ARender v2026.3.0 - Release Notes

ARender 2026.3.0 is the third minor release on the 2026 line. ARender Horizon gains an Excel data view that displays .xlsx spreadsheets as a grid in the browser, a public JavaScript API so a host application can read, navigate, search, download and annotate the open document, and three new annotation tools: arrow, freehand and strikethrough. On the backend, redaction now also removes vector graphics and form fields under the redacted area, the PDF engine is upgraded to fix slow rendering of large-format pages, and a series of email, conversion and memory fixes land together with security hardening.

As in the previous releases, the changes below are grouped by viewer: a shared Security section, then ARender Horizon (React), ARender Classic (GWT), and finally Rendition for backend, conversion and integration changes that apply to both viewers.

Security​

Applies to the whole platform (both viewers).

Security fixes and dependency updates​

Changed - This release includes security hardening across the platform together with updates to third-party dependencies and container base images to address known vulnerabilities. For details on the specific issues addressed, please contact ARender support.

ARender Horizon (React)​

Changes specific to the React viewer (ARender Horizon).

New features and improvements​

Public JavaScript API​

New - ARender Horizon now exposes a JavaScript API on window.ARender and on the <arender-element> Web Component, so a host application can drive the viewer without touching its internals. The API covers:

• Reading the open document - current and root document ids, document layout and metadata.
• Navigation - go to a page or a document, next and previous document.
• Search - start a search and step through the results.
• Download - download the open document or the whole set.
• Annotations - create, update, delete, list and refresh annotations.
• Events - subscribe to page and document changes, load failures, first page displayed, and annotation creation, update, deletion and write failures.

Every call returns typed results and documented error codes, and TypeScript definitions ship with the package. This API is new and does not reproduce the Classic JavaScript API: integrations moving from Classic rewrite their calls against it. See the JavaScript API reference for every call, event and error code.

Excel data view​

New - .xlsx spreadsheets now open in a Data view: the workbook is shown as a grid, rendered directly by the browser. It has one tab per sheet, a sheet list in the side panel and a formula bar, and it keeps the workbook formatting (colors, borders, merged cells, number formats). The data is displayed before the PDF conversion of the file is complete, so large spreadsheets are readable in seconds instead of scrolling through thousands of converted pages.

The Data view is for viewing only. The PDF conversion of the spreadsheet still runs in the background while the Data view is displayed, so the Page view, the converted PDF pages that ARender displayed until now, remains available from the view switcher. Search and annotations work in the Page view only: in the Data view, their buttons are disabled and point to the switcher. Other spreadsheet formats (.xls, .xlsb, .csv) open in the Page view as before.

Arrow annotations​

New - An arrow annotation tool is now available in the Horizon annotation menu, to point at a detail of the page. Arrows can be drawn, moved and deleted. Arrows created in ARender Classic are now displayed in Horizon as well.

Freehand annotations​

New - Users can now draw freehand directly on the document from the annotation menu. Freehand (ink) annotations created in ARender Classic are now displayed in Horizon as well.

Strikethrough annotations​

New - Selected text can now be struck through from the text-selection menu, with a choice of color. It completes the highlight and underline tools added in the previous releases.

Fewer server calls when editing a free text annotation​

Changed - Editing a free text annotation no longer sends redundant requests to the server.

Bug fixes​

The viewer keeps your page​

Fixed - The viewer no longer loses the current page when zooming (including going back to 100%), opening or closing the side panel, switching to fullscreen or resizing the window. Zooming out now applies to the page being read, the zoom is reset when a new document is opened, and a document opened through the JavaScript API is displayed at a normal zoom level instead of zoomed out.

Free text annotations: delete button and cursor keys​

Fixed - Free text annotations now show a delete button like the other annotation types, and the left and right arrow keys move the cursor while editing the text.

Double-click on an annotated word​

Fixed - Double-clicking a highlighted or underlined word opens the text-selection menu again, instead of the annotation edit menu.

Underline on large or bold text​

Fixed - An underline on large or bold text no longer overlaps the next line.

Comments of documents not yet opened​

Fixed - When a set contains several documents, the comments panel lists the comments of every document on first opening, including the documents not displayed yet.

Deleting a comment deletes its replies​

Fixed - Deleting a comment now also deletes its replies, instead of leaving them orphaned.

Annotation markers on thumbnails​

Fixed - Thumbnails now mark the pages that carry annotations.

Top panel while switching documents​

Fixed - While the next document loads, the top panel no longer shows the title and actions of the previous document.

Same document twice in a set​

Fixed - A set that contains the same document twice now handles each occurrence separately.

Rendition URL in the Docker image​

Fixed - The Horizon Docker image and the development proxy now point to the correct Rendition endpoint by default.

ARender Classic (GWT)​

Changes specific to the Classic (GWT) viewer and its connectors.

New features and improvements​

Faster document opening from FileNet​

Changed - The FileNet connector makes fewer calls to the Content Engine when opening a document, so documents open faster.

Developer notes​

SOAP binding removed from the CMIS / Alfresco connector​

Removed - The CMIS and Alfresco connector no longer ships the SOAP (Web Services) binding, which was not functional on the current platform. Only the AtomPub binding remains. The arender.server.alfresco.use.soap.ws and arender.server.alfresco.soap.ws.url properties no longer have any effect.

Bug fixes​

Ctrl+click in the Document Builder​

Fixed - In the Document Builder, Ctrl+click multi-selection of pages works again (regression since 2023.19.0).

FileNet retrieval name after a merge or split​

Fixed - After a merge or split in the Document Builder, the FileNet RetrievalName property is updated again when the script sets the document title.

Circle and rectangle colors​

Fixed - When the annotation style is remembered, circles keep their fill color and rectangles keep their border color for the next annotation.

Session cookie with Hazelcast sessions​

Fixed - With Hazelcast sessions enabled (the default), the viewer now sets only the SESSION cookie, without an extra JSESSIONID cookie.

Blank pages with the document availability check enabled​

Fixed - With the document availability check enabled (arender.server.rendition.disable.check.document.availability=false), documents no longer stay on the loading spinner or display blank pages: page requests are now attached to the session that opened the document.

Video playback in Safari​

Fixed - Videos larger than 8 MB now play in Safari: large range requests are served in chunks instead of failing.

Document statistics under load​

Fixed - Document statistics (as shown in the "About ARender" panel) are no longer corrupted when several users load documents at the same time.

Rendition​

Backend, conversion and integration changes that apply regardless of the viewer.

New features and improvements​

PDF engine upgrade​

Changed - The PDFOwl rendering engine is upgraded to 1.24-33. It fixes the slow rendering of large-format pages introduced with the previous engine version.

Word documents with DirectOffice​

Changed - The DirectOffice engine is upgraded, improving layout fidelity (text alignment) of Word documents.

Redaction removes vector graphics and form fields​

Changed - A redaction now also removes the vector graphics (logos, drawn signatures, line art) and the interactive form fields located under the redacted area in the published document. Ink, free text and text-markup annotations under the redacted area are cut accordingly.

Developer notes​

PDFOwl memory limit​

Changed - pdfowl.memlimit.mb is now applied when each PDFOwl process starts. Its default changes from 1024 to unset, which lets PDFOwl apply its own default; values above 2047 are capped to 2047 with a warning. A new property, pdfowl.client.max-idle (default 16), sets the maximum number of idle PDFOwl processes kept for reuse. Deployments that relied on the previous 1024 MB default should set the property explicitly.

Document layout API​

Changed - In the document layout returned by the Rendition API, each child of a composite document (ZIP archive, email attachment) now carries its MIME type.

Annotation API responses​

Fixed - Creating or updating an annotation through the Rendition annotation API now returns the stored annotation, with its correct position and document id.

.xlsb support in the format lists​

Changed - The .xlsb MIME type (application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12) is added to the Excel conversion lists. Deployments that override mime.type.msoffice.excel or arender.format.conversionTargetMimeTypes.application-pdf must add it to their own lists.

Bug fixes​

.xlsb downloads​

Fixed - A downloaded .xlsb file keeps its .xlsb extension, and .xlsb files are converted like the other Excel formats.

Email conversion​

Fixed - Several email conversion issues are fixed: inline images of EML emails stay in the body instead of appearing as separate attachment pages, emails embedding a vector image no longer raise a false "format not supported" alert, and some MSG emails that failed to render now open.

Copy and paste from justified text​

Fixed - Copying text from a justified PDF paragraph now keeps the spaces between words.

Memory leak with signature verification​

Fixed - With signature verification enabled, viewing signed PDFs no longer builds up memory until the service freezes.

Orphaned LibreOffice processes on Windows​

Fixed - On Windows, leftover LibreOffice processes are cleaned up when the conversion service starts or restarts, which ends a crash loop after a restart.

Changelog​

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