Attila Balázsy

Overview​

This document contains cumulative update notes for all contentACCESS versions. Before upgrading, carefully review all entries that apply to versions newer than your current installation, as they contain critical requirements, configuration changes, and breaking changes that may affect your deployment.

Update paths​

✓ Update from version >v5.0
Direct upgrades are supported.

Platform & infrastructure requirements​

✓ System Insights database requirements v7.1
System Insights requires either TimescaleDB on PostgreSQL or Microsoft SQL Server 2022 or later. Older SQL Server versions are not supported for this feature.

Security & authentication changes​

Feature-related actions after upgrade​

Legacy upgrade considerations​

✨ Highlights​

• 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.

✨ Highlights​

• 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.

✨ Highlights​

• 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.