After months of development and beta testing, Activator 3 is officially here! 🎉 This isn’t just another update — it’s a major milestone. Activator now steps into a new era as a multi-tenant platform built for scale, performance, and faster innovation. Version 3 is the solid foundation for everything ahead — from new channels and integrations to future-ready workflows.

As always, this release comes with powerful new features, exciting improvements, and a huge set of bug fixes. Some changes are immediately visible, while others quietly strengthen the platform behind the scenes — all of them pushing Activator forward.

These are release notes. For availability and rollout timings across different environments, please refer to our StatusPage.

See the following explanations for enablement options:

AUTO-ON: Automatically activated and no configuration is required before using the feature; in some cases, a new feature is dependent on another feature that must be enabled or configured.
CONFIGURATION: Anthill must turn on or configure the feature before it is available to use or is active; for example, an Admin must add document templates before users can create documents from templates.

What’s new in v3.0.0

☁️ Modular Content Authoring (MCA) — part of Anthill Cloud

This release marks the official launch of Modular Content Authoring (MCA) inside Activator — the first step in rolling out Anthill Cloud. MCA makes it simple to create, manage, and reuse modular content across channels. Each module can be approved once and reused anywhere, streamlining review cycles and ensuring full MLR traceability with development history for every module.

Behind the scenes, MCA is tightly integrated with Anthill Cloud. Modules created in Activator are instantly stored and synchronized with the customer’s DAM of choice for lifecycle management. When approved, they are immediately available for use in Activator, enabling faster campaign creation and consistent reuse of content assets. CONFIGURATION

🌐 Full launch of Design System v3

Last release, we laid the foundation. Now, with 3.0.0, we’re proud to announce the full launch of DS3 — the next-generation design system framework inside Activator.

DS3 delivers everything needed to build, govern, and maintain design systems at scale: resource versioning, duplication flows, clear governance between parent and child systems, smarter creation wizards, shared assets, and dedicated UIs for code, fragments, and resources. All of this makes DS3 more powerful, transparent, and scalable than ever.

For clients, this means design systems are no longer static files — they’re living, governed entities inside Activator. Updates can flow across systems, resources can be reused or versioned with traceability, and collaboration becomes crystal clear.

DS2 remains fully supported, but DS3 represents the future. AUTO-ON

🔒 Improved Document Access Control

Activator now gives users a cleaner and more secure view of their content. From this release, users only see documents they created or imported themselves, or those they are explicitly granted access to. Exceptions remain for shared assets like design system resources, which are accessible to all.

This change ensures that confidential or in-progress content doesn’t show up for unintended users, supporting compliance requirements and decluttering the workspace. In practice, teams will notice fewer irrelevant documents, making it easier to focus on the work that matters. AUTO-ON

👁️ Preview Collections in a Separate Window

Content creators can now preview slides and briefs in a separate window, loaded in an iframe with navigation overlays. This provides a more realistic, presentation-like experience, allowing users to review and test content directly inside Activator.

By reducing the need to push content downstream to DAMs or other environments just to verify visuals, this feature shortens iteration cycles. It empowers creators to refine their content earlier in the process and with greater confidence in how it will appear in real-world usage. AUTO-ON

⚙️ General Stabilization Improvements

Not all heroes are visible — some work quietly behind the curtain. 3.0.0 includes a wide range of stability and performance enhancements that make Activator stronger than ever.

For everyday users, this means faster response times, fewer interruptions, and smoother workflows, even with large sets of documents or complex publishing tasks. It’s the invisible foundation that ensures Activator is truly ready to scale. AUTO-ON

Improvements

Improved Publishing Wizard Experience The publishing wizard has been redesigned to prevent “state inheritance” issues where actions on one document could affect others. Each publish action is now fully isolated, ensuring clarity when handling multiple tasks in sequence. This means content creators can publish faster and with more confidence, without worrying about side effects or unexpected behaviors in the wizard. AUTO-ON
Configurable labels in Forms Forms throughout the system now allow admins to set custom labels for fields, such as renaming “Name” to “Template Name.” This may sound minor, but it makes forms easier to understand and reduces confusion when working across different content types. The change improves flexibility for admins while ensuring users always see field names that match their context. CONFIGURATION
Enhanced Button Control for User Roles Configuration now have granular control over what users can do with the “Save as…” button. Options like “Save as Helper,” “Save as New Layout,” and “Save as Update to Layout” can be individually enabled or disabled. This ensures teams can tailor the interface to specific roles, improving both governance and usability while reducing the risk of accidental changes. CONFIGURATION
Layouts Tab Added to Designer The Layouts tab, previously only available in the Navigate pane for editors, is now also accessible in the Designer interface. This makes it easier for users to find, edit, and manage layouts without switching contexts. For users who rely on drag-and-drop editing, the Layouts tab offers quicker access and better visibility into their layout options. AUTO-ON
Restored Missing Slide-in Animations Four slide-in animation options (from left, right, top, and bottom) have been restored in the Interaction panel. All 19 predefined animations are now once again available to choose from. This gives creators more flexibility in storytelling and interaction design, allowing for richer, more engaging presentations. AUTO-ON
Source Code Download for Unpublished Documents Users can now download or upload source code even before a document is published. This resolves limitations that previously required a publish step first. The update simplifies workflows for developers and advanced users who need direct access to code during the creation process. AUTO-ON
Improved Media Library Filtering The media library now adapts to context, showing only relevant asset types. For example, when selecting a video, only videos are displayed. Non-relevant items are greyed out, while suitable ones appear at the top. This small but important change makes asset selection faster and reduces errors, especially in complex projects with large libraries. AUTO-ON
Configurable "Add to Presentation"-button The “Add to Presentation” button in collections can now be toggled on or off via configuration settings. This allows admins to streamline the interface for different teams and use cases, ensuring only relevant actions are visible. CONFIGURATION
Visual Indicator for documents Not in DAM Slides that have not yet been published to the DAM are now visually marked in the collection view. This helps users immediately distinguish between slides that exist in DAM and those that are still local. It reduces confusion during publishing and reimporting, and improves alignment between Activator and connected DAM systems. AUTO-ON
Slide Creation Wizard Enhancements Users can now clear a collection selection via an “X” button and enjoy automatic preselection of design systems when creating slides from within a collection. These changes reduce setup friction, minimize errors, and ensure slides are always created in the right context. AUTO-ON
Preselect Collection Design System When Creating Slides When creating a new Slide from within a Collection, the Collection's Design System is now preselected by default, ensuring consistency and reducing potential issues with mismatched Design Systems. AUTO-ON
Improved Display of Content Module Elements in MLR Reports Content module details such as required fields, rules, and linked assets or claims are now displayed more consistently in MLR reports. Visual indicators highlight statuses such as “Unlinked” or “Unmodified”. This ensures reports provide complete and actionable insights, improving compliance workflows and review accuracy. AUTO-ON
Email Document State Updates with Fragment Changes When fragments are added or removed, the parent email document now automatically changes state from “Published” to “Unpublished”. This ensures version tracking reflects reality and avoids accidental reuse of outdated email versions. AUTO-ON
Enhanced Filters and Expanded Search Results New filter options have been added to document search, dynamically adapting based on user permissions. Search results now also include both resources and documents.This makes it easier to find the right asset in large repositories, reducing time spent navigating and improving discoverability. AUTO-ON

Bugfixes

Corrected Document Background Size in MLR Preview Resolved an issue where the first section of the MLR document preview displayed wider than subsequent sections, ensuring consistent background sizing throughout the preview.
Settings Modal No Longer Reloads Background Page Opening the Settings modal now preserves the state of the underlying page, preventing it from reloading in the background.
Aligned Thumbnails in Document Creation Wizard DS list thumbnails and fallback thumbnails now have consistent widths, ensuring proper alignment of text throughout the list in the document creation wizard.
Uploading Zip Files with Spaces in File Name Resolved issue where uploading zip files containing spaces in the file name failed.
Container Background Images Displayed in Editor Row container background images now display correctly while editing, not just in preview or rendition.
Design System Card Highlight Fix Selected design system cards are now correctly highlighted with a violet outline in Step 2.
Improved Resource Loading in Designer Loading documents now fetches only necessary layouts, resolving previous performance and stability issues.
Media Library Video Thumbnails Video assets in the Media Library now display a fallback thumbnail image.
MLR: Modular Content Improvements and Bug Fixes Reduced padding between module label and name, resolved import errors, and fixed module display issues.
Publish Button Behavior Fixed Publish button now remains inactive after a document is successfully published or the Preview opened following document publishing. Similarly and issue resolved with the button becoming active when replacing a document's source file
Improved Product List Display in Filters Menu Product list is now correctly positioned and sized in import wizards.
Change Button Visibility Improved The "Change" button remains fully visible regardless of long design system names.
Email Fragment Duplication Resolved Newly created email fragments no longer appear duplicated in the Fragments tab.
Layout Description Field Fixed "Layout description" field now correctly displays saved text in the "Update" layout modal.
Collection Thumbnail Updates on Publish Collection thumbnails now update correctly when changes are published.
Asset Preview Stability When Editing Metadata Editing document metadata no longer reloads the Asset Preview block, ensuring a stable preview.
Filters on Change Design System Page Filters now default to match the product, language, and country of the document.
Full Layout Preview in MLR Report Resolved issue causing layout previews to be cut off at the top in MLR reports.
Filters block display after reset Resolved issue where "for , ," appeared after resetting filters in the Filters menu.
Helpers Now Usable After Creation Helpers are now correctly applied and usable in documents immediately after creation.
Correct Media Display in Side Panel Media selection in the Style panel now displays images correctly without duplicates after publishing.
Text Editing Updates Changes to spaces and subscripts in text fields now save and persist correctly.
Publishing Wizard Scrollability All fields in the publishing wizard are now accessible by scrolling when necessary.
In Use Resources Display Background Images All background images assigned to body, row, and column are now shown as in-use resources.
Fallback Images for Inaccessible Thumbnails Displays a fallback image when a digital services thumbnail cannot be accessed.