The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the availability of Joomla! CMS 3.7 Release Candidate 1. Community members are asked to download and install the package in order to provide quality assurance for the forthcoming 3.7 release.

Joomla! 3 is the latest major release of the Joomla! CMS, with 3.7 the eight support release in this series. Please note that going from 3.6 to 3.7 is a one-click upgrade and is NOT a migration. The same is true is for any subsequent versions in the 3 series of the CMS. That being said, please do not upgrade any of your production sites to the release candidate version as release candidate is ONLY intended for testing and there is no upgrade path from a Release Candidate.

What is this release for?

This is a RELEASE CANDIDATE release, that should only be used on test sites. Release Candidate releases cannot be upgraded.

Extension and template developers are encouraged to work with this release in order to prepare extensions for the stable release of Joomla! CMS 3.7, though there shouldn't be any backward compatibility issues. Users are encouraged to test the package for issues and to report them in the Joomla! CMS Issue Tracker. Please do not upgrade any of your production sites to the release candidate version and do not start a new site on release candidate as a release candidate is ONLY intended for testing and there is no upgrade path from Release Candidate.

When is the stable release due?

The schedule has been slightly modified. Joomla! 3.7 is planned to be released on April 25th 2017. Log on to the developer site to see the full roadmap.
Please note that dates may be subject to change depending on availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control.

Which bugs have been fixed in Joomla! 3.7?

A full list of issues resolved can be found on GitHub.

Important information!
We strongly recommend all users to use the Isis template. The Hathor template has not been updated to work with the new features shipping with this release.
When we released Hathor it was build with accessibility in mind, but over the years the Isis template has been improved in terms of accessibility and supporting technologies. We now believe that the Isis template is as good as or possibly better than Hathor.
To ensure a smooth experience for our users, during the update process, the default administrator template will be switched to Isis. You are free to switch this back after the update but we cannot guarantee and in fact know that many features will not work with Hathor.

What’s new in Joomla 3.7

The big question is, what is new in Joomla! 3.7?

Here’s a quick look at the major new features* included in Joomla! 3.7:

• Custom Fields - Use extra fields, including text fields, selects and 13 other field types, in your articles, users and contacts
• Multilingual Associations Component - Translate your content easily from a single, unified interface
• Improved Workflow - Create a category, article, and menu item all in one step from within the menu manager
• Backend Menu Manager - Manage the administrator menu just like the frontend, create a different configuration for each of your backend user groups
• Do more with TinyMCE - Including new buttons to easily add menu links and contacts and many other improvements
• Easier Extension Maintenance - Prevent administrators from accidentally uninstalling needed extension package elements
• User Experience - The little changes that make all the difference: your User Experience is improved thanks to the display of your global settings, a flatter backend template, the possibility to share sessions between apps...
• Want to know more? View the whole list of improvements here.

*All features are subject to change depending on the availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control.

How can I prepare my site for 3.7?

Joomla! 3.7 will be a normal update just like previous 3.x versions. If your site is not already running 3.6.5, we strongly urge you to update immediately. Joomla! 3.6.5 was a security release and your site is at risk if you are running a previous version.
As always, before upgrading it is important to update all of your third party extensions and also to take and test a full backup of your site.
This is also a great time to connect with your hosting company and check your PHP and database versions. We recommend upgrading to PHP 7 or 7.1 as it will bring a considerable speed boost to your site. Further system requirements can be found here.

How can I help?

Help us test!
If you are an experienced user and would like to help with testing to ensure we meet our release date, please download the latest pre-release of Joomla! 3.7 and install it on a development site for testing, you can download it here. Testing should never be done on a production site.

Help us Translate!
Speak another language? You can help to translate Joomla! 3.7 landing page at Crowdin here.

Share the news!
We have a wide range of teaser imagery available for sharing, which can be found here, as well as a teaser video here. We would love you to spread the Joomla! love and get the word out to your network.

Are you an extension developer?
If you haven’t already started, now is the time to start testing so that your components, modules and plugins are all ready in time for the stable release!

Are you a journalist, blogger or evangelist?
Please feel free to get in touch with the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for interviews and other content.

A Huge Thank You to Our Volunteers!

This Release Candidate release is the result of thousands of hours of work by dozens of volunteers.
A big thank you goes out to everyone who contributed to the 3.7 release! Right now we're over 2,600 commits since 3.6.5's release!