Release of Umbraco 13: What you need to know.

The new version comes with a range of improvements and new features. Check out our highlights below. 

Instead of continuing to work with macros for recurring elements, Umbraco is now introducing blocks in the Rich Text Editor. You are probably already familiar with Block List and Block Grid, but with this enhanced feature, content creation is becoming even more structured and dynamic.

What we love about it: Content creation becomes even more flexible with blocks: As developers, we can structure the user experience in the backend for the content area in a more pleasant and streamlined way. And it's even easier for content editors to keep content in the blocks up to date and use it consistently across the entire website. A must for large web environments.

Umbraco 13 opens up new integration possibilities for third-party systems with webhooks. As a no- or low-code feature, editors can work in the user interface without development skills: Simply enter the URL to be retrieved and select an event. A specific content type and headers can also be defined. There are 5 default events but you can always extend these with individual events.

Have you been using XPath for the syntax structure? This feature will no longer be available from Umbraco 14. In Version 13, there is already an alternative, so it is worth switching now to avoid incompatibility in the future. Umbraco introduced the Dynamic Root feature. You can find the new feature under Node Type Content in the Multinode Treepicker. First, you define the node. You have 5 options: Root, Parent, Current, Site or Specific Node. In the next step of the query there are again 5 options: Nearest Ancestor or Self, Furthest Ancestor or Self, Nearest Descendant or Self, Furthest Descendant or Self or Custom Code for further query steps.

What we love about it: The new Dynamic Root feature is easy to set up and promises more efficient management of the tree structure of your websites. We are still getting used to XPath, but we are already excited to see how Umbraco will continue to work with this new feature in the future.

Umbraco 13 runs on the latest Microsoft technologies .NET 8 and C#12. These come with a number of improvements, such as higher performance and more flexible scalability.

Umbraco 13 will be around for some time, as this is once again a Long-Term Support version (LTS) that will be in the running until the end of 2026. The version releases of Umbraco are based on the release cycle of the LTS of .NET and thus ensure being up-to-date. 

The last LTS version was Umbraco 10 under .NET 6. 

Smaller, so-called minor versions and patches will also be released for version 13 - but these will not compromise the functionality of your website.

In addition to the larger features, there are also a number of smaller adjustments that we are looking forward to in Umbraco 13:

Minimal Hosting Model:

Umbraco 13 runs with a simplified, clean program.cs, which is a combination of program.cs and startup.cs. If you already have an Umbraco version installed, you can and should upgrade it manually, as future Microsoft documentation will use the new file.

New login screen: 

A clean screen for log-in and the option to customize the logo and image. 

Upgrade of the Content Delivery API:

Umbraco has added restriction and expansion of nested fields to the Content Delivery API. Nested fields can be restricted with Output Limits and Expansion. Nested data can now be loaded directly with one call to the API. For example, a blog post to which an author and author image are assigned can now be called up in one query.

Improved Media Delivery API:

Umbraco has also made major adjustments to the Media Delivery API so that it may no longer be compatible with older versions - so take special care when upgrading!

All the new features in the video: 

Lotte Pitcher and Bjarke Berg from Umbraco talk together with Kevin Jump from the Umbraco Community about the release of Umbraco 13. Watch the video here.

Improved performance and exciting new features that already hint at the future of Umbraco: We love it because we know Umbraco as a reliable CMS that prioritizes security and a pleasant development environment. This allows us to implement the best possible web solution for our customers. If you are still using Umbraco 10, you should upgrade as soon as possible so that you don't fall behind and have a secure website in the long term.