Welcome to the latest Activator version! This update brings bug fixes, new features, and improvements all around the system. Some changes are not visible to the end-user.
Let's explore what's new!

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 3.0.0-beta.5

🚀 Design System Revamp: Foundations for DS3

This release introduces the foundation of Design Systems 3.0 — a completely reimagined architecture for how design systems are structured, governed, and maintained across clients and projects.

Until now, design systems have lived as static file structures with limited governance and poor traceability. In DS3, we’re moving away from folders and into a document-based system fully managed by Activator’s internal database. Each design system now consists of discrete, versioned resources — templates, layouts, configurations, code snippets, and more — that are individually stored, tracked, and linked via Activator’s AOM layer.

Governance plays a central theme in DS3. It is now possible to establish clear parent-child relationships between systems, enabling centralized updates that can be reviewed and selectively adopted by downstream teams. The new interface makes these relationships visible and actionable, highlighting changes introduced by parent systems and offering options to accept or fork those changes.

To support this new structure, Activator now includes a revamped creation flow for design systems. Users can start from scratch or duplicate an existing master system, inheriting its structure and resources while maintaining flexibility for localization or customization. For existing clients, we’ve also introduced a migration tool that allows DS2 systems — previously stored as unmanaged folders — to be converted into DS3 documents. While this migration is not intended for simple one-to-one transfers, it provides a path forward for upgrading key systems into the new governance model. CONFIGURATION

Importantly, all existing DS2-based systems remain fully supported. There is no change in behavior or compatibility — documents and presentations will continue to reference and render DS2 design systems exactly as before. No migration is required unless you wish to benefit from the governance, structure, and scalability that DS3 introduces.

The DS3 experience also brings with it significant UI improvements. Resources like JavaScript and CSS are now available through a dedicated tab, with visibility and permissions inherited from the governing system. Publishing workflows have been brought in line with other content types: changes must be explicitly saved before they can be published, ensuring accuracy and traceability across systems.

While these changes may not yet be visible in your day-to-day authoring workflows, they represent a major architectural shift that sets the stage for scalable, governed content operations. In the coming months, we’ll begin working with clients to assess and plan the migration of relevant systems into the DS3 format.

Alongside these deeper platform updates, this release also introduces UI enhancements that benefit both DS2 and DS3 users alike. AUTO-ON

🧪 WESley: Introducing the Next-Generation Editor Engine

This release includes the foundational rollout of WESley — our next-generation document editor engine designed to modernize and simplify how content is built and edited inside Activator.

WESley (short for Web Editor Script, but affectionately humanized for better recall) replaces the tightly coupled and increasingly unmaintainable editor setup used in previous Activator versions. Built as a standalone, CDN-hosted script, WESley decouples document editing logic from platform-specific behaviors like Vault configurations. It introduces a lightweight, configurable, and component-driven approach that is far more adaptable across document types, including not just emails and slides, but also future use cases like web pages.

With this release, all core WESley scripts, pipelines, and reusable components have been developed, published, and integrated into the platform. Extension files and configuration scaffolding are in place to support everything from layout editing to element behavior and interaction handling. Attribute and style definitions can now be declared systematically, enabling editors to generate input fields dynamically and behave predictably across use cases.

However, WESley is not yet fully enabled across documents. While the infrastructure is live, we are now entering a testing and refinement phase, where the engine will be validated against real-world use cases to ensure compatibility, performance, and parity with the legacy setup. Until that process is complete, documents will continue using the existing editor, ensuring a seamless experience for all users.

The introduction of WESley also unlocks the roadmap for upcoming features including Fusion v3, DS3-based editing, advanced drag-and-drop layouting, undo/redo functionality, web content authoring, improved interaction handling, and full state-driven rendering logic.

This is a long-term shift toward a more flexible and future-proof editing experience. While the switch won’t happen overnight, this release marks the first real step toward that future.

📦 Duplicate Collection: Fast, Flexible Presentation Reuse

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This release introduces the ability to duplicate presentations (Collections) directly from the Dashboard — making it significantly easier to reuse existing content setups across brands, markets, or campaigns.

When duplicating a collection, all slides, metadata, and associated design system relationships are included, ensuring the new copy is complete and ready to work with. The duplicated version appears directly in the Dashboard, clearly marked to distinguish it from the original.

The updated duplication wizard provides flexibility throughout the process. Users can select which slides to include — with all slides selected by default — and choose how to handle design system relationships. You can either retain references to the original design system (ideal for localized variations), or create new copies of the design system to ensure full independence from the original.

This gives teams greater control over how content and design systems are reused, particularly when working in environments that require clean separation between brands, markets, or regulatory jurisdictions.

Whether you’re creating a variation of an existing presentation, repurposing a campaign, or managing design system governance more granularly, Duplicate Collection significantly simplifies the process.

🖼️ Shared Assets: Improved Visibility, Management & Uploads

This release brings a series of enhancements to how shared assets are handled within design systems, making it easier to manage and reuse media files across your presentations.

You can now upload shared assets directly into the Design System’s media library, ensuring they are stored in the correct location and immediately available across all documents linked to that design system. This simplifies workflows when adding new brand or campaign visuals that need to be shared across multiple slides. CONFIGURATION

To keep libraries organized, we’ve also added the ability to delete both local and shared assets directly from the Media Library and Media Panel. Outdated or unused assets can now be removed with just a few clicks, reducing clutter and improving content governance.

In the Design System View, shared assets are now fully visible in the Manage Assets section, resolving earlier display issues. Additionally, a dedicated Shared Assets tab has been added, presenting all assets in clearly organized groups. Media is displayed as card-based lists within or below each group, making browsing and selecting assets more intuitive. AUTO-ON

These updates not only improve day-to-day media management but also help ensure a consistent and clean design system structure for your projects.

✅ MLR Support for Modular Content

AUTO-ON

With this release, the MLR Report and MLR View features now reach their full potential — gaining the ability to analyze and display modular content alongside standard layouts and email components.

Previously, MLR functionality provided streamlined document previews and approver-ready reports with layout metadata and visual cues. With the recent addition of modular content in Activator, users gained powerful tools for importing and managing structured content modules directly from DAM — complete with metadata, image/text selection, and content previews.

Now, these two features come together. The MLR Report has been expanded to include full support for modular content blocks, allowing reviewers and approvers to see how modular components have been used, modified, or assembled within a document. The report intelligently tracks and displays content module data, offering the same level of clarity and traceability that was previously available only for traditional layouts and email content.

This ensures regulatory teams and content reviewers have a complete view of the document — including how predefined modules are reused or customized — all in one place.

No extra configuration is required to activate this enhancement. If your instance already uses Modular Content and MLR, the new capability is automatically available.

Improvements

External Document ID & Status Indicators in Design System Lists Design System cards now display the external document ID (instead of the internal one) using a consistent, user-friendly format aligned with DAM references. Status indicators have also been standardized: Draft systems show a dotted outline and empty circle, while Approved systems show no outline or marker — making it easier to identify and select the correct system.
User Role Display in Profile A user’s Activator role is now shown in their profile, making it easier to identify access levels and permissions.
Improved Document Selection Filtering We’ve improved filtering across document selection workflows to ensure only valid items are selectable. Documents already added to a presentation are excluded from the Add to Presentation modal, previously imported content modules are clearly marked and disabled, and the Media Library now hides unusable email fragments — helping prevent duplicates and confusion.
Improved Collection Import UI When importing a collection, the collection view now loads as soon as the parent document is available. Child documents appear as placeholders and are automatically updated as imports complete. If any import fails, a clear error is shown and the placeholder is removed — all without needing to reload the page.
Enhanced Document Type Filtering in Content Search The content search feature now supports OR-based filtering across multiple document types, making it easier to retrieve assets that span different formats in a single query.

Bugfixes

Brand Color Palette Fixed in Color Panel Brand colors are now correctly available in the right-side color panel when editing text blocks.
Duplicated Text Blocks Save Correctly Duplicated text blocks in certain layouts now save and display properly after editing or publishing.
Copy and Paste for Containers in Layouts Resolved an error that occurred when undoing after pasting containers, preventing loss of changes and unexpected redirection.
Predefined Color Option in Design Systems Fixed an issue where the "Allow only predefined colors" setting became disabled after publishing a design system.
Improved Visual Feedback in Duplicate Wizard The selected Design System is now visually highlighted during the duplication process, improving clarity.
Publish Button Status Fix The publish button now correctly reflects the “Published” state immediately after publishing a Design System.
Collection Breadcrumb Visibility on Slide Reload The collection breadcrumb now remains visible after reloading a Slide document page.
Design System Thumbnails in DAM Design System thumbnail images now appear correctly in the Digital Asset Manager, replacing fallback thumbnails.
Publishing Wizard Improvements Improved asset review cover sizing, fixed publish button display, and removed unnecessary scroll buttons.
Media Library Result Count Fix The Media Library now shows the correct number of DAM document results.
Open Design System Link in New Tab from Document Settings Users can now right-click the Design System link in Document Settings to open it in a new tab.
Publish Button Remains Enabled After Refresh Fixed an issue where the publish button was incorrectly disabled after refreshing the page.
Email Fragment Thumbnails in Add Fragment View Email fragment thumbnails now display correctly when filters are applied in the Add Fragment view.
Corrected Layout Thumbnail Sizing Layout thumbnails now accurately reflect the size and formatting of the underlying layout.