[appsuite-announce] Open-Xchange releases OX App Suite v8.52

[Open-Xchange App Suite Maintenance Announcements]

Dear Customers of Open-Xchange,

This release brings self-service scheduling to OX App Suite, makes it quicker to organize and find mail, and moves settings and notifications into side panels, alongside accessibility and performance improvements throughout.

- Appointment Polls: Propose a set of possible times and share the poll's link. Invitees vote yes, no or maybe in their own time zone without needing an App Suite account and picking the winning time closes the poll, creates the appointment and invites everyone who took part. More information can be found here: https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/releases/8.52/changelogs/booking.html

- Appointment Booking: Publish what can be booked and when, and let others pick a free time from a public booking page. Confirmed bookings arrive in both calendars as ordinary invitations and can be rescheduled or cancelled from a link in the confirmation mail. More information can be found here: https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/releases/8.52/changelogs/booking.html

- Categories from a searchable dropdown: Type to filter the list, or type a new name to create a category and apply it in one step. The same picker assigns categories to mails, appointments, contacts and tasks and filters searches by category.

- Sortable mail search results: Search results can now be sorted and ordered like a normal folder, by sender, subject or size rather than only by date. Cancelling the search restores the folder's own sort order.

- Settings and notifications as side panels: The settings menu and notifications now open in a side panel instead of a floating popover, with keyboard focus moving into the panel as it opens and returning to the button that opened it on close. Calendar reminders and invitations offer a “Show in calendar” link that highlights the appointment in the current view.

- Cross-Context Collaboration: Calendars, mail folders and deputy roles can be shared with users of another context in the same deployment, without a guest account standing in for the foreign user and only between contexts an operator has explicitly allowed to collaborate. See the feature documentation for further details: https://documentation.open-xchange.com/8/middleware/permissions_and_capabilities/cross_context_collaboration.html

- Additionally, this OX App Suite release contains bug fixes and several improvements. A full list can be found here: https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/releases/8.52/changelogs/ui.html and https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/releases/8.52/changelogs/middleware.html


General Information and Breaking Changes

- This release includes a new update tasks. More information can be found here: https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/releases/8.52/noteworthy/00_index.html#database

- Middleware Image Migrated from Debian to Wolfi OS - The OX App Suite Middleware container image now builds on Wolfi OS instead of Debian Bookworm. The Middleware application itself is unchanged, but the runtime environment around it differs and existing deployments need verifying against it. More information can be found here: https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/releases/8.52/noteworthy/00_index.html#middleware

- Hazelcast removed the CP Subsystem from the Community Edition, OX Documents switched to a different mechanism to manage distributed state - OX Documents used the Hazelcast CP Subsystem to manage distributed state, which Hazelcast removed from the Community Edition with version 5.5.0. More information can be found here: https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/releases/8.52/noteworthy/office.html

- Pre-Information: LTS releases are supported until the next LTS 'plus six months' to give enough time to schedule, test and rollout the upgrade. Please note, with the official launch of OX App Suite v8.47 LTS in March, OX App Suite v8.35 LTS will be officially supported until September 30, 2026. You will find a summary of all key features, important changes and an upgrade guide for moving from OX App Suite v8.35 LTS to OX App Suite v8.47 LTS here: https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/releases/lts/8.47/noteworthy/01_features-since-8.35.html


Fixes, software change requests, update tasks and further details to OX App Suite in this release include:

https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/releases/8.52/

Shipped versions with latest Helm Chart v8.52.862:
- Open-Xchange App Suite Frontend v8.52.2
- Open-Xchange App Suite Middleware (Backend) v8.52.251

Technical Documentation, Deployment Information, Requirements and Support Commitment

For details of how to install and update OX App Suite v8, please refer to the instructions provided at: https://documentation.open-xchange.com/appsuite/operation-guides/

Best Regards,
Your Open-Xchange Team

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Open-Xchange AG, Erftstraße 15–17, 50672 Cologne, District Court Cologne HRB 95366
Managing Board: Andreas Gauger, Dirk Valbert
Chairman of the Board: Dr. Paul-Josef Patt

European Office:
Open-Xchange GmbH, Olper Huette 3, D-57462 Olpe, Germany, District Court Siegen, HRB 8718
Managing Director: Manuel Engel

US Office: 
Open-Xchange Inc., 3000 El Camino Real, Building 4, Suite 200, Palo Alto, CA 94306, USA
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