Magento is one of the leading eCommerce platforms. It is the preferred choice for many B2B and B2C brands. Magento's ability to scale and grow with your business needs is why it is ideal for your eCommerce store. The robust ecosystem of unique features, dynamic themes, and tech support makes it the best platform for your online business. Now, Magento 2.4.2 is out. The 2.4.2 version comprises feature upgrades, improvements, and component updates. Read on to find out more about the enhancements.
Top 20 Updates in Commerce and Open Source 2.4.2
Security Enhancements
The new update features over 35 security enhancements and platform security improvements. Security updates help to close remote code execution (RCE) and cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities. All hit fixes from 2.4.1 remained included in this release. Owners can install time-sensitive security fixes. Magento 2.4.2 offers better protection from Remote Code Execution (RCE) attacks.
All core cookies support the "SameSite" attribute. Magento sends a message whenever a malicious threat gets detected in the product and category description fields. Furthermore, file system operations got standardized and hardened. This helps to prevent any suspicious uploads.
Product Video
From Magento 2.4.2 onwards, owners would no longer see a change in the position of an uploaded video. Earlier, the video position in the Images and Videos section of the product details page would change when they saved the product. Since, the image positions would end up misplaced and disturb the video's alignment as per their index values.
Images
Cyan, Magento, Yellow, Black (CMYK) images colors get rendered right as per the new release. Now, the Imagick adapter detects an opened CMYK image and converts the same to Red, Green, Blue (sRGB). Earlier, the images appeared in inverted colors. Furthermore, images on your Magento storefront get rendered as expected. This wasn't the case always, as the page source HTML was corrupted.
Since the three consecutive slashes (///) in the image's code got processed as a comment. Also, the dependency on the "fileinfo" extension got removed from the CMS module. Earlier, Magento threw an error when you tried to upload an image using the image uploader. The uploader got launched when you clicked on "Insert Image" when adding content.
Search
Magento 2.4.2 is compatible with Elasticsearch 7.9. But, it still supports Elasticsearch 7.4. Elasticsearch won't throw an unknown modifier error when a user searches on a search synonym. With this update, product names in search results are no longer case-sensitive. Magento 2.4.2 improved the performance of catalog search.
Also, Elasticsearch no longer shows an error or exception when a search term contains a slash. Owners may disable search for selected customer groups. Also, Elasticsearch filters product prices like with MySQL. Owners can also disable search suggestions when a user types anything on the search field. Furthermore, the catalog search indexer now executes right. Earlier, it would throw an error due to the field limit in Elasticsearch.
Import/Export
Store owners can now hide product images on the storefront during an import operation. If an imported product has the "qty" value set to 0 but "is_in_stock" set to 1 in the CSV file, the product doesn't get listed on the category page. The PDP identifies it as Out-of-Stock (OOS). Earlier, products with these values would get displayed on the storefront after import.
Magento no longer duplicates product images in the new update when an owner imports the same product CSV data more than once. Magento has also removed the limit of 90 characters for image file names. Furthermore, duplicated product images get removed after importing a CSV file that contains images. Owners can export coupon codes to CSV or XML. Earlier, you'd get a 404 error when you tried to export coupons.
Shipping Improvements
The fields describing the UPS delivery method stay enabled in 2.4.2. Also, you see the "Delivered On" status for UPS shipment only when a package got delivered. A significant improvement came in the form of the tracking link in the confirmation email sent to buyers. The link now works as expected. Earlier, the link returned a 404 error.
Owners can create shipping labels for partial orders as well. Earlier Magento would invalidate the same by adding all the products in the order. On the order review page, buyers can see the tax amount for orders that get shipped to several addresses. Also, the checkout process doesn't fail when a network interruption disrupts the DHL page's connection.
In 2.4.2, Magento displays other available shipping methods. Earlier, the checkout process stalled whenever the connection to DHL shipping got interrupted. After which, Magento threw the error: Sorry, no quotes are available for this order now. Furthermore, Magento made improvements to the Checkout process with Virtual products.
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Reviews
In Magento 2.4.2, the "New Review" page loads as expected upon clicking the "New Review" button on Admin Marketing > All Reviews. Whenever you click on a product on this page, it opens the new review form for that product. Furthermore, Magento no longer shows an error when you try to edit a placed order from Admin Marketing > All Reviews.
Sales and Sales Rule
Considerable changes got made in the sales section as well. In Magento 2.4.2, you can see the shipping address information throughout as expected on the order page during checkout. Also, the value of "total_qty" matches the value of "total_qty_ordered" in sales invoices. Magento would also send invoice mail when an order gets placed by the Admin.
In Magento 2.4.2, a custom order status with Suspected Fraud wouldn't change to processing. Magento now clears existing order data when an owner creates a new order for a user as the Admin. Store owners can assign customer groups using VAT validation. Owners can change the group for new users.
In Magento 2.4.2, coupon codes applied based on the shipping method are no longer valid when a buyer changes the shipping method. Earlier, Magento wouldn't clear the coupon codes when a buyer switched the shipping method. Shoppers can't apply a coupon code more than permitted in the "Uses Per Customer" setting. Earlier, a shopper could exploit this by opening several windows with many orders.
Platform Upgrades
Magento 2.4.2 got tested with Varnish 6.4. Magento 2.4.2 also remains compatible with the last Varnish version. Magento 2.4.2 supports Redis 6.x and remains compatible with Redis 5.x. Furthermore, Magento 2.4.2 offers compatibility with Composer 2.x. as Composer 1.x will likely reach end-of-life. Owners must migrate to Composer 2.
Get an overview of Composer 2. Owners can no longer use a split database. You may need to revert to or migrate to a single database. This is because, with the latest update the ability to configure a Magento installation to use a split database has deprecated.Infrastructure Improvements
Magento 2.4.2 contains enhancements to core quality. As a result of these changes, many areas like Framework and functional areas see a marked improvement. Some of these areas being Customer Account, Catalog, CMS, Import, Export, Promotions, Cart, and Checkout.
In the new release, Magento converts plain text to HTML when you click "Return Html Version" when loading an email template. Furthermore, email sent to users with partial invoices includes accurate item subtotals. Earlier, the subtotal was the total of the ordered quantity, not the total amount of the invoiced quantity.
Also, Magento sends email reminders to all customers with valid email addresses. Earlier, Magento stopped sending reminder emails to customers right after it detected one invalid address. Furthermore, sending sales emails in asynchronous mode works after a product gets removed from a catalog. Earlier, the mail sending got blocked, and Magento displayed an error.
Downloadable
In the new update, Magento no longer lists a downloadable product in the "My Downloadable Products" tab after the order that it belongs to has been partially refunded. Earlier, the downloadable product would still be available for download.
Performance Improvements
Magento 2.4.2 includes code enhancements. The code enhancements help to improve API performance and Admin response time in deployments with large inventory. Several scalability enhancements in Magento 2.4.2 helps to support complex catalogs - 20x more extensive than in previous releases.
Magento 2.4.3 improved the page load times in the shopping cart. Earlier, Magento executed several independent queries for each product in the shopping cart. There has been an improvement in checkout performance due to the removal of a redundant database query. Redis cache management has improved as well. The time required to export or import more than 100,000 records has come down.
Media Gallery
Magento 2.4.2 limits admin access to the Media gallery. As such, owners or super admins can control and perform several actions like, insert media assets into content and upload assets. They can also edit assets detail, Delete assets from the gallery and manage folder structure.
With Magento 2.4.2, store owners can use web-optimized images in the content. Instead of the higher resolution images. Meanwhile, the high-resolution image remains unmodified in the Media Gallery. The web-optimized image gets dynamically generated whenever you insert it into the content.
Tax
In Magento 2.4.2, VAT validation got more sorted and accurate. VAT validation on guest orders no longer results in the quote getting saved with an incorrect Tax Class. The product detail pages (PDP) on your Magento website will display old and new prices with and without tax. In case owners have configured Fixed Product Tax (FPT), they can save orders getting shipped to several addresses during checkout. Earlier, Magento would display a blank page instead of the order success page.
Wishlist
For shared wishlist, the add to cart button works for guests and users not logged in. Admins can access the "manage shopping cart" page from the Admin customer page after adding a product to their wishlist. Earlier, Magento would display a message: An error has occurred. See error log for details.
Payment Methods
PayPal Settlement reports are now available on the PayPal Settlement report grid. Also, Guest shoppers can place PayPal orders. Earlier, the buyer would get redirected to the order review page. In here, they'd see an error. The PayPal Express Checkout payment method works with the Braintree Credit Card. Earlier, Magento didn't display the PayPal button with Braintree Credit Card payment enabled.
Buyers can use Apple Pay to place an order for virtual products. Earlier, Magento would throw an error. The error said, There are no shipping methods available for you right now. Please try again or use an alternative payment method.
Now, the Admin section loads payment methods for all websites in a multi-store deployment. In Magento 2.4.2, owners can place an order from the Admin after switching from a credit card to a non-credit-card payment method. Earlier, upon clicking "Submit Order," the loading process started but failed, and Magento didn't place the order.
Configurable Products
Advanced search wouldn't return the child products of configurable products as individual search results. But, this is only when the configurable product's child products have visibility set to "Not Visible Individually." Now, owners can filter OOS configurable products by price. They'd see the result within the correct price range.
Furthermore, configurable products available on several sites no longer show child products if they aren't assigned to the specific website. Also, your site's product pages will display the correct tier prices without taxes. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for configurable items gets converted to the chosen currency. Earlier, the displayed prices appeared in the wrong currency and showed an error.
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Newsletter
Magento will now resend newsletter subscription confirmation if the user doesn't confirm their newsletter subscription. Also, store owners can edit a user account when they get subscribed to a queued newsletter.
General Fixes
Magento no longer displays the "The coupon code has been accepted" after a coupon gets removed. Now, Magento throws an exception when a user who doesn't exist requests a password reset. Owners can remove a filter from the Product Categories page. Earlier, when they tried to delete the filter, they'd see an error. Magento now opens the New Attribute page when an owner clicks the "Create New Attribute" button twice during product creation.
Exclusive Commerce Updates
The B2B side has gone through several changes as well. For online payment methods, owners can disable gift cards and coupons for purchase order (PO) approval. Earlier, B2B buyers could use gift cards and vouchers to reduce the cart value and proceed with the online payment. But, Magento will still place the order for the amount based on the prices of the items in the catalog.
The new release keeps its compatibility with third-party and custom payment methods. Also, buyers can change their payment methods in the payment step at checkout. This gives buyers more flexibility and improves your conversion rates. Owners can see a "Pending Payment" status on buyer orders. This will tell them about a pending action.
- Owners can notify buyers via email to add payment details for an approved purchase order.
- Magento 2.4.2 prevents discount codes from getting edited in the payment step. Now, owners can keep the order value intact for approved orders.
- Owners can customize customer emails from the Admin section.
Magento 2.4.2 doesn't face any issues with duplicate gift card orders. Earlier, when a buyer ordered one gift card, Magento delivered two gift codes. This happened because the cron job didn't find out if it had already generated a gift card for the user.
Conclusion - Magento 2.4.2
Magento 2.4.2 came out far superior to its predecessor. Significant upgrades and improvements in this update will simplify and streamline your eCommerce business. So, what are you waiting for? Update your old Magento store to the 2.4.2 version and make the most out of your business.
The certified Magento experts in Virtina can help upgrade your store. Our Magento developers have expert familiarity with newer updates. We leave no stone unturned to ensure that every Magento store gets a safe, smooth, and fast upgrade to the latest version. Our balanced, resourceful and agile approach will provide the best upgrade experience for your website.
