ONLYOFFICE Project has introduced ONLYOFFICE Docs 9.4 — a new version of the server office suite for collaborative work with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, and forms. The release was published on May 19, 2026 and includes a significant change for the open Community edition: the previous limit of 20 simultaneous connections has been removed..
ONLYOFFICE Docs is used as a standalone Document Server or as part of integrations with external collaboration platforms, including ownCloud, Seafile, Moodle, Odoo, and other solutions. The project describes Docs as an online package of editors for texts, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, PDFs, and diagrams with support for OOXML formats .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx.
Key Changes in ONLYOFFICE Docs 9.4
Updated licensing terms.
ONLYOFFICE clarified the distribution terms: the product is licensed under GNU Affero General Public License v3.0, but with additional conditions that must be preserved when copying and distributing. These relate to attribution, maintaining copyright notices, and clearly marking modified versions. The rights to use the ONLYOFFICE trademarks are regulated separately and are not transferred by the AGPLv3 license.The Community version is no longer limited to 20 simultaneous connections.
This is the main practical change in the release. Starting from version 9.4, the open Community edition of ONLYOFFICE Docs no longer has a limit on 20 simultaneous connections. Additionally, code minification has been removed from the Community build, the architecture has been simplified to a single process, and dependencies on RabbitMQ and databases have been eliminated, which should reduce resource consumption and simplify deployment on less powerful servers.Dark mode for spreadsheets.
The spreadsheet editor has introduced a Dark Document mode.If the dark theme is enabled in the interface, it is now possible to switch the spreadsheet canvas to a dark background. This should make working with large spreadsheets more comfortable in low lighting conditions and reduce eye strain.Horizontal lines in documents.
The text editor has added the ability to insert horizontal dividers. This feature is designed for visually separating large documents, reports, instructions, and proposals. Insertion is available through the Home tab and the Borders button.Improved form management.
In the editors, the process of filling out forms has been revamped: you can now assign recipients and track the status of the form directly within the editor. For scenarios involving contracts, applications, and internal forms, this reduces the number of external actions and makes the process more transparent.Saving signature.
The signature field now automatically suggests the last selected signature image. This small but useful change benefits users who need to sign multiple documents consecutively and upload the same file each time.25 new presentation templates.
The presentation editor has added 25 ready-made design templates. These are available under the Design tab and allow you to prepare a presentation more quickly without creating a layout from scratch.20 new slide transitions.
For presentations, 20 new transition effects have also been added. These are found under the Transitions tab and are intended for more flexible slide show customization.Separate Chart Design tab.
Chart settings have been moved to a separate tab. Chart Design. This simplifies the process of changing the appearance of charts and graphs since related options are now gathered in one place.Support for Croatian interface.
In ONLYOFFICE Docs 9.4, interface localization for the Croatian language — hr-HR — has been added.Advanced insertion options.
In desktop editors for documents, PDFs, and presentations, insertion options for content have been expanded. This should help more accurately control the transfer of formatted text, tables, and mixed content from external sources. Updates for desktop and mobile applications will be released later.Manual saving on mobile devices.
In mobile applications and the mobile web version, a separate save button has been added. Users can now disable autosave and save documents manually, which is useful in case of unstable mobile connections.New features for administrators and developers.
Advanced WOPI settings for SharePoint have been added to Docs Enterprise, including synchronization with the required WOPI Zone and the ability to include the Authorization header from the administration panel. For developers, the APIs have been expanded, with methods added for working with forms, custom plugins, paragraph settings, as well as new classes and methods in Doc Builder for formatted tables.
Open Edition ONLYOFFICE Docs Community distributed under the license GNU AGPL v3.0. On the edition comparison page ONLYOFFICE explicitly states that the Community version is free, available under AGPLv3, and the source code is hosted on GitHub. Enterprise and Developer editions use commercial licensing.
Thus, ONLYOFFICE Docs 9.4 is not only a functional update of the editors but also a significant release specifically for the self-hosted community: the Community edition has become lighter, simpler in architecture, and has removed the most noticeable limitation on the number of simultaneous connections.
Source: linux.org.ru
