Author-it 2026.R1 Release Overview | What's New

What's new in Author-it 2026.R1

Intro:2026.R1 is our biggest release in a while - and the one where AI makes its first appearance in Author-it. Jamie Simmonds walks through every update in this release overview. Watch it below, or skip to the feature breakdown underneath.

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What's in this release

AION - AI-ready JSON output

Our first AI feature. AION publishes your structured content as metadata-rich JSON, purpose-built for AI pipelines. Feed it into RAG systems, LLM indexing, or content review workflows. Clean, governed inputs - better AI outputs, fewer hallucinations.

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HTTP Post

Send published outputs directly to any endpoint you define - content delivery platforms, localisation pipelines, file management systems. Author-it handles the delivery.

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Faster Word imports

A complete overhaul of the Word import engine. Significantly faster, built on the same technology as Author New Mode. Legacy import remains available if you need it.

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New Word enhancements

Four quality-of-life improvements: repeat heading rows for tables, cross-reference bug fixes, cleaner table indents, and the ability to publish unsorted glossary terms.

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Custom search separators for Magellan

LUNR search now supports custom separators - making it easier to search by version numbers, product codes, and part references. Use any character alongside the default spaces and hyphens.

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Editable after-publish actions in Author-it Cloud

After-publish actions are now fully editable in Cloud. Create, edit, and move Zip Files, File Transfer, HTTP Post, and RXML-to-JSON transforms without leaving the platform.

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Author New Mode updates

Session timeout extended to 60 minutes. Publishing jobs now display in the correct order. More improvements already in progress for R2.

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Frequently asked questions

Q: What is AION and why does it matter for AI?

A: AION is Author-it's new AI-ready publishing output, introduced in 2026.R1. It converts your structured content into clean, metadata-rich JSON designed for ingestion by large language models, RAG pipelines, chatbots, and AI agents. Because the content comes from a governed, single-source library, it's accurate and consistent - which means better AI outputs and fewer hallucinations.

Q: Do I need to reconfigure my books to use AION?

A: No. Any existing Author-it book can publish to AION without special configuration. It appears as a publishing output alongside your existing formats.

Q: What AI platforms does AION work with?

A: AION is platform-agnostic. It works with OpenAI GPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, AWS Bedrock, and any system that consumes structured JSON.

Q: What is HTTP Post in Author-it?

A: HTTP Post is a new after-publish action that lets you send published content directly to an endpoint you define — whether that's a content delivery platform, localisation pipeline, or file management system.

Q: Is the legacy Word import still available?

A: Yes. The 2026.R1 release includes a significantly faster new import engine, but the legacy import remains available for teams that need it.

Q: When was 2026.R1 released?

A: Author-it 2026.R1 was released on 22 March 2026.

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