Craft CMS 5.9: Bulk Content Actions, Spreadsheet Exports, and a Big Security Update

We read every Craft release note so you don't have to, and sort the changes that matter for the people who own and edit a site from the long list of developer housekeeping. Craft CMS 5.9 is, above all, a security release — and that's the part to act on.

The short version: 5.9 patches an unusually large batch of security vulnerabilities, so every Craft site should be updated. Alongside that, it makes bulk editing faster, adds the ability to export content to Excel, and gives larger sites better ways to stay organised. If we maintain your site, the security work is already done — there's nothing for you to do.

The important bit: a heavy security release

5.9 fixes a long list of vulnerabilities, several of them serious — including high-severity issues that could let an attacker probe for valid user accounts or reach internal systems, plus a handful of moderate ones. This is more security work than a typical release carries.

In plain terms: this is exactly the kind of update you don't leave sitting. If we look after your site, it was applied as soon as it was released. If you're not on a maintenance plan, this release is the case for getting onto one — or at least getting it installed promptly.

Faster bulk editing

The clearest day-to-day win for editors. When you're working with repeating content blocks on a page, you can now select several at once and copy, duplicate, or delete them in one go, rather than handling each individually. The same bulk actions now work on phones and tablets too, so quick tidy-ups aren't tied to your desk.

For anyone who builds long, modular pages — landing pages, reports, case studies — this turns a repetitive chore into a couple of clicks.

Safer duplicating

When you duplicate several entries at once, Craft now creates them as drafts rather than publishing them straight away. That gives you a chance to review and adjust the copies before any of them go live — a small change that prevents half-finished duplicates appearing on the site by accident.

Export content to Excel

You can now export content as Excel spreadsheets (and YAML). If you've ever needed to hand a content list to someone who lives in spreadsheets — for a review, a report, or a stocktake of what's on the site — this saves the copy-paste-into-Excel ritual entirely.

Better organisation for larger sites

A few changes help when a site has grown large:

• Split long lists across pages — content sources can now be divided into multiple index pages, so a section with thousands of entries isn't one endless list.
• Tidier titles — you can allow line breaks in titles where it helps, and control how entries are labelled in the control panel so they're easier to scan.
• More precise permissions — a new permission lets you control who can reassign the author of someone else's entry, useful for keeping editorial ownership clear.
• Optional address labels and clearer on/off labelling on toggle fields round things out.

A snappier control panel

5.9 includes real performance work — content lists and searches load faster, and editing nested content is more efficient behind the scenes. Nothing you switch on; the control panel simply feels quicker, which adds up across a busy editing day.

What's routine (and safe to ignore)

As ever, a large slice of the 5.9 changelog is written for developers: new template functions, dozens of API additions, and updated underlying components like Twig and Yii. These keep Craft modern and give the people who build on it better tools, but there's nothing for an editor or owner to action — it's the steady maintenance you'd expect from a well-kept platform.