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

What's new in Author-it 2026.R1

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.

‍

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.

‍

HTTP Post

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

‍

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.

‍

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.

‍

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.

‍

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.

‍

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.

‍

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.

‍