Author-it 2026.R3 Release Webinar - What's New

Summary

Author-it 2026.R3 lands on Sunday 6 September. This short webinar walks through what's new before it ships, so you can plan for it. We'll cover richer AION output, new authoring languages, faster variant handling, bulk translation uploads, and cleaner Word output. Register for the session that suits your timezone and bring your questions.

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2026.R3 Webinar Registration

Pick the session that suits your timezone.

Can't make either time? Register anyway and we'll send you the recording.

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What's covered in this webinar

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New Word, solidified before Legacy Word goes

A huge batch of New Word fixes across indexes, glossaries, tables and related topics, plus the correct index language for translated books. It's a big step in solidifying New Word ahead of Legacy Word being retired for good in R4. If you publish to Word, output is more accurate and complete, first time.

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Richer AION output

Publishing to AION now includes a VariableValues property for books and topics, capturing variable names and their resolved values as metadata. The JSON is more complete too, with expanding hyperlink content now included. Structured content with resolved values is exactly what AI systems and RAG pipelines need to answer accurately.

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Upload translated files in bulk

Select and upload every translated file at once in Localize, instead of adding them one at a time. A job covering many languages now uploads in one step.

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Variants, faster and safer

The Assign Variant Values window opens much faster on large books, and the variant list updates the moment you change a value, so you can't select a value that fails at publish.

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Cleaner Word output

A large batch of New Word fixes across indexes, glossaries, tables and related topics, plus the correct index language for translated books. If you publish to Word, output is more accurate and complete, first time.

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Alongside the headline changes, R3 includes a long list of smaller fixes and improvements across the product.

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What you'll see in the session

• A quick tour of each headline feature, with a live look at AION output.
• A look at the roadmap with James Chang, our new Head of Product.
• Time for your questions at the end.

The session runs about an hour, including Q and A.

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Who should attend

• Author-it users planning for 2026.R3.
• Content and documentation leads weighing up AI-ready content.
• Teams evaluating a CCMS that outputs clean, structured content for AI.

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When it goes live

Author-it 2026.R3 releases on Sunday 6 September 2026. You don't need to install anything, the update is applied during your maintenance window.

• GX2 (US-primary): Sunday 6 September, 06:00 to 10:00 UTC.
• GX1 (Europe-primary): Tuesday 8 September, 20:00 to 24:00 UTC.

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About this webinar

Hosted by: Jamie Simmonds

Dates: 20 August 2026 (US) / 26 August 2026 (EU)

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Release Webinar FAQ

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Q: When is the Author-it 2026.R3 webinar?

A: There are two sessions so you can pick your timezone. The US & Oceania session is Thursday 20 August 2026 at 1:00 PM PDT / 4:00 PM EDT (Friday 21 August, 8:00 AM NZST), and the EU session is Wednesday 26 August 2026 at 9:00 AM BST / 10:00 AM CEST (8:00 PM NZST). Both cover the same content.

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Q: How do I register?

A: Use the register button for your preferred session on this page. Registration takes less than a minute. If you can't attend live, register anyway and we'll send you the recording.

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Q: Is the webinar free?

A: Yes. The webinar is free to attend for both customers and non-customers.

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Q: Do I need to be an Author-it customer to attend?

A: No. The session is open to anyone evaluating Author-it or interested in AI-ready structured content, as well as existing customers.

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Q: Will the webinar be recorded?

A: Yes. We record every release webinar and share it afterwards. This page will be updated to host the recording once the session has run.

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Q: What's new in Author-it 2026.R3?

A: The headline changes are richer AION output with resolved variable values published as metadata, new Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Japanese and Korean keyboard layouts, bulk upload of translated files in Localize, faster and safer variant handling on large books, and a large batch of New Word output fixes.

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Q: What is AION?

A: AION is Author-it's structured JSON publishing output. It turns your content into clean, machine-readable JSON that LLMs, RAG pipelines, and internal AI agents can use to answer accurately. In 2026.R3 it also publishes resolved variable values as metadata.

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Q: When does Author-it 2026.R3 go live?

A: Sunday 6 September 2026. Customers on GX2 receive the update during the Sunday 06:00 to 10:00 UTC maintenance window, and customers on GX1 during the following Tuesday 20:00 to 24:00 UTC window.

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