Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery

Changelog

4.3.0 – 08.10.2026

• Added: Instagram integration admin screens — connect an Instagram account and configure how its images build a gallery (caption, link, image size and caching), plus a control to clear cached Instagram data. Importing from Instagram requires NextGEN Pro.
• Added: Display Triggers setting is now available in Pro Tile gallery settings, so share, comment and cart icons can be enabled on Tile galleries. Requires NextGEN Pro.
• Fixed: Security hardening on image and gallery deletion to better protect your site’s files. We recommend updating.
• Fixed: Clicking a gallery source for an add-on that isn’t activated yet no longer causes a white screen.
• Fixed: Alt text, titles and descriptions are no longer mangled on save or display — words such as “description”, “manuscript”, “medieval” and “retrieval” are preserved.
• Fixed: The “Set NGG Image as Featured” gallery picker no longer hangs or times out on sites with thousands of galleries.
• Fixed: Image EXIF/IPTC metadata stored in non-UTF-8 encodings is now converted correctly instead of appearing garbled.
• Fixed: Galleries you create, edit or delete now appear immediately on sites using a persistent object cache (Redis, Memcached) instead of after a delay of up to 30 minutes.
• Fixed: The album preview in Edit Album no longer shows a rendering error for albums migrated from older NextGEN versions.
• Fixed: “Sort Images” (by filename, date, ID or invert) now produces a consistent, correct order on large galleries instead of a random one.
• Fixed: Per-gallery display settings are no longer silently discarded when the matching global display settings are changed.
• Fixed: Simple ImageBrowser navigation now works when more than one gallery appears on the same page.
• Fixed: Galleries inserted with the legacy “Attach to Post” tool are detected again, so gallery assets load on those pages — including NextGEN Pro’s lightbox, cart and image protection.
• Fixed: Thumbnail generation no longer fails with a fatal error on PHP 8.4+ for large, heavily compressed JPEGs.
• Fixed: A JavaScript error on every wp-admin page of a fresh install with no galleries, which broke the admin menu tooltip and other admin scripts.
• Fixed: The album editor’s “Add Items to Album” modal no longer shows “No galleries available to add” on sites with 50+ galleries, and loading an album’s galleries is much faster.
• Fixed: Alt Text on metadata import now uses the IPTC accessibility alt-text field when present, instead of falling back to the image filename.
• Fixed: Multiple album shortcodes on one page now navigate independently — opening a sub-album no longer changes every album on the page, and breadcrumbs stay within their own section.
• Fixed: A fatal PHP 8 error when saving theme page settings with some third-party themes (for example Gantry 5).
• Fixed: The nextgen_load_assets_on_page filter again forces NextGEN’s core frontend scripts on pages where the gallery is rendered by a third party.
• Fixed: Saving settings from the new admin now notifies add-ons of the change, so NextGEN Pro can re-register its Stripe checkout webhook when the API keys are saved. The eCommerce Payment Setup screen also warns when Stripe is enabled without a registered webhook. Requires NextGEN Pro.
• Changed: The POPE framework library is now bundled with the plugin instead of being pulled in as an external dependency — no functional change, but installs and updates no longer depend on an outside package source.
• Changed: Gallery folder paths are validated more strictly when saved — a shared directory such as wp-content/uploads can no longer be set as a gallery’s path.

4.2.4 – 07.30.2026

• Fixed: Security hardening on gallery tag pages to better protect your site. We recommend updating.
• Fixed: Gallery tag pages for tags containing non-Latin characters (Cyrillic, Greek, CJK, and similar) now resolve to the correct tag instead of showing an empty page.
• Fixed: The “Images tagged …” heading on a tag page now shows the tag’s name as it is saved in your gallery tags.

4.2.3 – 06.30.2026

• Added: Drag gallery images to a different page within the same gallery — a floating page strip appears while dragging; hover a page chip to navigate, then drop to reorder.
• Added: Album items (galleries and sub-albums) can also be dragged across pages for easier organization.
• Fixed: Pro Lightbox settings toggles (Display Cart, Display Comments, and others) now correctly stay OFF after being saved as off — they no longer revert to ON on page reload.
• Fixed: Pro Slideshow and Pro Horizontal Filmstrip display settings (crop, pan, aspect ratio, width, transition, etc.) now apply correctly on the frontend after being saved in the gallery editor.
• Fixed: The “Manage gallery” link after importing a folder now opens the correct gallery instead of showing a broken URL.
• Fixed: Pro Mosaic galleries now display images correctly on sites using Imagely CDN when original files are no longer stored locally.
• Fixed: Album image count (“X Photos”) now shows correctly on galleries inserted with the block-based album layouts (Basic Extended and Basic Compact).
• Fixed: Bulk “Generate Thumbnails” and “Set Watermark” no longer fail with a server error when an image’s embedded metadata is incomplete.
• Fixed: Thumbnails now correctly hide off-page images when “show all in lightbox” is enabled alongside “images per page”.
• Fixed: PHP code no longer leaks into WordPress admin HTML (which triggered some security firewalls); the gallery insert button also no longer loads on unrelated admin pages.
• Improved: NextGEN Gallery no longer loads CSS, JavaScript, or icon files on pages that contain no galleries, reducing page weight for visitors.
• Improved: Gallery data is now stored in the WordPress object cache (Redis, Memcached) between page loads, significantly reducing database queries on high-traffic sites.
• Improved: Display type lookups are cached, eliminating repeated database scans on every page load.

4.2.2 – 05.27.2026

• Added: Google Photos integration — import images directly from your Google Photos account into NextGEN galleries.
• Added: Dropbox integration — import images from Dropbox into NextGEN galleries.

4.2.1 – 05.15.2026

• Fixed: Security hardening across the plugin to better protect site data and reinforce permission checks. We recommend updating.
• Fixed: Edit Image crop tool now uses the correct aspect ratio from your gallery’s thumbnail settings and no longer briefly flickers when opening crop mode.
• Fixed: Additional PHP 8.2+ deprecation notices on admin screens.

4.2.0 – 04.23.2026

• Fixed: Publishing galleries and albums from the Imagely Lightroom plugin could fail with a generic processing error after a recent update
• Fixed: Albums created by Imagely Lightroom could appear empty on the front end with missing thumbnails and broken links
• Fixed: Newly created galleries and albums sometimes did not appear in the admin list until cached data expired
• Fixed: Upload error messages from the Imagely Lightroom plugin now include the underlying reason when a publish fails
• Fixed: Edited images now refresh immediately in the admin without needing a manual page reload
• Fixed: PHP warnings and notices no longer appear on the Albums edit screen related to display types
• Fixed: PHP 8.2+ deprecation notices on admin pages and when gallery models are loaded

4.1.3 – 04.03.2026

• Fixed: Imagely admin no longer hammered the REST API with repeated settings requests when browsing Galleries and Albums (column visibility auto-save).

4.1.2 – 04.02.2026

• Added: Duplicate pricelists individually or in bulk from the Ecommerce tab with confirmation modal
• Added: Column visibility on “Manage Galleries” and “Manage Albums” tables is now saved and restored when returning to the page
• Added: Automatic EXIF-based JPEG rotation using ImageMagick/Imagick when available to keep uploads correctly oriented
• Fixed: Multisite — subsite site administrators see Path to galleries as read-only in Imagely so uploads are not pointed at another site’s directory; the main site and network super administrators can still edit the path.
• Fixed: Multisite — network Enable import function correctly turns off Import Folder for subsites (Imagely UI and REST).
• Fixed: Gallery image counts now display correctly in the Albums edit page
• Fixed: Image list in “Add Media > NextGEN Gallery” modal now displays with consistent row heights instead of overflowing thumbnails
• Fixed: Block editor no longer reverts the preview to the saved gallery when choosing a different gallery with “Change” before inserting
• Fixed: Block editor validation errors when Bluehost’s WonderBlocks feature is enabled
• Fixed: Pro Masonry “Maximum image width” and “Image padding” settings now save and apply correctly
• Fixed: Display type settings in the Customize tab could appear stuck or out of sync after changing layout or saving settings
• Fixed: Shutter Reloaded lightbox showing double the image count on Mosaic/Masonry and in the admin live preview
• Fixed: PHP 8.4 deprecation notices for implicit nullable parameters and dynamic properties
• Fixed: Image slug not regenerating when alt text is updated in the manage gallery screen
• Fixed: Rapid price edits in pricelists sometimes not saving
• Fixed: “Display link to license terms?” and “Allow free downloads from cart sidebar” checkboxes reverting after save
• Fixed: Pricelist name and item fields sometimes not showing on load
• Fixed: Order links in the eCommerce Orders admin view now point to the configured thank-you page instead of always using /thanks/
• Fixed: Album pages crashing on PHP 8.x when a sub-album has no images
• Fixed: Cases where JPEG uploads with EXIF rotation could appear as failed even though files were created successfully
• Fixed: Multi-word tag search now works correctly by preserving full phrases before sanitization
• Improved: Gallery path validation is shared between REST and classic Image Options (safer relative paths).
• Improved: JPEG upload handling to be more memory-aware on hosts with older GD libraries

4.1.1 – 03.13.2025

• Fixed: PNG and WEBP watermarks no longer lose transparency when applied to images
• Fixed: Fatal error when using NextGen Gallery with older Pro add-on versions that reference the legacy C_NextGen_Settings class
• Fixed: SinglePicture display no longer crashes when width/height settings are not configured
• Fixed: Imagebrowser now opens to the correct image when viewing images within albums (Thumbnails display type)

= 4.1.0 – 03.11.2026
* Added: Features page for discovering and managing available integrations
* Added: CDN menu item in the admin sidebar
* Added: Gallery deletion functionality from the Image Uploader
* Added: Dynamic image size options in gallery settings
* Added: Caching for gallery and album queries for improved performance
* Added: Batch gallery fetching for better admin performance
* Fixed: Gallery images now display correctly in ImageBrowser and Slideshow layouts
* Fixed: REST gallery response cache is now invalidated on image changes
* Fixed: Settings page data saving issue
* Fixed: Basic layout fatal error
* Fixed: Media file import issue
* Fixed: Server error messages are now shown instead of generic fallback messages
* Fixed: Thickbox style issue
* Fixed: Undefined array key notice
* Fixed: Gallery image count now refreshes correctly after preview loads
* Fixed: EXIF rotation guard restored — images with non-rotation orientations no longer trigger unnecessary re-processing
* Fixed: Metadata methods (get_IPTC, get_XMP) now correctly return the full array when called without arguments
* Fixed: Gallery list cache is now per-user, preventing incorrect permission display across different user roles
* Improved: Upgrade links now include utm_content tracking for analytics
* Improved: Extensive PHPCS code quality fixes across the entire codebase (security, sanitization, escaping, naming * conventions)
* Improved: Image uploader UI styling and layout
* Improved: Error handling for gallery deletion and image operations

4.0.5 – 02.12.2026

• Fixed: Unresolved template.
• Added: Convert WordPress galleries to Imagely — convert a single gallery from the block editor (“Convert to Imagely Gallery” in the sidebar) or bulk convert from Imagely → Settings → Convert Galleries; supports classic [gallery] shortcodes and Gutenberg Gallery blocks; preserves image metadata and backs up original content before conversion.
• Fixed: Legacy Template dropdown no longer shows internal template files; only valid legacy templates appear in the list.
• Fixed: Imagely Widget displays correctly again after legacy template dropdown improvements.
• Improved: PHP 8.1+ compatibility; resolved deprecation warnings when previewing galleries or using legacy templates with empty image or gallery descriptions.

v4.0.3 – 12.18.2025

• Added: REST endpoint to scan a gallery folder and import newly added images, and a client hook to trigger it.
• Added: legacy template selector and exposed available legacy templates to the admin app.
• Added: shared Pagination component and applied it across admin list screens (galleries, albums, tags, orders).
• Added: Image ID field to the image metadata modal.
• Added: Digital Downloads section in order details with a direct download link.
• Fixed: 403 rate-limiting issues by debouncing display/settings saves (longer debounce) in gallery/album customize flows.
• Fixed: legacy template loading security by blocking traversal attempts and only allowing templates from approved directories
• Fixed: Upgrade menu item and related admin styles/targeting to show only for Lite installs.
• Fixed: duplicate-column errors when adding DB columns by checking column existence directly
• Fixed: order resubmission-to-lab flow (improved success/error handling) and improved order item file details display.
• Fixed: missing UTM parameters in upgrade links.

V4.0.2 – 12.15.2025

• Fixed: Missing thumbnails on the gallery edit page for some users
• Fixed: Creating galleries from server subfolders
• Fixed: User and capabilities page showing for all users

V4.0.1 – 12.10.2025

• Fixed: Edit gallery user permissions

V4.0.0 – 12.09.2025

• Improved: Admin area user interface

V3.59.12 – 04.23.2025

• Fixed: Lightbox allowed html discrepancy

V3.59.11 – 04.17.2025

• Fixed: SQL formatting error on plugin activation
• Fixed: Translation warning in some admin pages

V3.59.10 – 01.28.2025

• Fixed: Frontend search not working in some cases

V3.59.9 – 01.16.2025

• Fixed: Title and caption allowed html tags.

V3.59.8 – 01.06.2025

• Fixed: Apostrophes not being added to image title
• Improved: Fields sanitization

V3.59.7 – 12.05.2024

• Fixed: Links and styles on about page
• Fixed: Readme update

V3.59.6 – 11.05.2024

• Fixed: Title and captions escaping
• Added: Onboarding wizard
• Added: Optional usage tracking
• Fixed: Blurry images on cropping

V3.59.5 – 09.24.2024

• Fixed: Improved security

V3.59.4 – 07.18.2024

• Fixed: Warning on WP import file
• Added: Create gallery nudge
• Added: Notifications count to the navbar menu
• Fixed: Duplicated gallery name in the Gutenberg block
• Fixed: Gutenberg block not working when adding into the page template
• Added: Link on the header section logo and make it clickable
• Fixed: Duplicate thumbnail in basic thumbnails carousel

V3.59.3 – 05.29.2024

• Fixed: Improved transient registration.
• Fixed: Rendering shortcodes on rest endpoints.
• Fixed: Album name sanitization.
• Removed: Deprecated admin notices.
• Fixed: PHP 8.2 warnings

V3.59.2 – 04.10.2024

• Fixed: Various bugs and improved UI/UX in various places.

V3.59.1 – 04.03.2024

• Fixed: Warning when saving settings.
• Fixed: Show ordered filenames on order details page.

V3.59 – 03.14.2024

• Fixed: URI too long prevents “Sort or exclude images” from loading images.
• Fixed: Correcting Lightroom clients being unable to sync image .
• Fixed: Prevent PHP warning / error when watermarking.
• Fixed: Sorting images from a Classic Editor launched IGW.
• Fixed: Shutter lightbox randomly failing to load the captions.
• Fixed: PHP notices and warnings.
• Fixed: Addressed a bug reported by Dmitrii Ignatyev of Cleantalk.

V3.58 – 02.08.2024

• Fixed: A potential fatal DivisionByZeroError caused by image files being deleted outside of NextGEN.
• Fixed: A potential fatal error in the XML-RPC controller.
• Fixed: An issue with classic (non-block) themes could break Pro’s “Open album children in the Pro Lightbox” feature.
• Fixed: Assorted potential PHP notices and warnings.
• Fixed: Manage Galleries’ “Images per Page” feature was not working.
• Fixed: Passing ‘gallery_width=”auto”‘ to a Slideshow shortcode could result in a fatal error.

V3.57 – 01.10.2024

• Fixed: Albums were generating an incorrect URL to their child galleries.
• Fixed: Albums could generate a fatal error when viewing a sub-album.
• Fixed: Do not call opcache_reset() if it does not exist.

V3.56 – 01.09.2024

• Fixed: “Open album children in Pro Lightbox” feature was only working with block based themes.
• Fixed: Adding more than one Pro display to one page caused galleries after the first to be unstyled.
• Fixed: Albums with very a large number of children may have broken gallery displays if it relies on the dynamic-css feature.
• Fixed: Continued fixing recently introduced incompatibilies with 3rd party extensions.
• Fixed: Creating a new gallery from the Manage Galleries page was just reloading the page.
• Fixed: Display Type settings could be forced back to their default settings when upgrading.
• Fixed: IIS servers may generate a fatal error searching for an absolute path to template files.
• Fixed: Inserting NextGEN singlepic from the Add Media popup was creating an without a src attribute.
• Fixed: Possible PHP notices, warnings.
• Fixed: Restored the NGG_DISABLE_SHORTCODE_MANAGER constant.
• Fixed: Router->fix_page_parameter() generated a warning if the global $post is not an object.
• Fixed: The button ‘Scan folder for new images’ was re-importing existing images.
• Fixed: Updating tags via the Manage Tags page did not flush the displayed gallery rendering cache.