• A completely redesigned sign-in experience delivers faster access, modern design, and greater flexibility for authentication options.
• Modern SharePoint shortcuts bring near-native Microsoft 365 file handling, faster restores, and dramatically smaller shortcut files.
• System Insights extended with SMTP telemetry and aggregated views, giving administrators clearer operational visibility at a glance.
• Improved SharePoint Online performance with a fully rewritten connector for faster and more robust archiving.
• ActiveX-free Outlook forms option to deploy contentACCESS Outlook forms without ActiveX components to align with modern security policies.

Common​

✓ Authentication & sign-in

contentACCESS 7.2 continues the platform-wide modernization by introducing a fully redesigned sign-in experience. This update goes beyond technical changes and focuses on usability, responsiveness, and performance. Administrators and end users benefit from a clean, modern look combined with noticeably faster loading times, making access to the platform quicker and more intuitive.

A new capability allows administrators to define the order of available login providers—such as Microsoft 365, Windows authentication, or Forms-based login. This makes it easy to guide users toward the preferred authentication method and create a clearer, more consistent sign-in experience.

To further reduce administrative overhead, a built-in password reset flow is now available. Users can securely reset their own passwords without contacting an administrator, improving both security and user satisfaction.

Authentication with Microsoft 365 has also been simplified. Previously, contentACCESS required a multi-tenant application registration in Microsoft Entra ID. With the new login application, administrators can now choose between multi-tenant authentication—allowing users from different domains to sign in—or a single-tenant configuration that restricts access to users within one Microsoft 365 tenant.

✓ Enhanced Document Preview & Restore

The Document Preview portal has been visually refreshed and enhanced with new functionality. A user menu is now available for the currently logged-in user, displaying the user’s name, email address, and profile picture, and providing a direct link to the main archive portal for seamless navigation between preview and full archive management.

In addition, the preview portal now supports document restore operations. Authorized users can restore documents directly back to their source system without leaving the preview. Access to this functionality is controlled through role permissions, ensuring that only users with manual restore rights can perform these actions.

✓ SMTP Telemetry & Mail Flow Visibility in System Insights

System Insights, introduced in contentACCESS 7.1, provides real-time visibility into system health, performance, and operations. With contentACCESS 7.2, this visibility is extended to include telemetry data from the contentACCESS SMTP server.

Administrators can now monitor key SMTP metrics directly within System Insights, including received email counts, rejected emails, successfully archived messages, archiving failures, and the number of emails waiting in the archive queue. This deeper insight helps teams quickly identify bottlenecks, validate mail flow health, and proactively address issues before they impact users.

✓ Aggregated values in System Insights

While time-series charts are excellent for identifying trends and anomalies, administrators often need a quick summary view to confirm that everything is running smoothly. System Insights now complements its detailed charts with aggregated values for the selected time period.

These aggregated numbers provide an instant health snapshot, while the underlying time series still reveal exactly when issues occurred. Together, they enable faster assessment, clearer reporting, and more confident operational decisions.

SharePoint/OneDrive/Teams archive​

✓ Introducing Modern shortcuts

contentACCESS 7.2 introduces a new generation of SharePoint shortcuts based on Microsoft 365 File Handler technology. These modern shortcuts integrate directly into the native SharePoint and Microsoft 365 experience, making access to archived documents feel almost identical to working with original files.

Compared to classic shortcut formats, modern shortcuts are dramatically smaller—typically reduced from around 5 KB to approximately 500 bytes. This keeps SharePoint libraries lean while maintaining seamless access to archived content.

For end users, file access becomes nearly transparent. Shortcuts behave naturally in SharePoint, standard actions work as expected, and there is no need for workarounds such as opening files in a new tab. To avoid confusion, modern shortcuts are clearly marked with contentACCESS icons, making archived items instantly recognizable.

Restore workflows are also significantly improved. Documents can be restored directly from the SharePoint file context menu, and multiple items can be restored in one operation using multi-select. This greatly reduces the effort required for large-scale restore scenarios.

Deployment is handled at tenant level using the Microsoft 365 File Handler approach. This ensures a consistent shortcut experience across SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams, helping organizations standardize archived file access throughout Microsoft 365.

To support a smooth transition, a new shortcut repair job is available that can convert existing HTML-based shortcuts into the new modern file handler shortcuts.

✓ Windows File Handler for contentACCESS Modern Shortcuts

contentACCESS replaces rarely used SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams documents with lightweight .alink shortcut files, keeping Microsoft 365 storage lean while maintaining seamless access to archived data.

While Microsoft 365 can already open these shortcuts in the browser, Windows does not recognize .alink files when they are downloaded or synced locally.

The new contentACCESS File Handler for Windows bridges this gap. It registers a Windows file association for .alink files and automatically redirects users to the contentACCESS Shortcut Handler service when opened on a PC.

Users can then:

• Preview documents
• Restore documents
• Download documents

This ensures a consistent and intuitive experience—whether users access content in the browser or from a locally synced library.

✓ SharePoint archive performance optimization

contentACCESS 7.2 includes a fully rewritten SharePoint connector for SharePoint Online. This modernization delivers more than double the data access performance, improves overall robustness, and expands support for modern SharePoint Online capabilities.

To focus on these improvements, this update currently targets SharePoint Online environments. Support for SharePoint Server on-premises will be reintroduced in a future release. Organizations that rely on on-premises SharePoint should continue using contentACCESS 7.1 until updated support becomes available.

Email archive​

✓ contentACCESS Outlook Forms without ActiveX

To support modern security standards and environments where ActiveX controls are restricted or disabled, the contentACCESS Outlook forms installer now offers an option to deploy a version of the Outlook forms without ActiveX components.

This gives administrators greater flexibility when rolling out contentACCESS in secured or hardened environments. If ActiveX controls are disabled in Outlook and users open an email archive shortcut, Outlook will display an additional warning indicating that certain form components were removed.

Please note that when using the Outlook form without ActiveX, preview functionality depends on the form’s ability to download the archived email. If the form cannot download the email, no preview will be displayed.

contentACCESS continues to support the existing Outlook forms with ActiveX, allowing you to choose the deployment model that best fits your organization’s security and compliance requirements.

✓ SMTP zero-day deletion

The contentACCESS SMTP server processes incoming emails by first placing them into an archiving queue and marking them for deletion after successful processing. Previously, archived emails were retained for a minimum of one day before deletion, which could lead to increased storage consumption in high-traffic environments.

With contentACCESS 7.2, the SMTP server now supports zero-day deletion. Successfully archived emails can be removed almost immediately after processing, significantly reducing temporary storage requirements and helping organizations better control storage usage under heavy mail loads.

✓ MailApp uses the Outlook language as default

We made a small but important change to how mailApp sets the default language. Previously, the default language was hard-coded to English, and users had to change it manually based on their preference. Now, mailApp uses the user’s Outlook language as the default. Users can still change it to any other supported language in the mailApp configuration.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Strengthened installation and setup reliability with smarter database handling and improved service account configuration.
• Enhanced security by preventing password exposure in logs and restoring flexible link security settings.
• Expanded reporting capabilities in Email Archive to provide deeper mailbox growth insights.
• Optimized SharePoint provisioning performance and improved on-premises connectivity options.
• Extended the VirtualDrive tester with new configuration capabilities.

Common​

• IMPROVEMENT Re-enabled the link security setting in System Settings to ensure seamless access control in specific configurations.
• IMPROVEMENT Prevented passwords from appearing in logs after a reset to strengthen overall system security.
• IMPROVEMENT Improved password handling during contentACCESS package updates for more reliable upgrades.
• IMPROVEMENT Resolved an SQL authentication error that caused an "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" message during installation.
• IMPROVEMENT Ensured the installer creates the contentACCESS database using the configured service user account.
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed an issue where the setup package failed when resource storage was configured as a network share.
• IMPROVEMENT Correctly saved the service user password in the setup configuration file to prevent installation failures.
• IMPROVEMENT Adjusted overly strict database ownership checks that could block installation in certain scenarios.
• IMPROVEMENT Corrected installation path detection when only the Search component is installed.

Email Archive​

• NEW Enabled automatic login updates by default, with the option to disable the behavior using a dedicated database key.
• NEW Extended the restore report to include the size of shortcuts and archived emails for accurate mailbox growth calculations.
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed an SQL syntax issue that affected legacy MAM email previews in the contentACCESS Portal.
• IMPROVEMENT Resolved an issue where provisioning could mix up Azure SIDs by incorrectly matching cloud mailboxes with on-premises identities.

File Archive​

• NEW Expanded the VirtualDrive tester application to allow direct configuration of the VirtualDrive service.

SharePoint Archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Optimized loading times of the SharePoint provisioning page when OneDrive is enabled.
• IMPROVEMENT Enhanced shortcut capabilities for SharePoint on-premises environments.
• IMPROVEMENT Improved the import process for root site collections.
• IMPROVEMENT Added support for global credentials to simplify access to all on-premises sites.
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed an issue that caused an infinite loop during archiving.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• System Insights for real-time monitoring: A new, integrated dashboard provides instant visibility into system health, performance, storage activity, and license usage, replacing periodic telemetry with always up-to-date analytics.
• AI-powered, context-aware help: Intelligent assistance is now available directly in the Administration UI, offering relevant, documentation-based answers that adapt to your current screen and remember conversation context.
• Amazon S3 Object Lock support: Enable immutable storage with Governance mode to protect backup and archive data against deletion or tampering while remaining compliant with regulatory requirements.
• Modernized platform support: contentACCESS 7.1 adds verified support for Windows Server 2025 and introduces Serilog for structured, more actionable logging and diagnostics.
• Overall performance and stability improvements: Under-the-hood optimizations deliver a faster, smoother, and more reliable experience across backup, archiving, and administration tasks.

Common​

✓ System insights

With System Insights in contentACCESS 7.1, administrators get powerful, real-time visibility into the health and performance of their backup and archiving environment. The new System Insights dashboard, integrated directly into the Administration UI, provides comprehensive analytics across key areas, enabling faster troubleshooting, better resource allocation, and smarter decision-making.
System Insights brings a modern, real-time approach to monitoring your contentACCESS environment, replacing the previous periodic telemetry calculations with instant, always up-to-date analytics. Flexible data exploration allows you to effortlessly switch between a complete system overview or zoom in on specific jobs and operations, giving you the right level of detail whenever you need it. Built on a modern technology stack—leveraging Timescale over Postgres for maximum performance and real-time analytics, while also supporting SQL Server 2022 and above for flexible deployment—System Insights helps you make informed decisions, proactively manage resources, and optimize performance, all within a streamlined and intuitive interface.
Key Capabilities:
Real-time metrics: Instant access to up-to-the-minute data on CPU usage, memory consumption, application memory, and the number of running jobs, helping you proactively manage your system’s workload.
Archive activity monitoring: Track the volume of archived data, item counts, average processing times, and error occurrences. Quickly spot trends, bottlenecks, or anomalies affecting archiving performance.
Model activity analytics: View operational metrics such as the number of model-related operations, total data retrieved, and average retrieval times for in-depth performance tuning.
Storage activity tracking: Monitor storage operations, failure counts, and data volume to ensure your storage environment is running smoothly and efficiently.
License usage insights: Get a clear overview of total data volume used and the number of licenses in use, making it easier to plan for future needs and compliance.
Experience instant visibility and control—your system health at a glance!

✓ AI powered help

The new AI powered help in contentACCESS 7.1 takes user support to the next level, delivering fast, intelligent answers to your questions directly within the new Administration UI. Powered by advanced AI and grounded in the official contentACCESS documentation, this help agent ensures that every response is relevant, accurate, and tailored to your needs.
What sets this help system apart is its context-sensitive intelligence—it always knows exactly where you are in the application, providing guidance specific to the part of the interface you’re working in. Thanks to session memory, the help agent remembers your ongoing conversation, so even in longer discussions, it keeps track of what you’ve asked and the context behind it. This means you get coherent, continuous assistance without repeating yourself or losing track of your previous questions.
For maximum convenience, the AI help can be launched with a single click directly from your current screen, opened in a separate window, or accessed anytime at https://smartdocs.tech-arrow.com.
Enjoy a seamless support experience that keeps you productive, informed, and always moving forward—no matter how complex your question.

✓ Amazon S3 object lock

With contentACCESS 7.1, you can now take your data protection to the next level with S3 Object Lock support. Immutable storage is a critical security component for any archive or backup solution, ensuring that once your data is written, it cannot be modified or deleted for a defined retention period. By enabling Object Lock, contentACCESS allows you to activate hardware-level retention policies on your backup and archive data, providing an extra layer of protection against accidental deletion, tampering, or ransomware attacks.
contentACCESS uses Governance mode for Object Lock, which not only enforces data immutability but also allows retention settings to be changed by authorized users when necessary. This ensures your organization can respond flexibly to legal or regulatory requirements such as GDPR, where data may need to be deleted or retention periods adjusted.
This feature is fully compatible with all S3-compatible storage solutions, making it easy to ensure data integrity and meet your security needs, regardless of your chosen storage provider. With Object Lock enabled, you can be confident that your data remains exactly as it was saved—secure, unchangeable, yet adaptable to evolving compliance requirements.

✓ Windows Server 2025 support

contentACCESS 7.1 has been fully verified and optimized to run seamlessly on Windows Server 2025. Whether you’re planning an upgrade or deploying new infrastructure, you can trust that contentACCESS is ready for Microsoft’s latest server platform. Enjoy improved performance, reliability, and compatibility with all the latest features and enhancements that Windows Server 2025 has to offer. Stay ahead of the curve with a future-ready backup and archiving solution!

✓ Introducing Serilog

With contentACCESS 7.1, we’re making a major leap forward in logging technology by replacing log4net with Serilog. Serilog is a modern, industry-leading logging framework that has become widely adopted in recent years, supported by a vibrant community and a rich ecosystem of integrations.
Unlike traditional logging tools, Serilog is built around structured logging. This means we can now log not just plain text messages, but also complex objects and detailed properties, making our logs far more insightful and actionable. Structured logging enables advanced querying, filtering, and analysis, helping you quickly pinpoint issues and better understand your system’s behavior.
This upgrade brings contentACCESS a more robust, flexible, and future-proof approach to monitoring and troubleshooting—unlocking new possibilities for diagnostics and operational intelligence.

✓ Performance and stability fixes

contentACCESS 7.1 delivers a range of under-the-hood improvements aimed at boosting both speed and reliability. We’ve optimized key areas of the platform to ensure faster response times and a more stable overall experience. Whether you’re archiving, backing up, or managing your data, you’ll notice a smoother, more responsive system that lets you work more efficiently and with greater confidence than ever before.

Email archive​

✓ M365 Group archiving

contentACCESS 7.1 introduces comprehensive support for Microsoft 365 Group archiving. Microsoft 365 Groups (often referred to as “modern groups”) are a powerful collaboration tool, bringing together people, shared resources, and conversations. Previously, contentACCESS treated these groups as security groups only. Now, you can take full advantage of contentACCESS’s advanced archiving features—such as filtration, shortcutting, and direct data access—for your Microsoft 365 Groups, just like you do for standard mailboxes.
For even better usability, modern groups are now clearly separated from traditional mailboxes in the Administration UI, making it much easier to find and manage exactly what you need. And if you still want to use Microsoft 365 Groups as security groups within contentACCESS, that option remains available, giving you full flexibility and control.

✓ New style of mailApp deployment

contentACCESS 7.1 introduces a new, streamlined approach for deploying the mailApp. Previously, deployment required providing a backlink from Exchange to contentACCESS, which often caused failures when the archive wasn’t externally accessible—since Exchange couldn’t retrieve the manifest file. With the new version, contentACCESS now sends the manifest directly to Exchange, completely eliminating the need for a backlink.
This improvement means you can now deploy the mailApp even in environments that are not externally accessible. Users can safely and seamlessly access the mailApp behind the firewall, making the deployment process smoother, more secure, and far more flexible for internal systems.

Microsoft 365 backup​

✓ M365 Group backup

With contentACCESS 7.1, you can now securely back up Microsoft 365 Groups (modern groups) using the same advanced features available for standard mailboxes. The new Modern Group backup feature ensures that all your group data—including conversations, files, and collaborative content—is protected against data loss and ransomware threats. Enjoy reliable backup and quick data access, so your teams can collaborate confidently, knowing their information is safe and always recoverable.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Added BINARY-MIME (chunking) support to the contentACCESS SMTP server to improve email transmission efficiency.
• Introduced the option to remove remote file archive agents from Central Administration.
• Improved stability of email archiving and provisioning, including better handling of missing Internet Message IDs and more reliable group membership management.
• Enhanced hybrid M365 Exchange testing with a dedicated “Email address to test” field to reduce mailbox association errors.

Email archive​

• NEW BINARY-MIME (chunking) support introduced in contentACCESS SMTP server, enhancing message transmission efficiency.
• IMPROVEMENT Resolved issue where emails without “internet message id” failed to be received in the SMTP server.
• IMPROVEMENT Provisioning job logic adjusted to prevent random removal or addition of group members in the Email archive.
• IMPROVEMENT Added “Email address to test” field for M365 Exchange in hybrid configurations to avoid errors during mailbox association testing.

File archive​

• NEW Option to remove remote file archive agents added in Central Administration.
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed improper disposal of impersonation context causing Azure File Share test connection errors.
• IMPROVEMENT Corrected URL handling for OneDrive backup to resolve root folder access issues.
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed syntax error for GDPR File System configuration when saving the file system location in PostgreSQL.

SharePoint archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Fixed issue with opening HTML shortcuts for PDF files in SharePoint document libraries.

Teams archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Resolved Teams backup issue related to deleted Teams with an invalid object identifier ‘sites’.
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed NOT search functionality in the Teams archive to ensure consistent behavior across all archive models.

Common​

• IMPROVEMENT Using the default port for SQL and PostgreSQL if it is not overwritten by another value.
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed indexing failure in SharePoint and Teams backups caused by NULL values in the ACL column.
• IMPROVEMENT Resolved connectivity issue with Virtual Drive in specific environments.
• IMPROVEMENT Resolved installation error caused by missing ‘Microsoft.Web.Administration.SslFlags’ during IIS module initialization.
• IMPROVEMENT Search, Backup, and VirtualDrive configurations for inPoint are now hidden in Central Administration and the Installer.
• IMPROVEMENT Enhanced SQL DB configuration with “Create new user” in the installation wizard.
• IMPROVEMENT Adjusted installer to correctly detect Outlook on Windows 11 during contentACCESS updates.
• IMPROVEMENT IIS prerequisites installation optimized for Windows 11 during setup.
• IMPROVEMENT PostgreSQL installation now displays progress with a percentage and dialog, and passwords are excluded from logs.
• IMPROVEMENT Added user feedback when copying passwords to the clipboard in the installation package.
• IMPROVEMENT Storage and temp folder locations now include detailed descriptions to enhance user understanding.
• IMPROVEMENT Password field in Central Administration now supports all special characters during user password changes.
• IMPROVEMENT Login provider secrets are now securely masked within the interface.
• IMPROVEMENT Tenant models now properly reload in multi-node environments, ensuring consistent configuration updates across nodes.
• IMPROVEMENT Enhanced notification emails for Backup jobs to ensure completeness and error-based delivery.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Introduces a brand-new administration UI and guided activation wizard, enabling Microsoft 365 backup to be set up and secured in just a few minutes.
• Adds Just-in-Time Email Backup to capture incoming and outgoing emails in near real time, reducing the risk of data loss.
• Expands user self-service with Backup+ features, allowing end users to browse, search, and restore their own backed-up data.
• Improves storage resilience with enhanced redundancy and failover capabilities, including support for multiple replica storages.
• Broadens platform flexibility with PostgreSQL support and a simplified installation mode for faster, easier deployments.

Microsoft 365 backup​

✓ Secure your M365 data in a couple of minutes

Experience peace of mind with contentACCESS backup for Microsoft 365, meticulously crafted for simplicity without compromising security. Safeguard your critical business data, including emails, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and team chats, effortlessly. With seamless storage handling, implementing the 3-2-1 backup strategy is a breeze, ensuring redundancy and resilience. In just a couple of minutes, you can fortify your data against potential threats, ensuring it remains impeccably secure while minimizing administrative overhead.

✓ NEW Administration UI

The new Microsoft 365 Backup product is configurable through contentACCESS’s new, modern administration UI, which ensures swift and seamless setup. Reflecting a decade of insights from our customers and professional services team, this redesigned interface combines sleek modernity with user-centric design. Experience unprecedented speed, simplicity, and efficiency in configuration, optimizing your productivity like never before.
Modern design: Step into a world of modernity with our revamped administration portal, featuring an intuitive interface designed to streamline navigation and enhance the user experience.
Faster loading and work: Experience a new level of productivity with optimized workflows and faster loading times, ensuring that tasks are completed swiftly and efficiently.
Simplified operations: Say goodbye to complexity as we’ve fine-tuned every aspect of the portal to make operations simpler and more intuitive, from automated Azure Entra app registration to easier job setup.
Multi-tab support: Boost your productivity with multi-tab support, enabling you to work on multiple tasks simultaneously within the administration portal.
Multi-language support: Break down language barriers and enhance accessibility with support for multiple languages, allowing users to interact with the portal in their preferred language.

✓ Activation and configuration wizard

Initiate your contentACCESS journey effortlessly through our user-friendly product activation wizard. In just four straightforward steps, you’ll configure the system and swiftly initiate your backup process. The wizard also registers the Entra app, enabling easy connection to your Microsoft 365 data. Enjoy a hassle-free setup experience designed for maximum efficiency and simplicity. With our streamlined activation process, you’ll be safeguarding your critical data in no time.

✓ Just in time email backup

Introducing our innovative “Just-in-Time Email Backup” feature, powered by contentACCESS’s built-in SMTP server. With this functionality, Microsoft 365 can forward all incoming and outgoing email traffic to the contentACCESS SMTP server in near real time. This ensures that no email goes unrecorded, minimizing the risk of accidental deletions and safeguarding your entire email communication. Rest assured, every sent and received email is securely stored, providing comprehensive protection and peace of mind for your organization’s critical communication data.
Additionally, our “Just-in-Time Email Backup” feature includes retrospective mailbox scanning to preserve users’ folder structures. Throughout this process, no backup occurs; instead, emails are only organized into their respective folders within the backup, maintaining the original user folder structure intact. This ensures that not only are emails backed up in real time, but also that the organization and accessibility of users’ email backups are upheld, providing a comprehensive and user-centric email backup solution.

✓ Backup+ features

With the Backup+ feature enabled, every end user gains direct access to their backed-up data through our client tools. This empowers users to effortlessly browse, search, and even restore their data independently, eliminating the need for administrator intervention. When users have direct access to their backups, it ensures business continuity in critical situations, such as data loss or service outages, as they can always retrieve their data promptly, minimizing disruptions and maintaining productivity levels.

✓ Easy restore

The restore feature is a critical component of every backup solution, and we designed it to be as user-friendly as possible. Whether you need to recover a mailbox, a SharePoint site, or a Team, the process is straightforward. With just one click, you can initiate the restore process, effortlessly bringing back your data. For instances where only a single item needs restoration, our client tools provide a seamless solution. You can browse or conduct full-text searches within the client tools, selecting the desired data with ease. Upon clicking restore, the data is swiftly returned to its original location, ensuring a smooth and efficient recovery process.

✓ Storage redundancy and failover

We’re pleased to announce significant enhancements to our storage redundancy and failover layer within contentACCESS. This crucial aspect of our system is now more transparent and simpler to configure, ensuring a seamless user experience. The system now supports multiple secondary or replica storages alongside a primary storage, offering heightened redundancy and failover capabilities. Administrators also have the flexibility to use cloud storage as replica storage, expanding their options for data storage.
Additionally, the ability to set priorities for replica storage adds another layer of customization and control. In the event of primary storage damage, administrators can seamlessly nominate a replica storage as the primary, ensuring uninterrupted access to and modification of critical data. These enhancements collectively make the contentACCESS storage system more robust and powerful, further strengthening its role in data management and protection.

Common​

✓ PostgreSQL support

We are pleased to announce full support for PostgreSQL as a database option in contentACCESS. Until now, contentACCESS required SQL Server, often a costly investment for organizations without an existing license. With this update, customers can choose a powerful, open-source alternative, significantly reducing costs without compromising performance or reliability.
This flexibility goes beyond a single choice. With contentACCESS, you can now mix and match database types to suit your needs—for example, using SQL Server for one module and PostgreSQL for another. contentACCESS ensures seamless compatibility across both database types without restrictions.
To make adoption easier, the enhanced setup process now includes the option to install PostgreSQL, allowing you to get started with minimal effort.

✓ Simplified installation mode

Setting up contentACCESS is now faster and more straightforward with the new simplified installation mode. The setup process has been refined to collect all required information in a single step, eliminating duplicate data entry and streamlining the overall experience.
The installer now automatically handles critical configurations, including SSL certificate generation, firewall exception setup, and PostgreSQL installation when required. To enhance security, the setup process also enforces secure storage of all entered credentials.
This improved installation mode provides a more efficient way to get your contentACCESS environment up and running.

✓ Wasabi storage support

contentACCESS now supports Wasabi storage, offering a cost-effective and reliable cloud storage option for businesses of all sizes. Wasabi provides an alternative to traditional cloud storage, combining affordability with the security and performance you expect.
For on-premises environments, Wasabi can be used as backup storage to implement the 3-2-1 backup rule, ensuring your data remains protected and accessible. With contentACCESS’s replication service, configuring Wasabi as backup storage is straightforward and efficient.
This integration helps reduce costs while maintaining a secure and flexible storage environment.

✓ Performance and stability fixes

Improvements were made to enhance system performance and stability, further improving the overall contentACCESS experience.

Email archiving​

✓ Selective journaling

With the Selective Journaling feature, you can optimize your archiving process by filtering out emails that do not need to be archived. This feature allows you to simulate Premium Exchange Journaling by excluding specific emails from the archive. A common use case is focusing on external communications while excluding internal emails.
You can also use a wide range of email properties to create custom filters, such as sender, recipient, subject line, or specific keywords. This gives you full control over what gets archived, ensuring that only relevant emails are stored while conserving storage space.

✓ Enhanced SMTP security

The latest version of contentACCESS introduces Enhanced SMTP Security, providing stronger protection and greater flexibility in managing your email receiving flow. Administrators can now control key security settings at a mapping level, allowing configurations tailored to organizational requirements.
Advanced options include defining allowed senders, configuring transport header rules, and enabling SPF, DKIM, and DMARC verification to combat spoofing and improve email authentication. These features provide robust tools to secure and manage SMTP operations while maintaining flexibility.

✓ Optimized shortcut repair

The shortcut repair process has been significantly optimized, dramatically reducing the time required for common repair scenarios such as updating the server DNS name or protocol. Instead of regenerating the entire shortcut, the system now directly modifies the shortcut body during the repair operation, resulting in a faster and more efficient process.
A new option within the shortcut repair job allows you to control this behavior, providing greater flexibility over how repairs are handled.

SharePoint archiving​

✓ Optimized metadata storage

contentACCESS introduces improved metadata storage for SharePoint archiving, delivering greater efficiency. These enhancements reduce the database space required to store SharePoint metadata by approximately 5–8 times.
A smaller database reduces storage costs, enables faster processing, and simplifies maintenance, making the system more cost-effective and easier to manage over time.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Improved overall performance and reliability in contentACCESS Email Archive, including faster Retention Changer processing.
• More accurate mailbox license counting when the same database is configured multiple times.
• Improved filtering logic to correctly handle fixed date formats during pre-filtration.
• Automated mailbox re-linking now retains roles and seamlessly updates the address book.
• Corrected a tooltip typo for the “Reconnect mailbox” option in the Email Archive Address Book.

Email archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Enhanced performance of Retention Changer in contentACCESS Email Archive
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed a typo in the tooltip for the “Reconnect mailbox” option in the Email Archive Address Book
• IMPROVEMENT Automated re-linking of mailboxes now retains roles and updates the address book seamlessly
• IMPROVEMENT Optimized filtering now correctly handles fixed date formats during pre-filtration
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed mailbox license counting when the same database is configured twice in Email Archive
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed the progress indicator for Email Archive job report mode in inPoint

File archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Resolved issues with reparse points related to Windows deduplication
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed an LNK file creation issue caused by long file paths in contentACCESS File Archive
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed a shortcut warning in contentACCESS File Archive when moving files across folders

SharePoint archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Enhanced provisioning to handle recursive group members and avoid duplicate entries

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Updated the VC++ runtime for compatibility with the latest Microsoft 365 Outlook.
• Fixed issues with archive and restore job statistics.
• Optimized shortcut repair by regenerating email bodies without retrieving messages from storage.
• Improved handling of emails and previews with invalid or illegal attachment file names, and with incorrectly formatted recipient addresses.
• Added SMTP enhancements, including export/import of SMTP data and a read-only mode that rejects new incoming emails.

Email archive​

• IMPROVEMENT VC++ runtime updated to be compatible with the latest Microsoft 365 Outlook
• IMPROVEMENT Archive and restore job statistics fixed
• IMPROVEMENT Optimized shortcut repair – will regenerate email body without retrieving the email from storage
• IMPROVEMENT Allow archiving emails with attachments that have invalid file names
• IMPROVEMENT Allow previewing emails with attachments that have illegal characters in file names
• IMPROVEMENT Allow archiving emails with incorrectly formatted recipient addresses
• NEW Export and import SMTP data – allows transferring SMTP data between SMTP servers
• NEW Read-only mode for SMTP server – the server will refuse all new incoming emails

SharePoint archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Fixed document version archiving failure in some special circumstances

Teams archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Added Download and Refresh buttons to Teams post preview in Portal

Common​

• IMPROVEMENT Performance and stability fixes

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Introduces compliant archiving for Microsoft Teams chats and Teams, enabling access to all communications, including deleted messages and cross-tenant content, using compliant (paid) Microsoft APIs.
• Adds new provisioning filter options, allowing more precise archiving based on criteria such as sensitivity labels, owners, and creation dates.
• Enhances storage redundancy and failover with support for multiple replica storages, priority settings, and simplified promotion of replicas to primary storage.
• Upgrades Elasticsearch to version 8.11.1, delivering improved performance, stability, and platform compliance.

Teams archive​

✓ Compliant chat archiving

Introducing the compliant private chat archiving feature, designed to ensure comprehensive data retention and compliance. While we previously supported the archiving of Teams chats using free Microsoft APIs, we have now enhanced this capability with a new compliant archive job. This new method allows contentACCESS to access all chats, including deleted messages and those involving users from other Microsoft 365 tenants, providing a more thorough archiving solution. However, it is important to note that this enhanced functionality comes with a drawback—it utilizes paid Microsoft APIs. The choice is yours: you can continue using the older, more feature-rich method or opt for the new compliant archive job for enhanced compliance and data retention capabilities.

✓ Compliant Team archiving

Introducing our compliant Teams archiving feature, engineered to ensure comprehensive data retention and compliance. Previously, we supported Teams archiving using free Microsoft APIs, providing a rich feature set for filtering data. However, these APIs had limitations, as deleted messages were not retrievable. With our new compliant archive jobs, contentACCESS can now access all Teams communication, including deleted messages. This enhanced functionality addresses previous limitations and ensures a more thorough archiving solution. It is important to note that this advanced capability comes with a trade-off—it utilizes paid Microsoft APIs. The decision is yours: continue using the older method for its feature richness or opt for the new compliant archive jobs to enhance compliance and data retention capabilities for your Teams data.

✓ New provisioning filter options

Elevate your team’s categorization precision with our latest provisioning filter options. You can now filter based on sensitivity, owners, creation date, and much more. This feature allows you to archive exactly what you need, ensuring optimal organization and efficiency.
Using sensitivity labels, you can easily categorize your teams for archiving directly within the Microsoft ecosystem. This intuitive approach makes managing and organizing teams for archiving simpler than ever.
Experience the advantages of precise categorization and targeted archiving with our new provisioning filter options.

Common​

✓ Storage redundancy and failover enhancements

We are thrilled to announce significant enhancements to the storage redundancy and failover layer within contentACCESS. This crucial aspect of the system is now more transparent and simpler to configure, ensuring a seamless user experience. The system now supports multiple secondary or replica storages alongside a primary storage, offering increased redundancy and improved failover capabilities. Administrators also have the flexibility to use cloud storage as replica storage, expanding their options for data management. In addition, the ability to set priorities for replica storages provides greater customization and control. In the event of primary storage damage, administrators can seamlessly promote a replica storage to primary, ensuring uninterrupted access to and modification of critical data. These enhancements make the contentACCESS storage system even more robust and powerful.

✓ Elasticsearch updated to 8.11.1

We have upgraded the Elasticsearch version in contentACCESS to 8.11.1. This release is fully compatible with the previously used 8.4 version, ensuring seamless integration and continuity for users. In addition to compatibility, the update delivers performance and stability improvements, further optimizing the functionality of contentACCESS.

✓ Deletion and retention change support for xFlow storage

This version introduces support for deletion and retention changes within xFlow storage. This enhancement provides greater control over the data lifecycle, enabling more flexible management of stored content. Whether adjusting retention policies or selectively removing outdated data, these features support improved data governance and compliance within the xFlow storage environment.

✓ Amazon S3 storage improvements

We have undertaken a major rewrite of the Amazon S3 integration to deliver significant performance improvements. With these updates, data storage is faster and more efficient, providing a smoother and more powerful data management experience.

✓ Performance and stability fixes

Additional improvements have been made to enhance overall system speed and stability, further improving the contentACCESS user experience.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Improved reliability and performance by fixing SMTP deployment failures when Azure DB was selected, optimizing mailbox moves, and resolving catastrophic failures that prevented some M365 emails from being archived.

Email archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Fixed an issue where SMTP deployment failed when Azure DB was selected as the SMTP database.
• IMPROVEMENT Optimized mailbox move operations.
• IMPROVEMENT Fixed an issue where M365 emails were not successfully archived due to a catastrophic failure (HRESULT: 0x8000FFFF, E_UNEXPECTED).

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Resolves provisioning and archiving failures caused by empty ACL trustees, circular group references, and mailbox names containing commas.
• Restores missing in-place archive functionality in the inPoint Email Restore job.
• Fixes mailbox accessibility issues related to the distributed processing queue.
• Improves overall stability across email, Teams, SharePoint, and file archiving scenarios.

Email archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Folder permission synchronization fails if at least one ACL has an empty trustee
• IMPROVEMENT Circular group references cause endless loops in provisioning and archive jobs
• IMPROVEMENT Hybrid provisioning cannot process mailboxes with commas in their names
• IMPROVEMENT In-place archive functionality is missing from the inPoint Email Restore job
• IMPROVEMENT The mailbox is inaccessible due to issues in the distributed processing queue

Teams archive​

• IMPROVEMENT An extra and unnecessary dot has been removed from the title column in the export report

SharePoint archive​

• IMPROVEMENT The “Modified By” and “Created By” user information is replaced by another existing user if the original user has been deleted during the recovery process
• IMPROVEMENT The recovery job may duplicate existing documents under certain circumstances
• IMPROVEMENT A versioning issue has been fixed when re-archiving an already archived document
• IMPROVEMENT When converting archived files to shortcuts, only items from one of the subfolders are shortcut
• IMPROVEMENT The recovery date is now restored instead of the original date

File archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Failed to open deleted items in Remote Agent
• IMPROVEMENT The application initialization process is inconveniently slow after logging in to Remote Agent
• IMPROVEMENT The recovery duration in Remote Agent takes longer than expected

Common​

• IMPROVEMENT An error occurs during folder and batch sharing
• IMPROVEMENT An error occurs in the Portal when recovering folders and items
• IMPROVEMENT The search history and search queries are missing in some circumstances
• IMPROVEMENT When exporting items to ZIP, the ZIP file cannot be extracted if the name ends with a dot
• IMPROVEMENT Errors occur when exporting all folders to ZIP
• IMPROVEMENT The “Create task” button sometimes does not work
• IMPROVEMENT An unnecessary dot is added to the names of exported files
• IMPROVEMENT Search results may include irrelevant items
• IMPROVEMENT Search fails in the Sharing model
• IMPROVEMENT Elastic V2 memory limits are still not considered
• IMPROVEMENT The contentACCESS user password is not set for the SMTP service during installation

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Archiving support for Azure file shares, enabling direct archiving from Azure cloud storage.
• New audio and video preview functionality, allowing media files to be streamed directly from the archive without downloading.
• Platform update for web preview with a transition to .NET 6, delivering improved performance and stability.
• Improved job start and stop experience with clearer status feedback, especially in multi-node environments.
• Updated mailApp 6.3 integration for better usability and seamless functionality.

File archive​

✓ Archiving Azure file shares

File archiving capabilities have been expanded to support Azure file shares. This means administrators can now seamlessly archive files directly from Azure’s cloud storage platform, enhancing flexibility and integration.

Common​

✓ Video and audio preview

Gone are the days when you had to retrieve or download media files just to glimpse or hear their content. With this new enhancement, users can effortlessly preview audio and video files directly from the archive. Our optimized streaming technology ensures minimal buffering and delay, regardless of file size. This provides a convenient way to get a quick snapshot or review the entire content without relying on external media players. Support for a wide range of popular audio and video file formats ensures seamless compatibility and convenience.

✓ Platform update for web preview

The web preview in contentACCESS has undergone a significant platform update, transitioning to .NET 6. As a result, users can expect a faster and more stable browsing experience. This complete rewrite aims to enhance performance and reliability.

✓ Improved job start and stop experience

The job start and stop mechanisms in contentACCESS have been enhanced, providing clearer status feedback, especially in multi-node environments. Users can now gain a more accurate understanding of job statuses, ensuring a smoother operational experience.

✓ mailApp update

The latest contentACCESS 6.3 release is bundled with mailApp 6.3. This integrated package ensures seamless functionality and enhanced features. For detailed insights into the updates and improvements in mailApp 6.3, please refer to the mailApp release notes.

✓ Performance and stability fixes

Improvements have been made to increase system speed and stability, further enhancing the overall contentACCESS experience.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Improved Microsoft 365 provisioning by limiting mailbox reads to the first 1,000 mailboxes.
• Fixed an issue that caused the incorrect creation of an additional search index when the archive reached 200 GB.

Email archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Provisioning reads only the first 1,000 mailboxes for Microsoft 365

Common​

• IMPROVEMENT Incorrect creation of an additional search index when reaching 200 GB

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Improved Elastic v2 configuration by fixing memory and minimum storage limits and enabling registration on the D drive.
• Restored the DiskStore auto-repair mechanism when the target folder is missing.
• Reduced the frequency of contentACCESS update checks.
• Fixed a branding issue in inPoint.CSE.

Common​

• IMPROVEMENT Memory and minimum storage limits are not set up for Elastic v2
• IMPROVEMENT Setup cannot register ElasticSearch v2 on the D drive
• IMPROVEMENT DiskStore auto-repair mechanism does not work if the target folder does not exist
• IMPROVEMENT contentACCESS update check happens too frequently
• IMPROVEMENT Branding issue in inPoint.CSE

Email archive​

• IMPROVEMENT MailApp fails to load active emails after a certain period of usage
• IMPROVEMENT SMTP receives no emails after a certain period of usage

Teams archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Proxy settings are ignored for some operations

File archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Archiving a file fails when the file name is too long

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Introduces SharePoint and Teams shortcutting to optimize storage usage by replacing files with small placeholders or removing outdated file versions.
• Adds automated, rule-based SharePoint site provisioning using virtual groups to simplify and standardize archiving management.
• Includes a new SharePoint archive address book for centralized visibility and management of sites, virtual groups, and OneDrive resources.
• Delivers performance and stability improvements for a faster and more reliable contentACCESS experience.

SharePoint archive​

✓ Shortcutting

SharePoint has received many feature updates over the past several years, becoming a powerful DMS and CMS platform. Users have widely adopted SharePoint as a document storage solution to facilitate seamless collaboration.
It is important to note that SharePoint Online charges for additional storage, and large SharePoint environments can significantly impact costs. Therefore, optimizing space utilization is crucial to avoid unnecessary expenses.
To save space in SharePoint, contentACCESS now provides two methods: replacing files with small 1–5 kB shortcuts or removing old file versions. Both methods are controlled by administrator-defined rules.
The first method involves replacing files and versions with highly customizable, tiny shortcuts that serve as placeholders. When opening a shortcut, users have several options available directly, such as previewing the file in the contentACCESS preview, downloading the original file from the contentACCESS archive, or restoring the file. These options are customizable by the administrator.
The second method focuses on removing outdated file versions only. SharePoint allows file versioning, but multiple versions can occupy significant space. By selectively removing older versions that are no longer necessary, storage capacity can be optimized while the file remains directly accessible from SharePoint. Older versions can still be accessed through contentACCESS client apps.
Implementing these strategies can help efficiently manage space in SharePoint, potentially reducing storage costs by up to 60%.

✓ Automated site provisioning

Automated SharePoint site collection provisioning is a rule-based engine that enhances the management of site collections within contentACCESS. It operates by identifying SharePoint site collections based on specified rules and subsequently assigning them to virtual groups in contentACCESS. These virtual groups play a crucial role in streamlining archiving processes.
The rule-based engine evaluates predefined criteria or conditions, such as metadata, naming conventions, size, or other specified attributes of site collections. Once a match is found, the engine automatically assigns the corresponding site collection to a virtual group within contentACCESS. This grouping allows easier management and enables administrators to efficiently organize and categorize site collections based on specific requirements or policies.
By leveraging virtual groups, administrators gain granular control over archiving processes. They can define archiving settings, retention policies, access permissions, and other relevant configurations at the group level. This approach simplifies the management of archiving tasks for site collections within contentACCESS, ensuring consistent and centralized control.
Overall, the automated SharePoint site collection provisioning engine, driven by rule-based criteria and virtual groups in contentACCESS, empowers administrators to efficiently manage and organize site collection archiving. This automated approach reduces manual effort, improves consistency, and enhances overall archiving performance and control.

✓ Address book

We are introducing an address book for the SharePoint archive. The address book in the contentACCESS SharePoint archive serves as a centralized repository of provisioned SharePoint site collections, virtual groups associated with site collections, OneDrives, and OneDrive groups.
By leveraging the SharePoint archive address book, administrators gain a unified view of their provisioned data and can manage settings or trigger various actions. This enables simplified administration and better visibility into SharePoint resources within the contentACCESS environment.

Teams archive​

✓ Shortcutting SharePoint data

Microsoft Teams is a powerful collaboration platform that uses SharePoint as its underlying document storage. This means that each file stored in Teams consumes SharePoint storage allocated to the Microsoft 365 tenant.
It is important to note that SharePoint Online charges for additional storage, and large SharePoint environments can significantly impact costs. Therefore, optimizing space utilization is crucial to avoid unnecessary expenses.
As a solution, we have introduced the same SharePoint offloading capabilities for Teams that are available for the SharePoint archive. This provides two methods: replacing files with highly customizable small 1–5 kB shortcuts or removing old file versions. Both methods are controlled by administrator-defined rules.
Implementing these strategies can help efficiently manage space in SharePoint, potentially reducing storage costs by up to 60%.

Common​

✓ Performance and stability fixes

Improvements have been made to increase system performance and stability, delivering an even better contentACCESS experience.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Improved disk storage performance when handling large files.
• Resolved unnecessary error messages during task deletion when tasks are in a waiting state.
• Reduced excessive cache handler clean-up log messages.
• Addressed limitations in the remote agent architecture and ensured the default system proxy configuration is properly utilized.

Common​

• IMPROVEMENT Disk storage performance improvement when handling large files
• IMPROVEMENT Error message displayed during task deletion in Portal if the task is in a waiting state
• IMPROVEMENT contentACCESS remote agent always runs as 32-bit
• IMPROVEMENT Cache handler clean-up messages are filling up the log
• IMPROVEMENT The default system proxy configuration was not utilized
• IMPROVEMENT Propagated authentication information is accepted by the preview service

Email archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Slow provisioning in certain AD architectures
• IMPROVEMENT Various issues arise when PowerShell is not configured for modern authentication
• IMPROVEMENT Problem with mailApp registration for Microsoft 365
• IMPROVEMENT Exchange group selection does not pre-select already added group
• IMPROVEMENT Recovery plugin fails to start
• IMPROVEMENT contentGATE shortcut migration encounters a “file not found” error on the contentACCESS side
• IMPROVEMENT Email archive may create an email record without content
• IMPROVEMENT Addition of the missing contentaccess.app domain to the mailApp manifest
• IMPROVEMENT Index migration if the Exchange mailbox also exists on the GDPR Exchange

Teams archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Archiving fails if Graph is not able to return the team profile picture
• IMPROVEMENT Exchange type selector removed as it is not needed anymore
• IMPROVEMENT Teams search app package has double extension
• IMPROVEMENT White space at the end of the modern authentication settings is causing issues

File archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Recovering fails on folders which have empty SDDL information

GDPR​

• IMPROVEMENT GDPR search has no results

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Hybrid Exchange archiving is now available as a SaaS offering, enabling archiving of hybrid Exchange environments without requiring on-premises access to Active Directory.
• A new REST-based provisioning API replaces deprecated Remote PowerShell for O365 mailbox archiving, offering improved security, performance, and long-term support.
• Enhanced Microsoft Teams archiving with new retention management options, delete-from-archive jobs, and support for extended message reactions.
• Introduction of the Is Active filter across multiple archive types to identify and manage items that no longer exist on the source system.

Email archive​

✓ Hybrid Exchange archiving as SaaS

From version 3.8 onwards, contentACCESS supports Hybrid Exchange archiving. However, hybrid archiving was initially limited to scenarios where contentACCESS was running on-premises and had access to the local Active Directory. This limitation has now been resolved, and you can archive hybrid Exchange environments through a contentACCESS instance running as SaaS.

✓ REST API for provisioning

When contentACCESS archives O365 mailboxes, it uses Remote PowerShell to obtain mailbox and group information. In December 2022, Microsoft marked Remote PowerShell technology as deprecated and will stop supporting it on June 1, 2023.
To react to this change, we completely rewrote our provisioning mechanism for O365. We are now introducing new REST-based provisioning, which is more modern, secure, and performant. The switch comes without compromise, as all existing features are supported by the new technology as well. However, if you already use contentACCESS 6.0 or later to archive O365 mailboxes, the Azure AD app used in the modern authentication configuration in Central Administration will require additional permissions. For more information, please read the corresponding documentation page.

Teams archive​

✓ Retention changer

Have your business needs changed, and do you now need to keep your archived private Teams chats for a different period than before? Do you need to delete sensitive archived data earlier? You can now change the previously specified retention time for your private MS Teams chats, making it possible to delete items from the archive sooner due to a shortened retention time. This option is supported by the following stores: Disk, Azure, and Amazon S3.

✓ Delete job

The new delete-from-archive job for Teams chat archives allows you to clean up unwanted or expired chats. Delete jobs can run in three modes: report generation, deletion based on a report, and immediate deletion. Using the report mode, administrators have full control over the deleted items.
Another way to delete items from the archive is to mark them for deletion in the Portal. This feature allows users with the necessary rights to mark items for deletion so that the delete job will clean these chats and messages, even if they are still within the protected retention time. Users can select single items, single chats, or entire search results.
Deletion also depends on the storage type used. The following storages support deletion: Disk, Azure, HybridStore, Google, and Amazon S3 (and compatible). The delete job will not have any effect on storages that do not support deletion.

✓ Extended reactions

Microsoft introduced the possibility to extend the existing set of message reactions in Teams last year. We continuously monitor and respond to Microsoft changes, and contentACCESS is now able to archive all of these new reactions as well.

Common​

✓ Introducing the Is Active filter

We are introducing the Is Active filter property for File, Email, SharePoint, and Teams archives. The Is Active property specifies whether a given archive item still exists on the target (original) system. Using this property, you can delete data from your archive that no longer exists on the target system.

✓ Performance and stability fixes

Improvements have been made to make the system faster and more stable, so your contentACCESS experience is now even better than before.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Major search server upgrade with a redesigned index structure, migration tooling, and support for running the new and legacy search side by side.
• New web-based document preview that enables viewing, printing, and PDF downloads directly in the browser, with seamless integration for mobile users.
• Shortcuts can now be opened directly in contentACCESS Mobile from a mobile email client with a single click.
• Unified log folder for all contentACCESS components, improving log management and system reliability.
• Mail App vNext is now production-ready, delivering new features, broader platform support, and improved performance and stability.

Common​

✓ Search server update

It has been a long time since we last updated the Elasticsearch engine used in contentACCESS. The reason was that Elasticsearch introduced some breaking changes, which made a direct update impossible. This meant that we had to redesign our index structure.
We think the time has come. We have collected all our experience from the past years, revisited all open issues that were impossible to solve with the old index structure, invested months of development, and updated Elasticsearch from 5.6 to 8.4. We knew from the beginning that upgrading Elasticsearch would require customers to re-index their data. Our primary goal was to design a more robust and more performant index structure using the most recent technology. The secondary goal was to make the transition as smooth as possible.
As a result, we have developed a new contentACCESS search component on .NET Core 6, which can live side by side with the old search component. To make the transition fast and smooth, we have also developed an index migration application that can transfer old index data from the legacy Elasticsearch to the new one in the background. The application is intelligent enough to make the transition fully transparent, and search and indexing can continue while the data is migrated. The migration runs from entity to entity (mailbox), and the system will identify which entities are on the old Elasticsearch and which are on the new one. As a result, search requests are routed to the correct search engine.
We know that for some customers, the update must be scheduled and coordinated between multiple departments, which requires longer preparation. We have considered this and decided to keep supporting the old search component for one more year. This means anyone who wants to keep using the old search component can safely update to contentACCESS 6.0, and the migration to the new search can be started at any later date.

✓ Web preview of documents

In contentACCESS 6.0, we are introducing a new component called contentACCESS Preview. This is a web component that can show an HTML5 version of nearly every type of document stored in or processed by contentACCESS. Users do not need to download and open documents just to see their content. Mobile users also do not need to worry about having a native application for every document format, as the web preview can display the document for them.
In addition to the HTML preview, this component offers additional capabilities. It allows users to print the document or download it in PDF format.
This component is also used to recognize mobile device requests and redirect them to the native contentACCESS Mobile app if it is installed. Using this approach, users can open their shortcuts directly in the native mobile app. If the mobile app is not installed on the user’s device, the web preview will continue to be displayed.
The web preview is also integrated into the contentACCESS Portal and contentACCESS Mobile, allowing users to view documents directly without downloading them.
Sounds good? Just try it!

✓ Open shortcut in contentACCESS Mobile

Do you travel a lot and have trouble accessing your shortcut emails on your mobile phone? Is it frustrating to search for the same email again in contentACCESS Mobile just to see the full archived content? We have a solution for you. Shortcuts can now be opened directly from your mobile email client in contentACCESS Mobile with a single click.
You might be wondering whether you need to convert all your existing shortcuts to use this feature. The answer is no. It works with your existing shortcuts as well. The only requirement is that you install and configure the contentACCESS Preview service and deploy contentACCESS Mobile to user devices.

✓ Common log folder for all components

Previously, each contentACCESS component used its own log folder, located under the installation folder of that component. This design was not optimal, as the system disk could be filled up by logs, and the logs were distributed across many different folders. In version 6.0, we have unified this approach and moved all component logs into a common log folder. This common log folder can be configured during installation on each node.

✓ Mail App vNext

Mail App is a lightweight, cross-platform contentACCESS client for Microsoft Outlook. It was introduced in contentACCESS 5.4 as a beta version. Over the past few months, we have gathered feedback and invested significant effort in optimizing performance and fixing bugs. In contentACCESS 6.0, Mail App vNext includes new features and is ready for production use.
By default, existing installations will continue to use the old Mail App, while new installations will use the new version. For existing installations, you can enable the new Mail App in the Email Archive System settings.

Recipient popup
By default, Mail App displays the first name of each recipient to provide as much information as possible in a compact way. Now, when you click on the recipient list, a popup displays full user information, along with features such as sending an email to the recipient or copying the recipient’s name and email address.

Safari support
We have good news for Mac users. Mail App now runs in the Safari browser and in Outlook for Mac. We are continuing to work on providing Mac users with the same user experience as Windows users. You can expect further improvements in upcoming releases.

Quick access to shares
Sharing is a powerful feature in contentACCESS, and we aim to make it as easily accessible as possible. As an improvement, we have added two new shortcuts to the startup page that allow you to directly navigate to files you have shared or files that have been shared with you. This can save several extra clicks.

Hide not accessible features
The previous version of Mail App was designed for email archive users only. The new vNext version supports all other archives in contentACCESS, making it useful for users who work exclusively with, for example, Teams Archive. In such cases, the active email button is hidden on the home screen and in the main menu. The same applies to the Sharing feature.

✓ Performance and stability fixes

Various improvements were made to increase system performance and stability, making the overall contentACCESS experience even better.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Updated the Name parameter to align with Microsoft’s latest naming conventions for Exchange Online mailboxes.
• Improved provisioning performance through optimizations designed for large organizations.

Email archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Name parameter change – adjustments were made to align with Microsoft’s updated naming conventions for Exchange Online mailboxes.
• IMPROVEMENT Provisioning – optimizations were implemented to improve provisioning execution performance for large organizations.

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• Fixed SQL errors occurring during archive job license checks and SharePoint provisioning.
• Corrected incorrect report messages when recovery job filters are not set.
• Resolved modern authentication issues, including an assembly load error related to Microsoft.Identity.Client.
• Ensured temporary files created by archive jobs are properly deleted.
• Improved overall stability across archive, recovery, and common components.

Teams archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Archive job – SQL error during license check if the team does not have any member
• IMPROVEMENT Recovery job – if filters are not set, the message is wrong in the report

SharePoint archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Archive job – SQL error during provisioning

Email archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Modern authentication – assembly load error in archive job ‘Microsoft.Identity.Client’

SharePoint archive​

• IMPROVEMENT Archive jobs – items from TEMP folder not being deleted

Common​

• NEW Report an issue – email address can be overridden
• IMPROVEMENT Report an issue – email addresses updated for OEM versions
• IMPROVEMENT LDAP – umlauts are not handled correctly in OUs
• IMPROVEMENT contentWEB – each search query is executed multiple times
• IMPROVEMENT VirtualDrive – could not load file or assembly ‘System.ServiceModel.Primitives, Version=4.8.1.0’
• IMPROVEMENT DiskStore – the document recovery method skips encryption
• IMPROVEMENT MailApp – login is not working from Safari

⚠️ Update from older versions​

• New retention change and delete-from-archive capabilities for Teams archives, enabling more flexible lifecycle management of archived data.
• Extended and more granular filtering options for Teams archive jobs, with separate filters for channels, messages, and files.
• Improved email archive workflows with support for folder prefixes in mailbox move jobs, simplifying data consolidation scenarios.
• New system notifications in Central Administration to inform administrators about available contentACCESS updates.
• The vNext Mail App introduces a redesigned, unified experience with enhanced search, sharing, and data browsing features.

Teams archive​

✓ Retention changer

Have your business needs changed, and now you need to keep your archived Teams data for a different period than before? Do you need to delete sensitive archived data earlier? You can now change the previously specified retention time for your MS Teams archived data, making it possible to delete items from the archive sooner when using a shortened retention time. This option is supported by the following stores: Disk, Azure, and Amazon S3.

✓ Delete job

The new delete-from-archive job for Teams archive allows you to clean up the archive from unwanted or expired items. Delete jobs can run in three modes: report generation, delete based on a report, and immediate deletion. When using the report mode, administrators have full control over the deleted items.
Another option for deleting items from archives is marking them for deletion in the Portal. This feature allows users with the necessary rights to mark files for deletion so that the delete job can remove these files and messages even if they are within an unprotected retention period. Users can select single items, single folders, or an entire search result.
Deletion also depends on the storage in use. The following storages support deletion: Disk, Azure, HybridStore, Google, and Amazon S3 (and compatible). The delete job will not have any effect on storages that do not support deletion.

✓ Extended filtration

Teams archive job filters were extended to allow more granular and fine-tuned filtering when archiving, recovering, or otherwise working with data. The archive job now has filters on all three levels: channels, messages, and files can be filtered separately. At the same time, we aimed to simplify the configuration for those who do not want to filter data and prefer to keep everything in the archive. With the current filtering capabilities, we hope to cover both needs: simplicity and granularity.

Email archive​

✓ Folder prefix in mailbox move job

Originally, the mailbox move job was designed to allow customers to switch the store or database behind mailboxes. Over time, it has also been used for data consolidation. We continuously listen to customer feedback and extend functionality based on real needs. To better support consolidation use cases, we have extended the mailbox move configuration to allow specifying a subfolder path that will serve as the base path in the target mailbox for the imported data.

Common​

✓ Notification about new version

From now on, you will never miss a new version. We have added a notification bar to Central Administration that informs system administrators when a new contentACCESS version is available. You can open the release notes directly from the notification bar to review the exact features and changes included in the new version.

✓ Sign up for a newsletter

The new version notification is one of the channels we use to communicate with our customers and partners, and it informs you only about new contentACCESS versions. If you would also like to receive information about other products or read useful articles on how to get the most from your archive and increase productivity, you can sign up for our newsletter. This can now be done directly from Central Administration.

✓ Report an issue

Did you run into an issue or have a question regarding any functionality? Are you having trouble reaching our professional support? Don’t worry—you are only a click away from us. We have added an option to Central Administration that opens a support ticket directly with our team. Additionally, this option allows you to send system information to help our technicians quickly understand your current configuration. This can save several initial emails and allows our technicians to focus directly on your issue.

✓ Mail App vNext

Mail App is a lightweight, cross-platform contentACCESS client for Microsoft Outlook. It was originally designed to provide basic functions, such as manual archiving, restoring, and searching for emails archived by contentACCESS. Customers appreciated the app for being fast and cross-platform.
The vNext version is not just a simple update, but a complete rewrite. We combined existing features from the legacy Mail App, contentACCESS Mobile, and the Share App into a single experience. Users familiar with contentACCESS Mobile will notice a similar look, feel, and feature set in the new Mail App.

Pin the app
The pin feature ensures that the Mail App is always open when an email is selected for preview in Outlook, keeping the app readily available.

New look and feel
Dynamics, simplicity, and productivity are the key factors driving the new design. The result allows users to focus on important data and functionality.

Startup screen
The startup screen presents the main features of the app with short descriptions, which is especially helpful for first-time users.

Active email
The active email page provides access to archive functions for the email currently opened in Outlook’s preview pane. This view is similar to the old Mail App startup page, but more feature-rich. You can manually archive unarchived emails or restore archived ones. The active email view automatically loads the email preview from the archive. If shortcuts are available, the original text and attachments are directly accessible. Additionally, you can share or attach the email or any of its content with a single click.

Advanced search
The new search experience integrates all contentACCESS search features, including search suggestions, hit highlighting, history, and advanced filters.

Data browsing
The new Mail App provides access to all available entities across all modules. You can browse folders, view items, search, and review relevant information. Items and attachments can also be restored or shared.

Sharing
In contentACCESS 5.0, we introduced platform-level sharing, which is now also available in the Mail App. You can share data directly from the contentACCESS archive in just two clicks, review download audits for shared items, and modify sharing settings.
Inviting recipients to contentACCESS, sending shared files, enforcing retention, limiting downloads, and auditing access are all managed by the system.
Sounds good? Give it a try!

✓ Performance and stability fixes

Improvements were made to increase performance and stability, making your contentACCESS experience even better than before.

⚠️ Update from older versions​