Craft CMS 5.7 launched this week with features that make content creation faster and collaborative editing safer. The headlining additions - content duplication and concurrent editing indicators - address common workflows that previously required workarounds or risked conflicting changes.
Duplicate and Copy Content Easily
Craft 5.7 introduces “Duplicate” and “Copy” actions throughout the interface. You can now duplicate entries, addresses, and nested elements directly from element indexes, cards, and inline-editable Matrix blocks.
This matters because content often follows templates. When creating a new team member profile similar to existing ones, a new product variant that shares most details with another, or repeating content blocks with minor variations, duplication is faster than creating from scratch.
The difference between “Duplicate” and “Copy” is subtle but useful:
- Duplicate: Creates a new version as a sibling of the original
- Copy: Places a copy on your clipboard for pasting elsewhere
Both actions preserve the original content’s structure and field values, letting you modify what needs changing rather than rebuilding everything.
See Who Else Is Editing
Perhaps the most significant addition in 5.7 is concurrent editing indicators. When you open an entry for editing, the slideout now shows you if other authors are currently working on the same content.
This prevents a frustrating and potentially problematic scenario: two team members editing the same entry simultaneously, with whoever saves last overwriting the other person’s changes. Now you can see who else is working on content and coordinate accordingly.
For teams with multiple content editors, especially distributed teams working across time zones, this visibility prevents lost work and awkward conversations about who overwrote what.
Redesigned Cards and Blocks
Craft 5.7 includes a visual refresh of chips, cards, and inline-editable Matrix blocks. The redesign prioritises consistency and readability across the interface.
Element cards now include dedicated “Edit” buttons in their titlebar rather than burying them in action menus. This makes the most common action - editing content - immediately accessible. For nested entries in Matrix fields, cards no longer link to separate edit pages, keeping your editing workflow contained within the parent entry.
The design refinements make the interface cleaner and reduce visual noise, particularly when working with complex pages containing many nested elements.
Undo Asset Moves
When moving assets between folders, Craft 5.7 now includes confirmation prompts for large operations (more than 50 assets or 50MB total). More importantly, for smaller moves, the success notification includes an “Undo” button.
This simple addition removes anxiety from asset organisation. If you accidentally move files to the wrong folder, you can immediately undo the action rather than hunting through folder structures to fix the mistake.
Improved Sorting and Field Options
For sites using card view extensively, Craft 5.7 adds support for sorting by custom fields within embedded element indexes. You can now order entries in Matrix fields or nested content by any attribute, not just default sorting criteria.
Condition rules for checkbox, dropdown, multi-select, and radio button fields now include “has a value” and “is empty” operators, making it easier to filter content based on whether optional fields are populated.
What This Means for Content Teams
The content duplication features speed up repetitive content creation significantly. When you’re managing product catalogues, team directories, or any content following templates, being able to duplicate existing entries as starting points saves considerable time.
The concurrent editing indicators prevent conflicts in collaborative environments. Knowing who else is working on content means you can coordinate edits, wait for someone to finish, or choose different entries to work on. It’s a simple feature with substantial impact on team workflows.
Design That Supports Work
The visual refresh isn’t about making things prettier - it’s about making the interface clearer and more consistent. When edit buttons are in predictable locations and cards follow consistent layouts, you spend less mental energy on interface mechanics and more on actual content work.
Staying Current With Quarterly Updates
Craft releases arrive roughly quarterly, each bringing meaningful improvements to specific workflows. Duplication, concurrent editing visibility, and improved asset management are exactly the kinds of features that make content management work better in practice.
Through our website maintenance support packages, we ensure client sites receive these updates monthly. You get new capabilities without managing the testing, compatibility checks, or deployment process.
If you have a Craft site and want help staying current with releases like 5.7, or if you need support managing collaborative content workflows, email us at hello@mutual.agency.
Content management systems should make collaborative work easier, not harder. Craft 5.7’s additions to duplication and concurrent editing visibility directly address real team workflows - the kind of improvement that makes daily content work noticeably better.