The countdown is on: The third (and likely final) planned release candidate (RC 3) for WordPress 6.2 is ready (released on March 21, 2023). WordPress 6.2 is scheduled for release on March 28, 2023 – just days away! Now is your last chance to pre-check it.
Although the final version of this version is nearing completion, it should only be installed in a test environment. There are three ways to test WordPress 6.2 RC 3:
- Using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (here select the “Bleeding Edge” channel and the “Beta/RC only” stream)
- By directly downloading and installing the RC-3 file as a ZIP,
- Using WP-CLI with the following command
wp core update --version=6.2-RC3.
Are you here just now? Then read below for the highlights and details on 6.2.
- Updated site editor for easier browsing of templates
- New sidebar in navigation block to make menu management easier
- Reorganized block settings with separate tabs for settings and styles
- A new uploader design that allows you to add media, including Openverse and its catalog of over 600 million records, as well as the entire library, and better categories
- More block theme header and footer templates
- A new stylebook that lets you see the entire look and feel of your site in one place
- New controls for copying and pasting block styles for faster and easier website design
- Custom CSS that you can add to finish both per-block and globally
- Sticky positioning to pin blocks of keys while scrolling
- Distraction-free mode for moments when you want to focus on writing
- New options to import specific widgets from classic themes into block themes
- The beta version of the site editor has been removed
Interested in the technical details? These latest posts cover some of the latest technical updates. The list is not exhaustive, but should give you a first impression (all in English):
Testing
Bug testing is an essential part of software development and a meaningful way for anyone to contribute, whether they have testing experience or not. If you’ve never tested a development release, this step-by-step guide is a good place to start.
For a review of features in Gutenberg versions since WordPress 6.1 (the current major version of WordPress), see What’s New in Gutenberg 15.1, 15.0, 14.9, 14.8, 14.7, 14.6, 14.5, 14.4, 14.3, and 14.2.
Thanks to everyone who tested the beta and RC versions and participated in the development of this release. Feedback and help with bug reports keep WordPress running stable and error-free. This is important work and a great way to contribute to the project.
Report a bug
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post it in the alpha/beta sections of the support forums. If you know how to write a reproducible error report, you can create one in WordPress Trac, which also has a list of known errors.