What Makes Moving Off Drupal 7 So Tricky? (Explained Simply)
If you've been told that moving your website from Drupal 7 to the current version is more complicated than a normal update, that's true — and it's worth understanding why before you start the project. Here are the challenges that come up again and again, explained without the technical jargon.
1. There's no simple "upgrade" button
A few years back, the software your website runs on was completely rebuilt from the ground up — new foundations, new construction methods, all of it. So moving from your current version to the modern one isn't like updating an app. It's closer to building a new house and carefully moving everything you own into it. Knowing this upfront helps set realistic expectations for time and cost.
2. Some add-on tools don't have a modern replacement
Most Drupal websites use extra add-on tools to handle specific jobs — a calendar feature, a special form, an image gallery. Some of these have modern equivalents ready to use. Others were never updated and simply don't exist for the current version anymore. When that happens, the feature has to be rebuilt from scratch, which takes more time than simply reinstalling something.
3. Anything custom-built for your site needs to be redone
If a developer built something special just for your organization over the years — a booking tool, a unique search feature, an internal dashboard — none of that code will run on the new version as-is. It has to be rewritten using the new system's approach, which is more modern but also structured very differently underneath. This is usually the single biggest chunk of work in the whole project, especially for websites that have grown a lot of custom features over time.
4. Your website's design has to be rebuilt
The way your site is styled — colors, layout, fonts, how things look on mobile — was built using an older design approach that isn't compatible with the new version. There's no way to simply copy the old design over. It has to be recreated, which is often a good opportunity to modernize the look of your site, but it is real work, especially if the current design is old or wasn't built to work well on phones.
5. Moving your content is more delicate than it sounds
Tools exist to help transfer your pages, images, and files automatically, but real websites accumulate a lot of quirks after ten-plus years in use: pages that don't quite fit any category, listings or filters set up in one-off ways, content in multiple languages that needs careful handling. Straightforward pages move easily. The oddball stuff usually needs a human to check it by hand.
6. Finding people with the right skills
Building and maintaining modern Drupal websites requires different technical skills than the older version did. If your current team or agency has only ever worked with the old version, they may need extra training, or you may need to bring in specialists who already know the modern system. That's a real factor in both timeline and budget.
7. Testing takes real time
Before your new site goes live, everything needs to be checked: every page type, every form, every button, on every browser and device your visitors actually use. For a small site this might be quick. For a busy site with lots of content and features, testing can take almost as long as building the new site itself — and it's easy to underestimate.
8. Surprises tend to show up partway through
Because this kind of project touches your content, your design, and every feature all at once, it's common to discover things partway through that nobody knew about going in — an old feature nobody remembers building, a page format that behaves strangely, design quirks from years ago. Good project plans build in extra time and budget for exactly this kind of surprise, rather than assuming everything will go perfectly to plan.
How to make it go smoothly
None of this means you should avoid making the move — it just means going in with clear eyes. Before you start:
- Get a full list of your current pages, features, and add-on tools, so nothing gets missed.
- Ask whether the essentials can go live first, with extras added afterward, instead of trying to launch everything at once.
- Build in some flexibility on both time and budget for the inevitable surprises.
- Work with people who have real experience with the current version of the software, not just the old one.
A move like this is a bigger project than a typical website update, but with the right planning, it's very manageable — and it puts your website on much safer, more modern footing going forward.