Mattermost 5.0: Intercept and modify posts, advanced permissions, longer posts and more

Mattermost 5.0 has new features designed to improve productivity while enhancing security:

• Intercept and modify posts – customize Mattermost by creating plugins to automatically restrict, modify, censor and link posts
• Advanced permissions – ensure everyone has the proper level of access with new system and team permissions schemes
• Longer posts – increase productivity with significantly longer messages and better formatting
• New Team Edition features – we’ve added several features to Team Edition, including custom branding, themes per team and more
• Combined join/leave messages – reduce clutter with combined system messages whenever someone joins or leaves a channel
• APIv4 replaces APIv3 – migrate from APIv3 to APIv4 if you haven’t done so already, as APIv3 is no longer available with the arrival of Mattermost 5.0
• Mobile app update – load Android apps faster and enjoy improved push notification styling
• Desktop App enhancements – get more done with several desktop app updates that improve performance, including accelerated memory caching
• Extended Support Release – upgrade Mattermost less frequently, if you’d like, as Mattermost 4.10 will be maintained as an Extended Support Release

Try these new features by downloading Mattermost 5.0 today.

Thanks for all community contributions this month and in particular our 5.0 MVP, William Gathoye, who started managing the French Mattermost Twitter account and automated Chocolatey package updates for the Windows Desktop App, bringing his lifetime contributions up to 12. Thank you, William!

Use plugins to auto-detect, auto-censor and auto-link

Create plugins to take advantage of our new post interception feature, which enables you to customize Mattermost in nearly unlimited ways. Some popular use cases include the ability to:

• Auto-detect “restricted” words (e.g., curses or mentions of secret projects) and confirm with users they intended to write the message the way they did before it gets posted to your database
• Auto-censor certain pieces of data—personally identifiable information, encryption keys and other sensitive information—and replace it with censored text (e.g., “AUTO-REMOVED TEXT SUSPECTED OF BEING ENCRYPTION KEY”)
• Auto-link keywords and phrases with metadata (e.g., automatically link mentions of $MSFT to real-time stock updates)

Here’s a short video of Mattermost CEO Ian Tien and CTO Corey Hulen discussing the new feature. To learn more, head over to our forum.

Advanced permissions schemes

A few months ago, we announced we were in the process of rolling out advanced permissions. With Mattermost 5.0, they’ve arrived.

Admins now have two default permissions schemes to choose from:

• System Schemes – set the default permissions to System Admins, Team Admins, Channel Admins and everyone else (e.g., only admins can invite users to Mattermost)
• Team Schemes – override default permissions in specific teams for Team Admins, Channel Admins and everyone else (e.g., users of Team B can only create public channels if they are admins)

Head here to learn more.

Increased character limits on posts

New deployments of Mattermost can now be configured to allow 16,383-character posts, up from 4,000 characters. The new feature enable users to post longer messages and allows for better Markdown formatting, including tables.

If you’re upgrading from an older version of Mattermost, you’ll need to run an upgrade command to take advantage of this new feature.

New Team Edition features

We’ve added some new features our Enterprise customers enjoy to Team Edition:

• Custom branding
• Themes per team
• Password settings, accessible via System Console > Security

Reduce clutter with combined join/leave messages

Free up space thanks to a new feature that combines system messages relating to users joining, leaving, being added to or being removed from channels into a single post.

APIv4 replaces APIv3

Since July 2017, APIv4 has been the standard for integrating into Mattermost. APIv3 was deprecated in January 2018, and, with the release of Mattermost 5.0, is no longer be available. Migration is required.

Mobile app improvements

New mobile app updates include:

• Faster first-loading times for Android users
• Push notification style improvements

Check out the changelog for more.

Updated desktop app

Our updated desktop app is now available. Here are some improvements that will make the Mattermost experience more enjoyable:

• Improved performance by clearing memory caches at regular intervals to reduce memory usage
• Increased uptime through greater stability with a new “Enable GPU Hardware acceleration” option
• Streamlined user experience with new UI updates

For more, check out the changelog.

Extended Support Release

Some of our customers have expressed their desire to update Mattermost less frequently. In response to a discussion on our forum, we’re happy to announce Mattermost 4.10 is now officially an Extended Support Release, supported with security backports for up to a year.

Thank you to our contributors

aeomin, amyblais, AndersonWebStudio, asaadmahmood, balasankarc, chclaus, chikei, comharris, compilenix, coreyhulen, cpanato, crspeller, csduarte, cvitter, der-test, dkadioglu, DSchalla, enahum, esethna, fbartels, gnufede, grundleborg, haraldkubota, hmhealey, icelander, it33, jasonblais, jespino, jordanbuchman, jwilander, kaakaa, kayazeren, lfbrock, lieut-data, lindalumitchell, lindy65, lisakycho, meilon, mkraft, mlongo4290, odontomachus, pichouk, pjgrizel, rodcorsi, Roy-Orbison, ryoon, R-Wang97, saturninoabril, sudheerDev, thePanz, uturkdogan, wget, wiersgallak, yuya-oc

Install or upgrade Mattermost

New to Mattermost? Download it and try it for free.

Find help updating to the latest version of Mattermost here.

For more help on configuring Mattermost, please review our administrator’s guide.

Enterprise E10 and E20

Mattermost Enterprise E10 and E20 are commercial versions of Mattermost designed for today’s leading organizations. For more information on features and pricing, go to mattermost.com/pricing.

Need some help with configuration? Our Enterprise subscriptions include upgrade and installation support from Mattermost, Inc.