Here’s a list of the major new changes in 2026 compared to the 2025 version of EasyCatalog:
Pagination of Anchored Items
A new Pagination Rule makes it easy to automatically populate and repeat anchored objects for each data element—whether it’s a single record, a group of records, a table row, or even a collection of images. Further information can be found here.
Grouping of Enhanced Tabular Fields
You can now create subgroups within tabular field data when populating tables or paginating anchored objects. Further information can be found here.
Enhancements to HTML Parsing
The enhanced HTML parser now supports basic CSS style attributes for character, paragraph, and cell properties. Further information can be found here.
Added “Frame Options” to General Field Options
You can now specify a command to create Alt Text Object Export Options. Additionally, a Post-Population script can be executed when an image is populated from a field. Further information can be found here.
Alpha Channel Support for Images
A new clipping path option lets you use an Alpha Channel for clipping, with configurable Threshold, Tolerance, and Inset Frame settings.
Computed Field Panel
Added icons to indicate the status of each link element.
New “Replace Record” Menu
This feature allows the links from one record to be replaced with those from another—useful when working with translated text where the key represents a locale name.
URL (Live) Deprecated
This option can still be enabled via an Advanced Preference, but due to ongoing developments with ImageLink, this functionality will now be provided by ImageLink.
Color Coding of Configurations
Saved configurations can now be color-coded for easier identification.
Support for CSS defined colors
When a named color is provided by field content, if no matching swatch can be found, CSS-defined colors are supported. For example dodgerblue, rgb(30, 144, 255), hsl(210, 100%, 56%).
Right-Click Menu Enhancements
The Edit menu in the Data Panel now lets you copy field options to the clipboard and paste them into other fields. Field options can also be exported or imported via the menu.
Improvements to the Advanced Preferences Dialog
Various enhancements have been made to the Advanced Preferences dialog, including a more intuitive settings layout and improved search functionality.
Barcode Swatches
Barcodes can now have a specific swatch applied, or a swatch defined by the contents of a field.
Edge Relationship
Improved performance and more accurate hit-testing when clicking on frame edges.
Guide-Based Pagination Improvements
You can now control the starting point and direction of pagination. Pagination can begin from any corner of the page and proceed right-to-left or bottom-to-top, offering greater flexibility in layout design.
Pagination Rule Panel Enhancements
Pagination rules have been reorganized into a more logical structure, with legacy rules removed. These updates can be disabled via a new Advanced Preference.
New Command Parser for Improved Performance
You can easily upgrade to the new Custom Field parser by navigating to **Preferences → EasyCatalog → Advanced** and selecting v2. The previous parser remains the default for backward compatibility.
Bug Fixes and General Improvements
For details on numerous enhancements and bug fixes, please refer to the full release notes here