Version 8.3 (Released 03/2026)
Table of Contents
8.3 Release Summary
The version 8.3 release introduces the grid and a full-detail search result view, and a new advanced search input form. The release also includes a handful of new fields recently requested by our community, accessibility improvements, and a series of general bug fixes.
Browser Version: 3.5.1
UI Version: 10.2.1
Development Dates: Sep 1, 2025 - Mar 2, 2026
Release Date: Mar 23, 2026
Current release: 8.3.2
Two patch releases have been issued. See 8.3 Patch Notes for details.
Release 8.3 does not contain any breaking changes.
Dependency Note: The 10.2 UI release requires CollectionSpace version 8.3, as this UI uses the new API to build the search result views. See Services Updates for more details.
Permission/Role Note: The 8.3 release includes a new search API that powers the Search. With this release, we also introduced the new “Advanced Search” permission. This permission needs to be set to Read for a user to search CollectionSpace starting with this release.
Staff Interface
New Fields
The following new fields have been added based on requests from the community of CollectionSpace users:
To Consultation Procedure: Add Consultation Outcome Field
To Object Record > Anthro > Add Material/technique description, Controlled Place Concept
To Acquisition Procedure: Acquisition Description, Parties Involved Block
To Deaccession Procedure: Parties Involved Block
Changes to Functionality
Version 8.3 includes a series of enhancements to improve the search and retrieval of object records. These enhancements include:
New alternate search result views. Users can toggle between the traditional list view, an image-centric grid view, and a full detail view.
Utilizes a new backend search API that allows additional details to display in the grid and full detail view, making it easier to differentiate between records and quickly view details such as field collection and production information. This includes a new permission called Advanced Search that must be set to at least Read access for users to be able to search.
Streamlined advanced search input form. This form removes default fields and refines several qualifiers, including allowing the use of contains/does not contain for authority-controlled fields.
Support for presigned URLs for upload of Media Handling files from staff UI and when using the CSV Importer tool.
Accessibility Improvements
Version 8.3 includes changes to improve the accessibility of CollectionSpace as identified in the VPAT issued with the 8.2 release. Improvements include:
Improve contrast for pagination
Display alt text with images in the image gallery and thumbnail images
Update Footer to include link to User Manual
Rename My CollectionSpace to Recent Activity
In addition to these changes, the CollectionSpace development team also introduced accessibility testing to coincide with development. This will assist with identifying issues before they are released.
Bug fixes
Version 8.3 includes fixes to a variety of small bugs in reports and with inconsistent labels in the UI. The most notable change for users is the relabeling of MyCollectionSpace to Recent Activity (this change overlaps with Accessibility Improvements). This functionality has long been mislabeled and confusing. The functionality continues to operate the same and will provide a list of all records modified or added by anyone in your system in the past 7 days. The long-range roadmap for CollectionSpace does include exploring personalization options.
Browser
The following changes were made to the browser and are available with the 3.5.0 release of the browser:
Fix to display for published exhibitions, including new documentation in the User Manual for this functionality
Add the Material/technique description field to the browser display for Anthro profile installations
Add the contentPlace field to the browser display
A new configuration
departmentLabelsis available, allowing custom labelling of departments. For more information, see: https://github.com/collectionspace/cspace-public-browser.js/blob/main/docs/configuration/README.md#departmentlabelsA new configuration
mediaSnapshotSortis available, allowing custom sorting of images in details view. For more information, see: https://github.com/collectionspace/cspace-public-browser.js/blob/main/docs/configuration/README.md#mediasnapshotsort
Services Updates
To support the search changes, the 8.3 release is bundled with a new backend API. This API powers the display of object-record metadata in the table, grid, and full detail views. Version 10.2 of the UI uses this new backend API. Because of this, UI v 10.2 requires version 8.3 or higher of CollectionSpace.
8.3 Patch Notes
There are two patch releases to 8.3 as follows:
8.3.1: This is a security patch. Disable Doctype declaration on XML preventing external entities from being loaded.
8.3.2: This is a bug fix patch. Fix Nuxeo embedded server failing to start (ZipException / missing hibernate-core) by pointing the nuxeo-server module at the cspace S3 Maven mirror instead of the legacy maven-eu-nuxeo.org repo.
Staff Interface Patch Notes
10.2.1: This is a bug fix patch. Fix displaying the
responsibleDepartmentDataas an urned value when the field isAutocompleteInputinstead ofOptionPickerInput.
Browser Patch Notes
3.5.1: This is a bug fix patch. Fix
mediaSnapshotSortcustom configuration not overwriting the default one.