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Sapna T
Sapna T

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Drupal 7 To Drupal 8 / Drupal 9 Migration? 10 Things You Should Know

So, are you excited to update your Drupal 6 or 7 website to Drupal 8 or 9?

Drupal 7 users, the best way for Drupal 7 to 9 upgrade is to upgrade your Drupal 7 to 8 and then to Drupal 9. Earlier, Drupal migrations used to entail massive re-platforming efforts. But the upgrade from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9.0 is more like an incremental upgrade.

Meaning, people using Drupal 8 can enjoy the simple upgrade path from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9.0, avoiding the other big migration project. But what about people who are still using Drupal 7 and now want to migrate to Drupal 9?

If you are using Drupal 7, it's the right time to migrate to Drupal 8 (or 9). This blog will tell you different ways of migrating your website from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 or 9. Before we jump to it, let us understand what Drupal migration is and what if you don't migrate.

What is a Drupal Migration?

Migration is migrating the entire content from the Drupal 7 version to Drupal 8 (or Drupal 9). The process includes configuration of content types, file types, image styles, etc., and contents like paragraphs, taxonomy terms, etc. As soon as the Drupal 9 version is released, both D7 and D8 versions will reach their end of life in November 2021; you will no longer receive support & fixes from the Drupal community Drupal 7 and 8. Meaning you don't have much time to take the call.

Should I Migrate To Drupal 8 Or Drupal 9?

It is one such question that people are searching over the internet. So, what's the main difference between Drupal 8 and Drupal 9? Drupal 8 was released with significant changes in themes, contributed modules, and configuration data, and Drupal 9 is the same Drupal 8 sophistication with deprecated code. We will talk about this term deprecated code later in this blog.

Can I Jump Straight To Drupal 9?

The Drupal 7 migration ecosystem is available in Drupal 9. It means you can jump directly to Drupal 9 if you don't want to go through Drupal 8. Drupal 9 has a migrate_drupal module which you need to migrate to Drupal 8 from Drupal 7.

If you intend to go through this direct road to Drupal 9 from Drupal 7, keep in mind that all Drupal 7 to 8 migration considerations will still be applied. You'll have to do the entire migration planning, deal with tooling and paradigm shifts, and consider the platform requirements.
Migrating to Drupal 9 from Drupal 7 is a valid option if you haven't migrated to Drupal 8 even after the release of Drupal 9.
Is It Safe To Upgrade Directly From Drupal 7 to Drupal 9, Skipping Drupal 8?
Yes, it is safe to jump directly to your Drupal 9 from Drupal 7.

Here is what you should know:

The APIs of Drupal 7 that don't have conversions will be left behind; there is no guarantee for full coverage.

This method will demand the same effort as migrating from D7 to D8 to D9 as it is a complete rebuild.

Since Drupal 9 is not backward compatible, you can't date back to Drupal 7 if any error occurs in Drupal 9 after migration.

These are some surprises you might encounter if you jump directly to Drupal 9 from Drupal 7. Therefore, the most sensible approach is migrating to Drupal 8 and Drupal 9.

We can say that migrating to Drupal 8 is feasible from the above discussion because you can start incorporating changes into your new site directly without waiting for a move away from Drupal.

To read complete articulated guide on Drupal migration at - Drupal 7 To Drupal 8 / Drupal 9 Migration? 10 Things You Should Know

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