What's new in Joomla 4.2?

In this article, I will show you the main improvements and new features that the Joomla 4.2 version brings.

If you haven't worked with Joomla 4 before, but are familiar with older versions of Joomla, I recommend you first read the article"What's new in Joomla 4.0?" and"What's new in Joomla 4.1?".

Some 200 improvements in Joomla 4.2

As with every update, improvements and optimisations have been made in the code. These are not always immediately noticeable when you are managing a website or building a new one, but these improvements are no less important to the project than the new features added. For a complete list of all changes, check Joomla's public Github repository.

Keyboard shortcuts in Joomla 4.2

There is a new plugin in Joomla 4.2 that allows you to perform certain actions using keyboard shortcuts.

To view all actions click J followed by X on your keyboard

If you are editing an article or module and want to save and close it, click J followed by S

This way you can work just a bit faster, although I personally would have liked to be able to choose these buttons myself.

Smart search in parts of words

There are more new options in the smart search component. By default, it searches for the exact word, but when a language supports compound words, the search term can be changed at the beginning or anywhere within words in the index.

In this example, I created the article "Colour scheme".

When I have the setting to search for the exact word, I get no results for the search term "colour".

But when I have the setting set to "search for words starting with the search term" it does find the article when I search for "colour".

However, when I search for the term "Schema" it does not find the article here either, because the name does not start with the word "Schema". When I enable the "search for words containing the search term" option, it does find the article.

Choose your own columns

1 of the common comments after the release of Joomla 4 was that some columns take up a lot of space so that not all the information can be seen clearly, especially on small screens. It is now possible to decide for yourself which columns are shown/hidden in the various overview pages.

For example, if you have a fairly simple website with 1 author, you can hide this column, giving more space to the other columns.

These settings are stored in the browser and can therefore differ per user.

Do you want to add this feature to your own components? Then you need to add these lines to the items summary view.


/** @var
$wa->useScript('table.columns')
->useScript('multiselect');

reference: https: //github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/blob/4.2-dev/administrator/components/com_content/tmpl/articles/default.php#L28

2-factor authentication becomes multi-factor authentication

Whereas you could previously use verification code from the authenticator app, you now have multiple options to give your account extra protection.

1) Authentication code.
2) YubiKey
3) Web Authentication
4) Code via E-mail

Each user can choose their own method and it is possible to show an onboarding screen for new users.
One visible change is that the field for the authentication code is no longer shown at the onboarding screen. It is only shown in a next step after you enter your username and password. Also, via the new options in the "Multi-factor authentication" tab of the user management, it is possible to set which modules/templates are visible.

I will elaborate on each "Multi-factor authentication" method in a separate article.

Joomla Update checks

Since Joomla 4, when you update from Joomla 2, you get control screens where you have to confirm that you have made a backup and that there may be extensions that are not compatible with the new Joomla version. From Joomla 4.2 onwards, you can disable these 2 screens in the options of the Joomla Update component.

Possible incompatible extension checkbox:
Displays the checkbox in the pre-update check if any of the extensions installed on the site may not be compatible with the version of Joomla being upgraded to. Note: The check box is displayed when upgrading to a new Joomla version family (main or point version).

Confirm backup checkbox:
Displays the checkbox to confirm that a backup has been made and is ready to update in the last step before the update is actually performed.

Status display for articles in a de-published category

When you de-publish a category, the articles in this category are no longer visible on the website, even if these articles have been published. This sometimes causes confusion and/or 404 error messages on the website. In Joomla 4.2, articles from a de-published category now get a visible status, with a notification that the category is unpublished.

Permissions in media manager

In version 4.1, permissions for managing images were added. In the media manager, the buttons were always visible, even when you did not have permissions for a particular action. This sometimes caused notifications as shown below.

As of Joomla 4.2, the buttons such as "delete" are no longer visible in the media manager when you as a user do not have rights to delete images.

Entering image URL in the media field

From Joomla 4.2, it is again possible to type the URL yourself in the media field. Previously, this field was "read only" and you could only add an image via the "select" button.

Saving (and not closing) articles on the website frontend

When editing articles on the website frontend, another additional button has been added. Previously, it was only possible to save and close an article. In Joomla 4.1, the "Save as copy" button was added and in Joomla 4.2, the "Save" button is added. This button ensures that you stay on the same editing page, but can save the article in between without being sent to another page.

Follow Disable session metadata for guest users

In general configuration, it was already possible to disable session metadata, but from Joomla 4.2 onwards, this can also be disabled for guest users only.

This option should improve performance for websites that do not use the login/registration feature. If disabled, only data for registered users will be logged. This option does not affect the use of cookies. It is still created for all visitors.

Package filter in extension management

When you install a package, several extensions are placed around the website at the same time. It is not always clear which extensions are then installed and which ones belong to a specific package. This can be deduced from the package ID in extension manager, but from Joomla 4.2 onwards you can select a package via a new filter and you will get a nice overview of all installed extensions from that package.

User action log messages

The setting for sending user action log messages has been changed. Previously, this was a checkbox with all options checked by default. Now it is a fancy select box where you can tick the messages. It seems like a small thing but chances are you don't want to be notified of all actions, so it's better to select only the necessary items.

Joomla 4.1 version:

Joomla 4.2 version:

How can I update to Joomla 4.2?

If your website was created in Joomla 4, then you can update by pressing 1 button. If you still have a Joomla 3 version (or even older) then a migration is required. You can read more about this in the article"What's new in Joomla 4.0?".