Yahoo Groups to Fully Shut Down on December 15, 2020

Yahoo Groups is completing the final stage of shutting down on December 15, 2020, at which time it will be fully removed from the web.

The process of shutting down Yahoo Groups, a once thriving website full of vibrant communities, began last year.

First, Yahoo disabled the ability to use Groups in October 2019. New content could no longer be contributed to Groups, but existing content could still be viewed and downloaded.

Content in Yahoo Groups became no longer viewable in December 2019, and users had until January 2020 to download their data.

We will stop making the content available or viewable from the https://t.co/AI347YbZxo portal at 11:59 PM PT on Dec 14, 2019, but we will not delete it until all requests submitted prior to Jan 31, 2020 have been processed.

— Yahoo Customer Care (@YahooCare) December 10, 2019

Until now, a stripped down version of Yahoo Groups has existed on the web. Its only capability is allowing group members to send private messages between each other.

Soon, the last remaining function of Yahoo Groups will be removed and the website itself will not be accessible.

An announcement pertaining to the closure of Yahoo Groups now appears on the groups.yahoo.com homepage.

Yahoo Groups shut down announcement.

The announcement reads:

“We're shutting down the Yahoo Groups website on December 15, 2020 and members will no longer be able to send or receive emails from Yahoo Groups.

Yahoo Mail features will continue to function as expected and there will be no changes to your Yahoo Mail account, emails, photos or other inbox content.

There will also be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services. You can find more information about the Yahoo Groups shutdown and alternative service options on this help page.”

The help page which Yahoo refers to compiles a number of frequently asked questions about the shut down of Groups.

Yahoo cites a decline in usage of Yahoo Groups as the reason for shutting it down:

“Yahoo Groups has seen a steady decline in usage over the last several years. Over that same period, we've witnessed unprecedented levels of engagement across our properties as customers seek out premium, trustworthy content.

While these decisions are never easy, we must sometimes make difficult decisions regarding products that no longer fit our long-term strategy as we hone our focus on other areas of the business.”

Though Yahoo Mail will continue to work, messages can no longer be sent or received from Yahoo Groups members after December 15.

The help page reads: “If you try to email your group after December 15, your message will not be delivered and you will receive a failure notification.”

If you're a former user of Yahoo Groups, and there are specific group members you wish to stay in contact with, it sounds like the only option is to exchange contact information.

For those seeking alternatives to Yahoo Groups, the company's top recommendations is Nextdoor. There's even a help page about transferring a Yahoo Group to a Nextdoor Group.

Yahoo also points to Facebook Groups, Google Groups, and Groups.io as potential alternatives.