diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/index.test.ts b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/index.test.ts
index 11b6fb649946..2daea9fe1272 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/index.test.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/index.test.ts
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ describe('simple website', () => {
       source: path.join('@site', pluginPath, 'hello.md'),
       title: 'Hello, World !',
       description: 'Hi, Endilie here :)',
+      latestVersionMainDocPermalink: undefined,
     });
 
     expect(docsMetadata['foo/bar']).toEqual({
@@ -176,6 +177,7 @@ describe('simple website', () => {
       source: path.join('@site', pluginPath, 'foo', 'bar.md'),
       title: 'Bar',
       description: 'This is custom description',
+      latestVersionMainDocPermalink: undefined,
     });
 
     expect(docsSidebars).toMatchSnapshot();
@@ -335,6 +337,7 @@ describe('versioned website', () => {
         title: 'bar',
         permalink: '/docs/foo/bar',
       },
+      latestVersionMainDocPermalink: undefined,
     });
     expect(docsMetadata['version-1.0.0/foo/baz']).toEqual({
       id: 'version-1.0.0/foo/baz',
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/metadata.test.ts b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/metadata.test.ts
index d54dbd8f33a0..17759bff68ab 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/metadata.test.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/metadata.test.ts
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ describe('simple site', () => {
       source: path.join('@site', routeBasePath, sourceA),
       title: 'Bar',
       description: 'This is custom description',
+      latestVersionMainDocPermalink: undefined,
     });
     expect(dataB).toEqual({
       id: 'hello',
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ describe('simple site', () => {
       source: path.join('@site', routeBasePath, sourceB),
       title: 'Hello, World !',
       description: `Hi, Endilie here :)`,
+      latestVersionMainDocPermalink: undefined,
     });
   });
 
@@ -85,6 +87,7 @@ describe('simple site', () => {
       editUrl:
         'https://github.com/facebook/docusaurus/edit/master/website/docs/foo/baz.md',
       description: 'Images',
+      latestVersionMainDocPermalink: undefined,
     });
   });
 
@@ -109,6 +112,7 @@ describe('simple site', () => {
       title: 'lorem',
       editUrl: 'https://github.com/customUrl/docs/lorem.md',
       description: 'Lorem ipsum.',
+      latestVersionMainDocPermalink: undefined,
     });
 
     // unrelated frontmatter is not part of metadata
@@ -140,6 +144,7 @@ describe('simple site', () => {
       description: 'Lorem ipsum.',
       lastUpdatedAt: 1539502055,
       lastUpdatedBy: 'Author',
+      latestVersionMainDocPermalink: undefined,
     });
   });
 
@@ -168,6 +173,7 @@ describe('simple site', () => {
       description: 'Lorem ipsum.',
       lastUpdatedAt: 1539502055,
       lastUpdatedBy: 'Author',
+      latestVersionMainDocPermalink: undefined,
     });
   });
 
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/index.ts b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/index.ts
index 4459e295e573..614abda44bc9 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/index.ts
@@ -65,6 +65,22 @@ const DEFAULT_OPTIONS: PluginOptions = {
   admonitions: {},
 };
 
+function getFirstDocLinkOfSidebar(
+  sidebarItems: DocsSidebarItem[],
+): string | null {
+  for (let sidebarItem of sidebarItems) {
+    if (sidebarItem.type === 'category') {
+      const url = getFirstDocLinkOfSidebar(sidebarItem.items);
+      if (url) {
+        return url;
+      }
+    } else {
+      return sidebarItem.href;
+    }
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
 export default function pluginContentDocs(
   context: LoadContext,
   opts: Partial<PluginOptions>,
@@ -320,7 +336,6 @@ Available document ids=
         },
         {},
       );
-
       return {
         docsMetadata,
         docsDir,
@@ -368,7 +383,6 @@ Available document ids=
             const isDocsHomePage =
               metadataItem.id.replace(versionsRegex, '').replace(/^\//, '') ===
               options.homePageId;
-
             if (isDocsHomePage) {
               const versionDocsPathPrefix =
                 (metadataItem?.version === versioning.latestVersion
@@ -384,6 +398,7 @@ Available document ids=
                 homePageDocsRoutePath,
                 versionDocsPathPrefix,
               ]);
+
               const docsBaseMetadataPath = await createData(
                 `${docuHash(metadataItem.source)}-base.json`,
                 JSON.stringify(docsBaseMetadata, null, 2),
@@ -461,6 +476,22 @@ Available document ids=
           Object.values(content.docsMetadata),
           'version',
         );
+        const rootUrl =
+          options.homePageId && content.docsMetadata[options.homePageId]
+            ? normalizeUrl([baseUrl, routeBasePath])
+            : getFirstDocLinkOfSidebar(
+                content.docsSidebars[
+                  `version-${versioning.latestVersion}/docs`
+                ],
+              );
+        if (!rootUrl) {
+          throw new Error('Bad sidebars file. No document linked');
+        }
+        Object.values(content.docsMetadata).forEach((docMetadata) => {
+          if (docMetadata.version !== versioning.latestVersion) {
+            docMetadata.latestVersionMainDocPermalink = rootUrl;
+          }
+        });
         await Promise.all(
           Object.keys(docsMetadataByVersion).map(async (version) => {
             const routes: RouteConfig[] = await genRoutes(
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/types.ts b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/types.ts
index d9c4608bbdeb..2b7b8b89a295 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/types.ts
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ export interface MetadataRaw extends LastUpdateData {
   sidebar_label?: string;
   editUrl?: string;
   version?: string;
+  latestVersionMainDocPermalink?: string;
 }
 
 export interface Paginator {
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-theme-classic/src/theme/DocItem/index.js b/packages/docusaurus-theme-classic/src/theme/DocItem/index.js
index 8d0c4c880f84..655747f999f1 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-theme-classic/src/theme/DocItem/index.js
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-theme-classic/src/theme/DocItem/index.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import useDocusaurusContext from '@docusaurus/useDocusaurusContext';
 import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl';
 import DocPaginator from '@theme/DocPaginator';
 import useTOCHighlight from '@theme/hooks/useTOCHighlight';
+import Link from '@docusaurus/Link';
 
 import clsx from 'clsx';
 import styles from './styles.module.css';
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ function DocItem(props) {
     lastUpdatedAt,
     lastUpdatedBy,
     version,
+    latestVersionMainDocPermalink,
   } = metadata;
   const {
     frontMatter: {
@@ -108,6 +110,33 @@ function DocItem(props) {
             className={clsx('col', {
               [styles.docItemCol]: !hideTableOfContents,
             })}>
+            {latestVersionMainDocPermalink && (
+              <div
+                className="alert alert--warning margin-bottom--md"
+                role="alert">
+                {version === 'next' ? (
+                  <div>
+                    This is unreleased documentation for {siteTitle}{' '}
+                    <strong>{version}</strong> version.
+                  </div>
+                ) : (
+                  <div>
+                    This is archived documentation for {siteTitle}{' '}
+                    <strong>v{version}</strong>, which is no longer actively
+                    maintained.
+                  </div>
+                )}
+                <div className="margin-top--md">
+                  For up-to-date documentation, see the{' '}
+                  <strong>
+                    <Link to={latestVersionMainDocPermalink}>
+                      latest version
+                    </Link>
+                  </strong>
+                  .
+                </div>
+              </div>
+            )}
             <div className={styles.docItemContainer}>
               <article>
                 {version && (