What's New in ArchivesSpace 4.1.0/4.1.1
If you're upgrading from version 3.5.1 or earlier, please read our article on v4.0.0 first.
If you are coming from v3.5.1 or earlier, please note that any plugins authored before 4.0 may be broken by any version after 4.0, including 4.1.1. Please see the webinar Proactive Change Management for Plugins for critical advice for anticipating such changes, and our article Preparing to move into 4.0.0 or 4.1.0/4.1.1 for immediate next steps.
If you are already in v4.0.0, you can ignore the above warnings and proceed to the article below.
ArchivesSpace v4.1.0 was released on May 5, 2025. The official release notes are available here. Atlas highly recommends that users always read the official release notes in their entirety, as this article will only highlight specific changes. A list of all Jira tickets included in v4.1.0 is available here, with additional pull requests for v4.1.0 here.
ArchivesSpace v4.1.1 was released on July 1, 2025. Other than a few bug fixes, it is functionally indistinguishable from 4.1.0. Upgrading to this version does require re-indexing.
Are you skipping over versions?
Changes to ASpace are cumulative so remember to read the official release notes for any versions you are skipping over. Here are convenient links to Atlas articles on previous versions. Staff at ArchivesSpace Member Institutions are encouraged to reference the ArchivesSpace Help Center for additional documentation corresponding to new and previous releases.
Improvement Highlights for v4.1.1
The only substantial differences between 4.1.0 and 4.1.1 are two bug fixes:
Improvement Highlights for v4.1.0
Most of the improvements in this release were bug fixes uncovered after the breaking changes from the 4.0.0 release. There are very few new behaviors in this release compared to 4.0.0.
Ability to set default search options in PUI
The following lines were added to the config file in 4.1.0. This setting refers to the default record type limit on a search in the PUI. This only affects the default option; a user can still select another option from the drop-down.
There are only two options available: all_record_types and collections_only. There is no option to limit to only digital materials.
# Default search scope setting
# Options: 'all_record_types', 'collections_only'
AppConfig[:search_default_scope] = 'all_record_types'
Added download PDF button to PUI archival object views
Prior to 4.1.0, the button on the PUI to generate a PDF of a collection was only available on the Resource record. It is now available from any component.
Added bibliography notes to PUI PDF
Prior to 4.1.0, Bibliographies were not included in the PUI version of the PDF. This note has been added to that output as of 4.1.0.
Bug Fixes
This version was primarily bug fixes including a memory leak for certain plugins; dropping more than five links when accessions are linked to archival objects; Agent ID errors for ingested authority records; and translation issues in the new context highlighting in the PUI.
Please review the complete list of bug fixes in the official release notes.
Plugin information
From the release notes:
This release includes changing from render :inline to render :template for rendering plugin partial views. This will not affect the functionality of most plugins, but we still recommend testing your plugins after updating.
As discovered by @marktriggs, the render :inline used in the initial release of ArchivesSpace 4.0 creates a memory leak for instances that are running plugins with specific partials. See the corresponding Pull Request for more details. Credits to @marktriggs and @jdshaw for this fix!
FAQs for v4.1.0
Are there new requirements?
There are no new required fields or actions for the 4.1.0 release.
Do I have to do anything upon updating?
There are no required actions for the 4.1.0 release, though Atlas always recommends users test the functionality of any installed plugins after any update, especially branding and theming plugins. Atlas Systems does not support third party plugins.
Configurations for v4.1.0
New configurations as well as any configurations that are being removed are available to view in the official ASpace Release Notes for 4.1.0.
Configuration Highlights for v4.1.0
| Configuration Setting | Explanation |
|---|---|
AppConfig[:search_default_scope] = 'all_record_types' | This setting refers to the default record type limit on a search in the PUI. This only affects the default option; a user can still select another option from the drop-down. There are only two options available: all_record_types and collections_only. There is no option to limit to only digital materials. See screenshots in this same article. The default is all_record_types. |
Please let Atlas know if you would like to modify any of the above configurations as part of your update. All values listed above are the defaults.