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If your site collection contains files that have been customized using a file editor such as Microsoft SharePoint Designer or Notepad or by changing some of the file properties, these files may not work properly after your subscription is upgraded to 2013. When you run the pre-upgrade health check, any customized files in your site collection will show up in the health check report. Each customized file will have a link that will take you to a page where you can reset the file to the default template in the site definition.

Warning:  Resetting a file to the default template in the site definition will delete all customizations made to the file.

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Health Check - Customized Files

If you prefer not to reset the customized file to the default template in the site definition, you should create an upgrade evaluation site to test your customizations and make the necessary changes before upgrading the site collection. An upgrade evaluation site collection enables site collection administrators to see their site’s content in a new, separate copy of the site that is running on SharePoint 2013. The upgrade evaluation site collection is a complete copy of the site collection.

Important:  If you choose not to reset the file back to the default template in the site definition or if you choose not to create an upgrade evaluation site to test your customizations and make the necessary changes before upgrading the site collection, you should at least make a note of these files in case there are issues with them after you upgrade. You can also re-run the site collection health check after you upgrade if you run into any issues to identify any files that may be causing a problem.

What types of customized files are affected?

Certain .aspx pages that have been modified with Microsoft SharePoint Designer, Notepad, or any other file editing software will show up in the health check results list. This includes default.aspx pages, site templates, and Master pages that you may have customized outside of SharePoint. Additionally, any such files whose properties have been changed will also show up in the health checker results.

Branded sites

If you have branded your site by:

  • applying a custom style sheet to your site that overrides the SharePoint default styles

  • applying a custom theme (THMX file) to your site

  • copying and modifying the SharePoint default master page

  • creating a completely new custom master page in a publishing site, where the custom master page uses custom styles and is referenced by custom page layouts,

you must re-create your custom branding by using the new styles, themes, or master pages available in SharePoint 2013 and then apply the newly re-created design to the upgraded site collection.

Custom site templates

A site template is a way to package site features and customizations into a custom site that you can add to the solutions gallery for your own use. If you have custom site templates that you want to continue to use after your subscription has been upgraded to SharePoint 2013, then you must recreate them before upgrading your site collection otherwise, all new site templates will not work after you upgrade. For the steps to recreate your custom site templates in SharePoint 2013, see Upgrade site templates.

Using upgrade evaluation sites

During the upgrade process you’ll have the option to create an upgrade evaluation site. An upgrade evaluation site lets you see how your site will look and function in SharePoint 2013 before the upgrade is actually performed. This enables you to make any adjustments to your site collection to ensure a seamless upgrade. Unlike Visual Upgrade in SharePoint 2010, the upgrade evaluation site in SharePoint 2013 is a separate site from the original, so actions you take on the upgrade evaluation site have no effect on the original.

Begin your upgrade evaluation site review by looking at high-impact or high-profile site collections and then move on to lower-priority sites. As part of the planning process, you should have identified which sites are high-impact and high-profile and require immediate attention, and which can wait a bit longer.

Next, verify basic functionality in a representative set of lists, libraries, Web Parts, and so on. Review the new site to make sure that the common, basic elements of your sites are working.

If pages don’t render, check the Site Settings page. If the Site Settings page works and the upgrade has succeeded, there might be issues with the Master page or home page. If the Site Settings page doesn’t work, check the site collection upgrade log file for information about the problem. You can review the site collection upgrade logs by clicking on the link on the upgrade status page for your site collection.

Checklists for reviewing upgrade evaluation sites

Use the following checklists to review your upgrade evaluation sites and address any upgrade issues that you find.

Customized (unghosted) pages

Customized (also known as unghosted) pages are pages that were edited in one or more ways and now differ from the default template pages. The following table lists issues with customized pages that can occur after upgrade and provides suggested resolutions.

What to check

What to do if there’s a problem

Are your customizations still in place?

Determine whether you have only one issue or a larger problem with the whole page. If you added a brand-new page to your original site (for example, if you replaced Default.aspx with a different file instead of changing the existing Default.aspx file), the new page has no association with the site definition. Therefore, it might not resemble the other pages on the upgraded site — nor can it be reset to resemble them. If you want your customized page to have the same appearance and behavior as the other pages on your site, consider creating a brand-new page that is based on the site definition and then transferring your customizations to that new page.

Can you still access the editing controls on the pages?

If you customized the editing controls (for example, the Site Actions link or the Edit Page link in SharePoint 2010 Products), check whether they still appear. If they don't appear, you can replace them with the editing controls of the new version by resetting the page to the default version.

Use the Reset to Template command in SharePoint Designer 2013 to reset the page to the default version (also known as reghosting). After you have restored the default page, you can then reapply your customizations in the browser by applying a different master page, or by reapplying the customizations in SharePoint Designer 2013.

Are your customizations still appropriate in the new environment, or do you want to update to the new functionality and look?

If you want the new functionality and features, you must reset any customized pages to use the template. Resetting the page basically discards the customizations and attaches your page to the appropriate master page. Any customizations that you want can then be transferred to the master page instead of being stored in individual pages.

Use the Reset to Template command in SharePoint Designer 2013 to reset the page to the default version (that is, reghost it). After you have restored the default page, you can then reapply your customizations in the browser by applying a different master page, or by reapplying the customizations in SharePoint Designer 2013.

Are any pages still checked out?

If you check out a page to make changes, make sure that you check in the page again.

Have any of the file properties changed?

If a file contains a promotable file property that has changed, the file will be unghosted automatically when it is opened and reghosted upon upgrade. All file properties will be reset to the default property values when this happens.

Web Parts

The following table lists common issues with Web Parts in your site collection after upgrade. Many of the issues can be resolved using SharePoint Designer.

Tip:  To test your Web Parts quickly, you can build a new Web Part page that contains all the custom Web Parts before you test an upgrade, and then review the page for any missing or broken Web Parts after the trial upgrade.

What to check

What to do if there’s a problem

Do all the Web Parts from your original site appear in your upgraded site?

If a Web Part zone exists in a customized (unghosted) page, but not in the site definition, the Web Parts from that Web Part zone may have been moved into the bottom zone on the page during the upgrade.

Either in Edit Mode for the page in the browser or in SharePoint Designer 2013, look for missing Web Parts in the bottom zone or other zones, or check whether the Web Parts were closed.

Are there any broken Web Parts pages and are the Web Parts displayed correctly (in the correct zone, location, and size)?

Either in Edit Mode for the page in the browser or in SharePoint Designer 2013, move the Web Part into the correct zone or modify the Web Part properties to correct any sizing or positioning problems.

Are there any extra or missing Web Parts?

Open the page either in Edit Mode for the page in the browser or in SharePoint Designer 2013. If you see additional Web Parts on your page, look for closed or inactive Web Parts on the original version of the page. Were the closed or inactive Web Parts opened by the upgrade process? If so, you can modify the Web Part properties to close these Web Parts.

If you have problems with a Web Part, append ?contents=1 to the end of the URL syntax (http://siteurl/default.aspx?contents=1), and then press Enter. This opens the Web Part Maintenance page where you can remove and repair the broken Web Part. These errors indicate that the Web Part was not installed or was configured incorrectly for the new environment and must be reinstalled or reconfigured.

Do the Web Parts work correctly?

Open the page either in Edit Mode for the page in the browser or in SharePoint Designer 2013.

If you have problems with a Web Part, append ?contents=1 to the end of the URL syntax (http://siteurl/default.aspx?contents=1), and then press Enter. This opens the Web Part Maintenance page where you can remove and repair the broken Web Part. These errors indicate that the Web Part was not installed or was configured incorrectly for the new environment and must be reinstalled or reconfigured.

Update and redeploy any Web Parts that exist but no longer function correctly.

Are any Web Parts pages still checked out?

If you check out a page to make changes, make sure that you check in the page again.

Are your Excel Web Access Web Parts working correctly? Did you create your connections again correctly? Are external data sources still working?

Verify all connections and external data sources.

Large lists

By default, large list query throttling is turned on in SharePoint 2013. If a list is very large, and users use a view or perform a query that exceeds the limit or throttling threshold, the view or query will not be permitted. Check any large lists in your environment and have the site administrator or list owner address the issue. For example, they can create indexed columns with filtered views, organize items into folders, set an item limit on the page for a large view, or use an external list. For more information about large list throttling and how to address issues with large lists, see Manage lists and libraries with many items.

Styles and appearance

The following table lists common issues with the style and appearance of your Web site after upgrade. Most of the issues in this section can be resolved by correcting links.

What to check

What to do if there’s a problem

Are all the images on your pages displayed correctly?

Verify or fix the links to the images.

Are the appropriate cascading style sheet colors and styles used in the appropriate locations?

Verify or fix the links to the cascading style sheet file. Verify the link on the master page.

Theme choices are different in SharePoint 2013 – which theme do you want to use?

Your site's home page, or other pages on your site, may look different after the site is upgraded. You may have to re-create or revise a theme and reapply it.

Do you have any JavaScript controls that are not working?

Verify or fix the links to the controls.

Are your pages displayed correctly in the browser?

Verify that any HTML on the page is in strict XHTML mode.

Are any script errors displayed on any pages?

Verify the scripts and links, and verify that any HTML is in strict XHTML mode.

Reset a customized file to the original version

By default, all items in SharePoint are stored in the database, but some .aspx pages that are commonly used across a site or site collection are stored in the file system for performance reasons. When you customize one of these files using file editing software or modify the properties for this type of file, it is no longer stored in the file system and is now stored in the SharePoint database.

When you upgrade a site collection to SharePoint 2013, all customized files automatically revert back to the default template, all customizations in these files are lost, and they’re moved back into the file system.

Running the health check before upgrading lets you know which files in your site collection have been customized and lets you decide which files you want to revert to their default template and which ones you don’t.

To reset a customized file back to its default template:

  1. On the Site Collection Health Check Results page, locate the file that you want to reset back to the default template.

  2. Next to the file name, click Reset page to default.

  3. On the Reset Page to Site Definition Version page, select one of the following options:

    1. Reset specific page to site definition version to reset only the file selected

      – or -

    2. Reset all pages in this site to site definition version to reset all customized files back to the default template in the site definition.

  4. Click Reset.

See also

Conflicting content types were found during site collection health check

Parent content types missing during site collection health check

Missing site templates found during site collection health check

Troubleshoot site collection upgrade issues

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