Craft CMS 5.5: Draft Mode for Nested Content and Media Previews

Craft CMS 5.5 arrived this week. The standout change fixes something that quietly caught editors out on complex pages — plus there are media previews and a couple of small comforts.

Drafts that cover your whole page

The biggest change in 5.5 is how edits to nested content are handled. Previously, editing a block inside a flexible page — a testimonial, a feature panel — saved straight to the live entry, even while you were still working. In 5.5, editing one of those blocks creates a draft of the whole page instead.

For an owner, this closes a genuine risk: half-finished edits going live before anyone signed them off. Now a landing page full of testimonials, feature blocks, and product modules can be edited and reviewed as a complete draft, and only published when it's ready. Blocks with unpublished changes are flagged, so you can see at a glance which parts of a page still have edits waiting.

Audio and video previews

You can now play audio and video assets directly from edit screens instead of downloading them or opening another app. A quick way to confirm you've uploaded the right version before it goes out.

Smaller refinements

• Tidier cards — element cards with thumbnails look cleaner and more consistent, which is worth noting for sites that lean on card view for portfolios, team directories, or product catalogues.
• Sidebar stays put — a collapsed sidebar now stays collapsed between pages and slideouts. Small thing, but editors who prefer the extra screen space will appreciate not resetting it constantly.