Google Sites
| Classic Google Sites | |
| |
| URL | Google Sites[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb] |
| Status | Offline |
| Archiving status | Partially saved |
| Archiving type | DPoS |
| Project source | google-sites-grab |
| Project tracker | google-sites |
| IRC channel | #nearlylostmygoogles (on hackint) |
| Data[how to use] | archiveteam_googlesites |
Google Sites is a wiki and website creation tool offered by Google.
You can export your own classic Google Site by visiting the Classic Sites Manager, selecting the site(s) you want to download and pressing Download. After a short wait, the download will be available from Google Takeout.
There is also an older Java-based tool for downloading classic Google Sites (see the README for download link). It can download any site that is public or you have access to. (This tool has an option for exporting revision history which only works for site collaborators or owners.) Note that OAuth authentication is required even for downloading public sites. This tool does not preserve all navigation and styling/formatting of sites. The Classic Sites Manager export is more accurate in exporting an exact copy of a classic Google Site.
Google Sites Classic Closure
On the 6th of August, 2020, an email was sent out announcing that the original version of the site building tool will be closed in September 2021. If the owner does not migrate their Google Site before that date, they will be forced to do so for their site to be publicly available again. An archive of their site will also be placed in their Google Drive.
As of 2023-11-28, it appears that all classic sites on personal accounts have been migrated/deleted and significant progress has been made on migrating/deleting sites on Google Workspace accounts.
Google Sites Timeline
2004: JotSpot, the technology that would eventually become classic Google Sites, is founded[1].
February 22, 2006: The predecessor to classic Google Sites known as Google Page Creator launches, allowing people to host websites for free at [gmailusername].googlepages.com (sometimes www.[gmailusername].googlepages.com[2]).
October 31, 2006: Google acquisition of JotSpot is announced[3].
February 27, 2008: JotSpot is relaunched as classic Google Sites[4].
August 2008: Google Page Creator stops accepting new signups[5].
June 1, 2009: Google Page Creator shuts down. Unless the user opted otherwise, Google Page Creator pages are automatically converted to classic Google Sites, and the *.googlepages.com URLs redirect to these sites[6]. These redirects still work as of August 2020.
June 13, 2016: New Google Sites is released to early adopters[7].
November 9, 2016: New Google Sites is generally available[8].
May-June 2018: Classic Google Sites to new Google Sites converter tool released[9]. Due to differences in the two products, converted sites look very different than they did before. These sites can be published to the same URL as the original site.
August 2020: Google emails users announcing a shutdown timeline for classic Google Sites.
November 1, 2020: Consumer classic Google Sites that haven't been viewed or edited since before January 2018 are exported as HTML to the user's Google Drive and become inaccessible to the public. No more classic consumer Google Sites can be created[10].
May 2021: Classic Google Site creation disabled for G Suite users[11].
September 1, 2021: Remaining consumer classic Google Sites are exported as HTML to the user's Google Drive, and are converted to drafts of new Google Sites that can be republished to the same URL as the original site. Unless that happens, the sites become inaccessible to the public[12].
January 30, 2023: Classic Google Site editing disabled for G Suite users[13][14][15]. Remaining G Suite classic Google Sites are exported as HTML to the user's Google Drive, and are converted to drafts of new Google Sites that can be republished to the same URL as the original site. Unless that happens, the sites become inaccessible to the public[16][17][18][19].
November 28, 2023: it appears that all classic sites on personal accounts have been migrated/deleted and significant progress has been made on migrating/deleting sites on Google Workspace accounts.
Between January 10, 2025 and January 30, 2025: it appears that the remaining infrastructure for classic Google Sites (https://sites.google.com/site) has been removed. Around the same time, Classic Sites Manager was likely deprecated.
- ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/jotspot[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://techcrunch.com/2006/02/22/google-pages-released/[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/jotspot[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/jotspot[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/08/google-page-creator-to-be-closed.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/04/google-page-creator-migration-info.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2016/06/powering-more-connected-and.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2016/11/a-totally-rebuilt-google-sitesnow.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://jonathanwylie.com/2018/05/23/how-to-convert-an-old-google-site-to-the-new-google-sites/[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://support.google.com/sites/answer/7035197[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2020/08/transition-classic-to-new-google-sites.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://support.google.com/sites/answer/7035197[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2020/08/transition-classic-to-new-google-sites.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/11/classic-sites-timeline-update-november-2021.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2022/05/classic-sites-new-sites-timeline-update-may-2022.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2020/08/transition-classic-to-new-google-sites.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/11/classic-sites-timeline-update-november-2021.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2022/05/classic-sites-new-sites-timeline-update-may-2022.html[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]
- ↑ https://support.google.com/a/answer/9958187[IA•Wcite•.today•MemWeb]