Overview
Release 2026.011 includes improvements to Custom Post Types, Create Post layouts, accessibility, event timezone handling, and the Productboard integration.
We apologize for the delay in publishing these release notes. Thank you for your patience while we finalized the details.
Schedule
- Staging: Week of Jun 29
- Production: Week of Jul 6
- Enterprise: Week of Jul 13
Ability to Create Rich Text Custom Fields with Custom Post Types
Admins can configure richer custom post workflows with improved field ordering, support for Rich Text custom fields, and more flexible rendering options on published posts. Learn more about custom post types and fields here.
Rich Text custom fields also make Custom Post Types more flexible for structured post sections that need formatting, links, images, embeds, or mentions. This makes Custom Post Types better suited for use cases like blogs, ideas, tickets, reports, release notes, case studies, and other multi-section content patterns.
Reordering Improvements & Ability to Reorder Body
The Body field can now participate in Post Type field ordering, making it easier to control the flow of the Create Post experience while keeping the title fixed at the top of the post.
The order set in the post fields settings will now also be reflected in the published post page.
Ability to Apply Create Post Pages to Specific Categories
This release also adds support for category-specific Create Post layouts. Admins can assign Create Post layouts to specific categories, allowing different areas of a community to provide more tailored instructions, widgets, calls to action, or structured submission flows. When a user starts a post from a category, the appropriate layout loads automatically based on the category, with fallback support for subcommunity and default layouts.
Published post rendering has also been improved so custom fields and post body content can be displayed more consistently. Admins have more control over whether custom fields render inline with the original post content or separately through Post Meta, with additional display options for different presentation needs.
New Visual Options for Custom Fields
We've introduced additional visual options for custom field as well - you can choose to include additional fields below (as it works today) but with additional visual options, or to include additional fields along with the body by editing the "Original Post" Asset within the Discussion Template Layout.
If you include custom fields you can set different layout styles that will reflect on the published post page:
You can also choose to omit the custom fields from the main post body, in which case they will be their own asset called Post Meta that can be placed anywhere on the page:
This post meta option also supports the new layout styles featured above, but can be moved anywhere on a given layout editor page, giving added flexibility for custom layouts and community specific post types.
Audit & Admin Updates for Custom Post Types
To support these richer workflows, post type conversion and audit behavior have also been improved. Admins are warned when converting Rich Text field content into basic text fields, since formatting will be removed, and edits to custom post fields are now captured in Audit Logger.
Together, these improvements make Custom Post Types feel more structured, flexible, and first-class across configuration, post creation, published rendering, and administration.
Improved AI Settings Management
Admins now have a more centralized place to manage Vanilla’s AI-powered features. The updated AI Settings experience brings related configuration options together, including controls for AI Suggested Answers, AI Search Assistant, Bot Shield, and shared AI Persona settings.
This update also adds optional in-app user notifications when admins enable eligible AI features, helping communities support transparency while keeping notification decisions flexible for each organization. Admins can review and edit the notification message before sending, and users are directed to their AI preferences where they can manage their own settings.
Event and Schedule Timezone Improvements
Event and schedule times now show timezones in event times and on hover states for dates community wide.
This helps make time-based content clearer for communities with members across multiple regions, reducing confusion around when events or scheduled activities are happening.
HEIC Image Upload Support
HEIC/HEIF image uploads are now supported in Vanilla, making it easier for community members to upload photos taken on iPhone and other Apple devices.
Members can upload HEIC images in posts, comments, the media picker, and profile avatars without needing to convert them to JPEG first. Uploaded images are converted and stored in a web-friendly format so they display consistently across the community.
Productboard Integration Update
The Productboard integration has been updated to support Productboard’s API v2.
This update helps keep the integration compatible ahead of Productboard’s July 8, 2026 API v1 retirement. Communities using the Productboard integration can continue syncing Ideation activity into Productboard, including ideas, comments, votes, edits, and related user details.