Knowledge Data Model End of Support

Original Publication Date: January 13, 2026

Updated: March 17, 2026

Salesforce Ended Support for Classic Knowledge Data Model on March 1, 2026. We recommended migrating to Lighting Knowledge, which offers more then 60 features that are not available in Classic.

We retired Classic Knowledge Data Model to focus our resources on building powerful features that benefit all of our customers using Lighting Knowledge. After you run the Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool, you’ll be able to enjoy all the benefits of Lightning Knowledge.

What does this change mean for me? 

If you were using the Classic Knowledge Data Model and have not run the Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool yet, you must have completed the migration before March 1, 2026. 

Before migrating in production, we strongly recommended testing the migration in a sandbox environment as documented in the migration documentation. Once the migration is complete, you’ll be able to manage and maintain your knowledge base in Lightning Knowledge. 

What will change when moving from Classic Knowledge to Lightning Knowledge?

• 60+ features, AI and the future of Knowledge innovation.

• Lightning Knowledge uses record types instead of article types, so filtering by article type is no longer supported

• Setting a default record type for new articles is not available in Classic

• Some actions, such as Change Record Type, aren’t available on the Knowledge article record page in Salesforce Classic

• Picklist values assigned to only one record type in Knowledge objects aren’t visible on records in Salesforce Classic

What action should I take?

If your organization is not using Knowledge today but still has articles remaining, please complete the migration to Lightning Knowledge and then delete the old articles if they are no longer in use. When you're ready to enable the Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool in your production org, log a request with Salesforce Support.

You can also delete the old articles directly (without first migrating to Lightning Knowledge) using the Knowledge APEX methods.

If your organization is using Knowledge articles in Classic Knowledge Data Model, please take the action of running the Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool before the deadline. Refer to the Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool documentation for more information.

Do I need to do anything differently if I have one article type (for example, FAQs) versus multiple article types (such as FAQs, How-To articles, and others)?

If you have a single article type, you can enable Lightning Knowledge directly in Settings.

If you have multiple article types, you must run the Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool.

What happens if I don’t take action?

You will see a warning pop up message preventing you from using Knowledge. If you are on Classic Knowledge Data Model and have not run the Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool by the deadline, you will lose all access to your knowledge base until you run the Migration Tool.

We recommend coordinating with your Salesforce Admin and business stakeholders to plan the Lightning Knowledge migration effort. The migration may take anywhere from a few hours to a few days depending on the size and complexity of the knowledge base.

If you have more questions, refer to Salesforce Help. To view all current and past feature retirements, see Salesforce Product & Feature Retirements.

To read about the Salesforce approach to retiring products and features, read our Product & Feature Retirement Philosophy.