BookStack 25.02 released with new sorting rules, improved theme system exposure, and more

BookStack has unveiled version 25.02 of its open-source platform, introducing several significant updates. Users can now automatically sort pages and chapters within books using sorting rules, which are managed through a new Sorting page in the application settings. These rules can be assigned to books, with an option to configure a default rule for new books.

The search indexing logic has been enhanced to overcome previous limitations. Users must regenerate the search index post-upgrade to benefit from this improvement. The alpha WYSIWYG editor, first introduced in version 24.10, has also received additional updates and fixes. It is now considered feature complete, but needs a bit more stability work before it can move into beta.

A new feature has been introduced to allow direct exposure of files, such as CSS and JavaScript, via the theme system, by creating a public directory within the theme folder. Additionally, BookStack's framework has been upgraded from Laravel 10 to 11 and PHP 8.1 to 8.2, ensuring compatibility with supported software versions. The release also includes minor enhancements, updated translations, and bug fixes.