Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 key features, highlights, and release notes!

Adobe Commerce version 2.4.6 is released on March 14, 2023. This version has more than 300 quality fixes and enhancements with third-party libraries and upgraded core composer dependencies. It is made for performance and scale enhancements for ecommerce stores.

This commendable platform already had myriad outstanding features for B2B and B2C including AI and upgraded data-sharing capabilities. And now Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 is holding much more for organizations’ websites or ecommerce stores to scale more. All previous issues are eliminated in this version to make it more reliable and result driven.

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Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 – Release Notes

The new version of Adobe Commerce removed support for PHP 7.4 and introduces support for PHP 8.2; though it supports PHP 8.1 as well. As mentioned above, the latest release has 300+ fixes, which brings a profound change in the platform’s scalability. Category tree rendering response and GraphQL operations for bulk cart operations are some new enhancements that have come with version 2.4.6.

Please note that Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 codes for newly launched features are bundled with Adobe Commerce core code.

Version 2.4.6 has gone through rigorous testing before its launch. Makers have tested it against Redis 7.0, Composer 2.2, Varnish 7.1.1, MySQL 8.0, RabbitMQ 3.9, and Open Search 2.4. Thereby, organizations will not face compatibility performance issues.

Note: Adobe Commerce 2.4.7 has been released.

Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 – Features & Highlights

1. Platform improvement

As mentioned above, Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 removed PHP 7.4 support and started supporting the latest PHP 8.2. Moreover, Composer 2.2.x, ElasticSearch 8.x, and Redis 7.0.x are supported by version 2.4.6, which will ultimately reduce technical lagging since now the platform is using all the latest dependencies.

Additionally, OpenSearch has now become the default search engine for Adobe Commerce on-premises and cloud installations. Upgrading to MariaDB 10.6 is required to support the independent search engine.

DHL scheme is migrated from version 6.2 to version 10.0. And outdated JavaScript libraries are updated to their latest versions. Also, outdated dependencies will be now only backward compatible.

2. Security refinement

Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 has 8 new security fixes. There is a significant improvement in reCAPTCHA; it will appear every time when an unexpected error occurs during payment processing. Other than that, use of a VPN, two-factor authentication, good password hygiene, etc. are also there to maintain a sturdy platform security.

3. Performance & Scalability

For every operation, the processing time is reduced because the ‘Real-time Check, if Customer is Matched by Segment’ setting, is disabled now. Thus, the system responds more quickly to every request since it doesn’t have to match the customer segment every time.

If you enable the Limit Number of Products in the Grid configuration setting, it will improve product grid performance as well. Moreover, now per minute, up to 100,000 records imports are allowed and order processing performance is also improved using load balancing.

4. Accessibility

Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 has made the storefront experience more perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust by adding Descriptive accessible names to all the buttons throughout the storefront. Also, keyboard-only users can access all storefront functionalities; earlier it was not possible for users to explore sub-navigation links using the keyboard.

According to accessibility best practices, the UI element’s accessible name should start with the visible label text; thus, the visual text label for the Sign In button now matches its accessible name.

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5. Integration with Adobe IMS

Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 core code has decoupled some Adobe IMS modules and made separate meta-packages. Such as

• adobe-ims
• adobe-ims-api
• admin-adobe-ims

The new release is bundled with adobe-ims-metapackage V 2.2.0 without changing any functionality.

6. Braintree addition

For countries like Italy and Spain, the Pay Later option and banners have been added to the payment gateway Braintree.

The same option is now available with PayPal vault as well. Added LPM (local payment methods) webhook.

7. GraphQL

Response time for querying products in categories has been improved since category permissions enabled that contains many customer groups. GraphQL resolver operation has been optimized and data providers don’t reset runtime cached data for every new product that is being processed.

Customer query now supports order sorting; thereby it is easier now to sort orders by order numbers or creation dates and ascending or descending orders, as per business requirements.

8. Other improvements

Page builder v.1.7.3 is now compatible with the latest Adobe Commerce 2.4.6.

PWA Studio v.13.0.x is also get supported by the new Adobe Commerce 2.4.6.

GraphQL API covers the Purchase Order for Companies feature. It has a Purchase Order GraphQL schema to look after B2B Purchase Order Management functionality, for example, purchase order creation, editing, and deleting purchase orders. Moreover, the Purchase Order Rule GraphQL schema helps B2B businesses to create, edit, and delete approval rules along with manually validating purchase orders.

Adobe I/O events for Adobe Commerce help capture all Commerce events and transfer data from Adobe Commerce to other Adobe systems by creating cloud-native apps in Adobe Developer App Builder to subscribe to Commerce events like order status changes, price updates, etc.

Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 – Fixed Issues

• Static content deployment has improvements, now it doesn’t fail during compact or standard deployment.
• The compact strategy now doesn’t cause an invalid reference to an external domain.
• Screen readers read the correct description on the order history page now.

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• Proceed to checkout, review order, and place order buttons in the checkout section work as they are expected by using keyboards only.
• Store views will be more specific now; one store view will not override other stores' view data for the same bundle product because of bundle product updates via API.
• No error occurs now while adding products and the available inventory in Order section, which was the case earlier if the inventory was found less than the indicated quantity.
• Compare Products list feature now works correctly when installed in a multi-website.
• Once the order is fulfilled, the full-page cache is not flushed as earlier unless the ordered product is out of stock.
• Now completing checkout is possible if the shipping address has an extension attribute.
• Cart price rule free shipping options are now applied to orders as expected. Earlier, it had issues with adding free shipping options.
• Discounts are applied to only the product’s original price and not to fixed-price custom product options.
• When a reward coupon is applied during checkout using the PayPal Express payment method, it gets added to the respective customer’s account.
• After order creation, now Adobe Commerce doesn’t send duplicate emails to customers.
• Credit memos, order confirmations, and invoice customer emails for products don’t display image options as HTML markup.
• Earlier credit memos only had integer quantities, however, now they can be generated for integers and decimals.
• Customers can re-login if they’ve exceeded the maximum login failed attempts by resetting the password.
• The legacy media gallery which was enabled previously is now disabled by default.
• To improve directory tree loading, a new media gallery is optimized on the category page.
• Page Builder drag-and-drop builder can be used to bulk import images in the gallery.
• If COD is not applicable for some specific country, then it is not rendered on the storefront checkout workflow.
• If the shopper has not saved a token in Vault payment information, it is not visible in the Payment section of the admin order creation workflow.
• If an order is placed using the Zero Subtotal Checkout payment method, New Order pending status works as expected.
• And there are many more fixed issues.

Wrapping up

Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 is a powerful version with many enhancements that help improve the overall performance of your website or ecommerce store. Thus, upgrading your ecommerce store to the latest version will benefit your business, but before you upgrade, review all changes and check if existing third-party modules will work with version 2.4.6 or not.

New versions always bring more scalability and future-proof functionalities. Upgrading on time keeps your ecommerce store competitive always!

If you're already familiar with Adobe Commerce, you know how magical it can be. If you haven't tried it yet, we strongly recommend switching to this exceptional e-commerce platform.

As an Adobe solution bronze partner, Skynet Technologies offers a variety of Adobe Commerce development services including ecommerce solution architecture, platform migration and upgrades, API / integrations, multivendor / multichannel marketplaces, multi-tenant SaaS-based solutions, omnichannel strategy, performance optimization, ADA and WCAG 2.1 compliance and web accessibility, PIM solutions, maintenance, and support. Fill out the form below or email to [email protected] to begin your journey towards the growth with us.