Overview:
Umbraco 16 brings new tools and refinements that make working in the CMS more intuitive, more consistent, and easier to shape around the way your team works.
The new Rich Text Editor gives editors a cleaner writing experience and gives implementers full control over how it’s configured. Property-level permissions let you lock down specific fields for different roles, directly in the backoffice. And small-but-impactful changes like moving property groups between tabs, fewer notification pop-ups, and improved styling all contribute to a calmer, more focused editing flow.
There’s also more happening under the hood. Segment support, new extension points, updated dependencies, and more.
One of the most frequently used property editors is the rich text editor (RTE), allowing you to style and enrich text with links, tables, semantic HTML, and a whole lot more. From Umbraco 16, there’s a new RTE in town, built using Tiptap; it replaces TinyMCE as the default, offering a modern, intuitive way to create content. This isn’t just a simple swap of editors. We’ve taken the chance to rethink functionality, especially configuring and customizing the editing experience, while preserving feature parity with the previous implementation.
The new RTE makes it easier for content editors to produce consistent, high-quality content, right from the editor interface. You get full control over what the editor looks like and how it behaves. Want to give editors a simple setup with only the basics like bold, italic, and headings? Or a full-featured layout with tables, styles, colors, and more? It’s all possible!
Drag-and-drop configuration that lets you organize the toolbar into rows and groups, tailored to the needs of each project.
Under the hood, Tiptap ensures content stays clean. It filters out the clutter often introduced when pasting from tools like Microsoft Word, helping maintain consistent formatting across your site. Custom style menus allow you to define exactly how content should look, making it easier for content creators to stay on brand without needing to touch code.
And for those who rely on structured layouts, the new table designer brings powerful functionality right into the editor. Insert and customize tables, adjust columns, rows, colors, and more, with just a few clicks, using a sleek contextual interface.
The new RTE is, of course, highly customizable. From the improved configuration to numerous hooks for adding functionality, it is possible to deliver a tailored editing experience for specific requirements. Whether it’s a simple word count feature or a more advanced integration like an AI writing assistant, the editor is designed with extensibility in mind so you can add what you need, when you need it.
Migrating to the new RTE is quite easy. We’ve automated as much as possible to ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruption. All RTE content is automatically updated to use the new Tiptap-based editor. All you really have to worry about is customizations and plugins, which, for the most part, will need to be reimplemented.
And if you prefer to stick with TinyMCE, the TinyMCE Umbraco package is available, through our Platinum partner ProWorks, giving you the option to continue using it with full support. If this package is installed prior to upgrading to Umbraco 16, the automated migration to TipTap is cancelled, and you can continue with an RTE based on TinyMCE. This can be a benefit for those relying on premium plugins for the previous editor. The package also adds some additional options for configuration, premium plug-in support, and AI integrations that could enhance your TinyMCE experience.
Whatever you choose, there is a path forward.
With the introduction of property-level permissions in Umbraco 16, you can now tailor the editing experience more precisely to your team's needs. This feature lets you control visibility and editing rights at the individual content field level, including fields within the Block List and Block Grid, making it ideal for managing diverse roles, complex approval chains, or regulatory compliance.
This more granular permission structure is also well in line with the tendency we see of Umbraco projects being increasingly larger, both in terms of document types and content nodes.
If you're a content strategist, you'll experience how this reduces clutter for editors, helping them focus only on the fields they need to work with. If you're in compliance or legal, this means more confidence that only authorized users can interact with sensitive content fields. And if you're a project manager or team lead, it gives you another powerful tool for creating efficient, role-specific workflows that scale with your organization, such as giving designers control over images and other visual elements, while restricting access for others.
While not intended as a security layer, property-level permissions significantly improve how you manage editorial access and governance, helping you deliver content with fewer errors and clearer accountability.
Property Level Permissions are featured in the Umbraco 16 Unboxing video. If you'd like to see a demo of this functionality in action, check out the video linked at the top of this blog post.
A smaller but time-saving improvement in Umbraco 16 gives you more flexibility when working and structuring your content models. You can now move individual properties or entire property groups between tabs within the Document Type editor, making it easier to manage and adjust your setup as needs change.
This is especially helpful when refining or reorganizing document types, whether you’re setting up a new implementation or scaling an existing one. For example, you might move properties from a general “Content” tab to a dedicated “SEO” tab for better clarity and separation of focus.
It’s a simple update that supports a smoother setup process and helps maintain a clear, well-organized content structure over time, and it marks the return of a feature last seen in Umbraco 13.
In the second half of 2025, we’re putting a stronger focus on accessibility in the Umbraco Backoffice, and as we move towards Umbraco 17, you’ll see improvements being introduced step by step.
Accessibility, for us, is two-fold. On one hand, it’s about meeting regulations and following best practices in the area. Just as importantly, it’s about making the backoffice more intuitive, consistent, and usable for everyone, whether they rely on assistive technologies or not.
To make sure we’re doing this right, we’ve teamed up with Nexer Digital to conduct an accessibility audit focused on guiding standards, testing the backoffice against the WCAG standard.
But accessibility isn’t just about keyboard navigation and contrast ratios. It’s also about simplifying and improving the overall user experience. In Umbraco 16, you’ll already see this in action through a more consistent and subtle UI, like identical entity action menus and fewer notification banners.
For example, after actions like saving, creating, sorting, moving content, or deleting content from the recycle bin, you’ll now see fewer pop-ups. When an action completes clearly and successfully, the UI responds with a subtle checkmark, no more notification banners. While this might seem like minor polish, it reduces visual noise, minimizes distractions, and creates a calmer and more accessible experience for everyone.
This is just the start. We're committed to enhancing the backoffice experience that's not only compliant but genuinely better for everyone who uses it.
Umbraco 16 is a deliberately focused release. It brings valuable new features while keeping the upgrade path as smooth as possible. And we’ve had an eye towards those coming from earlier long-term support (LTS)versions. So if your organisation has been held back due to architectural changes, this and upcoming minors, are aimed at making the journey towards Umbraco 17 easier.
We’re continuing to refine the frontend architecture introduced in Umbraco 14, ensuring it supports previously available features and provides a stable foundation for future upgrades. For example, if your team has used Document Type Inheritance to structure content, you’ll be glad to know that this has been reintroduced in Umbraco 16, so you can continue using your existing setup from Umbraco 16 and beyond. At the same time, we’re introducing new capabilities like the upcoming Search Abstraction Layer will initially be available as an opt-in (package). You’ll be able to try it when you’re ready, and only later will it become a core feature in the CMS.
To support your upgrade journey, we’re building clear documentation and tutorials tailored for both “LTS to latest” and “LTS to LTS” transitions. These guides focus on real-world developer concerns such as migrating macros from the Rich Text Editor to Blocks, helping you plan upgrades with minimal friction.
Customizations are at the heart of what makes Umbraco flexible and extendable. They are absolutely crucial, but have historically made upgrades harder and diminished innovation of the core offering. That’s why we’ve invested in making the backoffice more structured and extension-friendly, so we can deliver meaningful improvements without breaking your customized experience.
Umbraco 16 is fully supported on Umbraco Cloud from day one, giving you a seamless way to take advantage of the latest features in a secure, scalable, and fully managed environment. Don’t miss out on automated upgrades, flexible environment configuration, and streamlined deployment workflows.
As always, the official Umbraco add-ons are available as well, with day-and-date releases for Umbraco 16. Make sure to check the release notes for more on the latest updates to the add-ons:
The only exception is Umbraco Engage 16. We’re still putting the final touches on this version. Aside from a complete rebuild and overhaul of the user interface (and there is a lot of that in Umbraco Engage), it will utilize the newly introduced segment support for efficient personalization and A/B testing. Engage for Umbraco 16+ is currently scheduled for release at the end of June.
You can read more about Umbraco Engage here.
Get familiar with the Tiptap Rich Text Editor of Umbraco, including configuration, setting up stylesheets, and working with Blocks. If you are looking to extend Tiptap RTE or just curious to see what's possible, we also have that part covered.
Umbraco 16 comes with a new Fetch Client for requesting data when extending the Umbraco Backoffice. This is especially useful when you are building custom elements on top of Umbraco or building your own package.
Property Value Presets are a client-side extension point allowing you to provide initial values for properties. Using these, based on whatever logic and data you make use of, you can pre-fill properties for editing when new documents are created.
Curious about how you get started with Property Value Permissions, and the option to restrict access to specific properties in the Backoffice UI? Read more here in this article.
Happy reading 🤓
With new tools for editors, improved customization options, and a more refined backoffice experience, Umbraco 16 helps your team work smarter, right out of the box.
Get started quickly:
Spin up a project on Umbraco Cloud
One-click setup and hosting for Umbraco projects, fully updated for Umbraco 16. Take a trial or sign in on Umbraco Cloud.
Download Umbraco 16
The latest version is available on NuGet.
Explore the documentation
Our documentation for Umbraco 16 covers everything from the new Rich Text Editor to advanced extension points and upgrade guides. Start reading at docs.umbraco.com.
A better editing experience
Give your team access to the new Rich Text Editor with drag-and-drop toolbar configuration, cleaner HTML output, and improved tables and styling.
Smarter control over content
Use property-level permissions to hide or lock specific fields for different roles, directly in the backoffice.
Cleaner, calmer UI
Enjoy a more accessible and consistent backoffice, with fewer disruptive pop-ups and a clearer focus on content.
Built for extensibility
Use Property Value Presets, the new Fetch Client, and improved extension points to shape Umbraco around your exact project needs.
Whether you're building something new or planning your next upgrade, Umbraco 16 gives you a stable, flexible foundation to move forward.
Want to talk through your options? Book a demo or discovery call:
This RC marks the final feature set for the next major version of Umbraco CMS, focused on incremental improvements that build on the foundation introduced in Umbraco 14 and continued in 15. In this post, we’ll walk you through the key updates, including the switch to the Tiptap rich text editor, property-level permissions, and support for content segments, along with what to look out for when testing and upgrading - happy testing!