Upgrading from 2017 - Delete plugin versions of (Textmesh/Cinemachine) before or after upgrade

Hey,
I want to upgrade project from 2017 (Most likely to 2018.4 but maybe 2019.2).
And when I tried automated upgrade I got a lot of errors with Textmesh/Cinemachine/Timeline. Trying to delete them and import package lead to a lot of broken scripts. For example all the textmesh pro Ugui elements lost links.
What is the best practice or tips to upgrade from 2017? Is there a way not to lose script references on objects like text mesh ?

Thanks

 

If you update packages / Assetstore content do not have one of your scene with Content open.
For TextMeshPro there is a build in tool to upgrade from the Asset store version to the package version (Window -> TextMeshPro -> Project Files GUID remap Tool)

Make sure to have a backup before trying to update.
If the big version jumps do not work , try to do smaller jumps , like 2017.X to 2017.latest to 2018. Latest to 2019.X

 

Thanks! I did upgrade on blank scene but did not try to GUID remap tool.