Microsoft shuts down file-sharing service Docs.com on December 15

Microsoft has announced that it will stop offering its Docs service at the end of this year, with which, among other things, Office files can be shared. The company says that the service is no longer needed due to the LinkedIn acquisition and will stop on December 15.

The Redmond-based company displays a notice on Docs.com, explaining the discontinuation of the service. Through the acquisition of LinkedIn, Microsoft has also acquired SlideShare. This service, which has approximately 70 million users and offers similar functionality to Docs, now replaces Docs.com. In addition, OneDrive offers file sharing options, according to Microsoft.

The termination process has now started, so from now on it is no longer possible to create a new account on Docs.com. From August 1, it will no longer be possible to edit or publish files. You can still view and download it. Between now and December 14, current users can choose to have their files transferred to OneDrive. If they do, their library will automatically become read-only and redirect links to OneDrive.

This functionality will end on May 15, 2018; at that point, links to files on Docs.com will no longer be redirected to OneDrive. Microsoft states that it is not possible to move data to SlideShare right away, because files are public there and the company wants users to choose which data they make public.

Docs.com was announced along with Facebook in 2008 as a way to share Office files with Facebook connections. In 2015, Microsoft released a new version of the service, which included support for the presentation tool Sway. In March of this year, Microsoft temporarily closed Docs.com’s search function after sensitive data was found on the platform, including personal data and credit card data.