Combined Theme Builder release notes for upgrades from Washington DC to Australia

How to use this page

To help you prepare for your upgrade, we have combined the cross-family Theme Builder release notes onto one page. Read this summary of the new features, changes, and updated information for your product from Washington DC to Australia.

Tip:

If there were no updates for a release notes section in a certain family release, we included a short note for your reference. For example, if a product did not have any updates in Tokyo, the row says "No updates for this release."

Important information for upgrading Theme Builder to Australia

Before you upgrade to Australia, review these pre- and post-upgrade tasks and complete the tasks as needed.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

New features

Between your current release family and Australia, new features were introduced for Theme Builder.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	Component editing Edit individual components to better suit your brand and to meet accessibility compliance standards. The theme hooks you can edit are specific to each type of component. For more information, see the Accessibility Information section that follows. New feature messaging Learn about new features via a what's new modal when you first launch the updated version of Theme Builder. Open in Theme Builder button As of version 3.1, while customizing a UX theme record, an Open in Theme Builder button displays redirecting you to the editor page in a new tab. Validation of JSON code for the theme records you create As of version 3.1, Theme Builder logs errors and displays an alert for any invalid manual theming updates, helping to prevent saving an incorrect theme record. Customize shape and topography values As of version 3.1, view your customizations in the Global and Component style tabs.
Xanadu	Publish multiple themes with Theme Builder Publish multiple themes with their alternate color palettes to your web instance. Set a default theme for your users. Add a dark alternate color palette Add a dark alternate color palette to your Theme Builder theme. You can edit this alternate color palette to further enhance your brand style. Set the presentation order of your themes in Next Experience Define the presentation order of the themes that are displayed in the ServiceNow® Next Experience user preferences. Select from multiple themes in Next Experience user preferences View multiple themes and their alternate color palettes in Next Experience user preferences. Set the presentation order of your Theme Builder themes As of Theme Builder version 4.1, you can control the order in which the themes created with Theme Builder appear in Next Experience user preferences by using the List view within the Manager page. Remove Global Style overrides As of Theme Builder version 4.1, you can remove any overrides that you made to Global Styles and return to your initial values by using the Remove Override button. Use drag-and-drop to publish and unpublish your themes As of Theme Builder version 4.1, use the drag-and-drop feature in the List view to publish and unpublish your themes for your web instance. Adjust a component to meet accessibility standards As of Theme Builder version 4.1, the Accessibility Inspector now displays the total number of accessibility errors in your theme and lists the specific components with contrast issues. See the Accessibility section for details.
Yokohama	Align with your brand by using the Unified Navigation component Customize the Unified Navigation component from within Theme Builder by using the following new features: Quickly view how the Unified Navigation component will look in your theme by using the Preview pane. Use the Component Configuration menu to view any shared styling between subcomponents. View the background color of your subcomponent and see how it renders in relation to the Unified Navigation component by using the updated canvas color feature. Use the double-click feature to quickly access the Component Editor Double-click a component tile to access the Component Editor where you can continue to make style adjustments to subcomponents, variants, or interactions. Adjust the Unified Navigation component to meet accessibility standards As of Theme Builder version 5.1, the Accessibility Inspector now displays the total number of accessibility errors with contrast issues for the Unified Navigation component and subcomponents. See the Accessibility section for details. Adapt the theme-able illustrations to seamlessly integrate with your brand As of Theme Builder version 5.1, use the new Image styles feature to enhance your theme in the following ways: Edit the colors of the empty state illustrations from within Theme Builder. When a part of your Next Experience web page doesn't contain data, an empty state illustration appears. Empty state illustrations are theme-able and adapt to your theme colors. Override empty state illustrations with your own custom images to uniquely align with your branding style.
Zurich	Upload brand guidelines to the theme creation workflow Upload your brand guidelines as a PDF to the theme creation workflow within the Now Assist panel to generate themes aligned with your brand. Create a theme using Now Assist As of Zurich Patch 7, leverage Now Assist to generate themes based on your brand image. After generating a theme, navigate to Theme Builder to publish and apply additional styling. This feature requires Now Assist for Creator. Create a theme with AI in Theme Builder As of Zurich Patch 7, use AI to generate themes from brand images, preview multiple options, and refine results all within the updated Create a theme wizard. If you prefer, you can skip the AI step and continue creating your theme manually using the existing workflow. This feature requires Now Assist for Creator. Publish the new Coral theme Publish or unpublish the new Coral theme directly from Theme Builder. This theme provides a fresh look and feel and features brand-neutral illustrations to enhance your user experience. A dark theme variant is available for web and mobile experiences. Upload and manage custom fonts in your theme Use your organization's fonts to maintain a consistent look and feel for your brand throughout your experience. Upload, preview, and edit at most 10 custom font families from the Global styles or Component styles tabs. Add unlimited associated font faces to each font family and apply them individually to components. Delete your font family or font face from your theme. Explore the expanded image categories with color editing and override capability As of Theme Builder version 6.1, configure the following new image categories to further enhance your theme: Edit the colors of banners, modals, tile icons, and cards from within Theme Builder. Override each of these default illustrations with your own custom images to uniquely align with your branding style. Guided tours in Theme Builder As of version 6.1, learn about additional features and complete tasks through interactive steps by taking guided tours within Theme Builder. Create a theme using Now Assist As of Zurich Patch 7, leverage Now Assist to generate themes based on your brand image. After generating a theme, navigate to Theme Builder to publish and apply additional styling. This feature requires Now Assist for Creator. Create a theme with AI in Theme Builder As of Zurich Patch 7, use AI to generate themes from brand images, preview multiple options, and refine results all within the updated Create a theme wizard. If you prefer, you can skip the AI step and continue creating your theme manually using the existing workflow. This feature requires Now Assist for Creator.
Australia	[Placeholder link text to key australia-patch-2] Upload brand guidelines to generate theme colors Upload brand guidelines as a PDF to the Theme Builder theme creation workflow in the Now Assist panel to generate themes aligned with your brand. Australia Patch 1 AI-powered color palette theme creation Use AI to generate themes from brand images, preview multiple options, and refine results all within the updated Create a theme wizard. If you prefer, you can skip the AI step and continue creating your theme manually using the existing workflow. This feature requires Now Assist for Creator. Generate themes using Now Assist Leverage Now Assist to generate themes based on your brand image. After generating a theme, navigate to Theme Builder to publish and apply additional styling. This feature requires Now Assist for Creator and a theme creation workflow enabled in AI Agent Studio. ServiceNow product tiers The ServiceNow AI Platform now brings you a new AI experience with three licensing tiers available: Foundation: AI basics to deliver insights Advanced: AI to boost productivity across relevant use cases Prime: Act autonomously with all AI assets, and create your own Depending on your license, you will have access to certain application features, generative AI skills, agentic workflows, and AI agents. Override default icons for a fully branded experience View and manage your theme’s icon library in Theme Builder, including uploading custom assets to replace default icons. Icons support size variants, outline and fill styles, and dynamic color adjustments and integrate with embeddable components. Control typography at the component category level Assign fonts to individual component categories to create clearer visual distinction across your interface. Flexible Font size control Fine-tune font sizes across component categories for a polished, consistent look. Use font‑size controls to tailor default or custom fonts to your brand needs. Applies across Next Experience and embeddable components, ensuring a consistent brand look even on external sites.

Changes

Between your current release family and Australia, some changes were made to existing Theme Builder features.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Removed

Between your current release family and Australia, some Theme Builder features or functionality were removed.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	Removed the Apply button used to apply your theme to web and mobile instances. To publish your theme, use the Publish option from the theme card overflow menu. For more information about publishing themes, see Publish your themes with Theme Builder.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Deprecations

Between your current release family and Australia, some Theme Builder features or functionality were deprecated.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Activation information

Review information on how to activate Theme Builder.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	Install Theme Builder by requesting it from the ServiceNow Store. Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.
Xanadu	Install Theme Builder by requesting it from the ServiceNow Store. Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes. Note: As of Theme Builder version 4.1, you see when a new Theme Builder update is available from within the Editor page view.
Yokohama	Starting with the Yokohama release, Theme Builder is included as a core plugin with the Next Experience application and is available by default. You can update to the latest version of Theme Builder from ServiceNow Store.
Zurich	Theme Builder is included as a core plugin with the Next Experience application and is available by default. You can update to the latest version of Theme Builder from the ServiceNow Store.
Australia	Theme Builder is included as a core plugin with the Next Experience application and is available by default. You can update to the latest version of Theme Builder from the ServiceNow Store.

Additional requirements

If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for Theme Builder we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Browser requirements

If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for Theme Builder we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Accessibility information

Review details on accessibility information for Theme Builder, such as specific requirements or compliance levels.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	Adjust components to meet accessibility standards Use new Accessibility checker capabilities to ensure you're meeting conformant color contrast levels as you apply your own brand and colors to your web or mobile instance. See Adjust components to meet accessibility standards for details.
Xanadu	Accessibility improvements for Theme Builder include the following updates: Added a dark alternate color palette that makes the display easier for your eyes and less disturbing in low-light settings is available for creation. For more information, see Add an alternate color palette. Updated modal when you publish a theme group for your web instance. A warning appears if there’s an accessibility error within the base theme or the theme's alternate color palettes. A link within the modal navigates you to the correct theme or alternate color palette with accessibility errors. Improved Accessibility Inspector detects and guides you through fixing accessibility issues in your theme. This tool includes the total number of violations and a list of specific components with accessibility issues. For more information, see Adjust a component to meet accessibility standards. Updated reflow feature ensures the content within the Component Editor view automatically adjusts when the screen size is reduced. This improvement eliminates the need for horizontal scrolling.
Yokohama	Adjust the Unified Navigation component to meet accessibility standards The Accessibility Inspector, which detects and guides you through fixing contrast issues in your theme, now includes accessibility errors for the Unified Navigation component and subcomponents.
Zurich	Upload custom font The ability to upload custom fonts to your theme can help users with disabilities in several ways, including: Improved readability: Custom fonts can be selected to enhance readability, making text easier to see, understand, and retain. This is beneficial for users with visual impairments, as clear letter forms reduce eye strain. Support for cognitive differences: Custom fonts can address cognitive accessibility needs. For instance, users with dyslexia or Attention- Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may benefit from fonts that reduce reading strain and improve information processing. Improved globalization support: Custom fonts tailored to specific languages improve the readability for non-Latin alphabets and ensure consistent, accessible user experiences across global audiences. Dark mode in Theme Builder As of version 6.1, Theme Builder is now available in light and dark mode. This option is commonly used to alleviate eye strain and improve readability. Dark mode applies to the Theme Builder interface only and does not affect the appearance of individual themes.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Localization information

If there are specific localization considerations for Theme Builder we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.
Australia	No updates for this release.

Highlight information

If there are specific highlight considerations for Theme Builder we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Washington DC	Edit individual components to better suit your brand and to meet accessibility compliance standards. Work with component-specific theme hooks to create a theme tailored to your needs. See Working with themes in Next Experience for more information.
Xanadu	Achieve your branding and styling needs by offering multiple themes and alternate color palettes to your users. Add a dark alternate color palette to your newly created themes and edit to refine your theme. As of Theme Builder version 4.1, receive notifications about updates directly from the Theme Builder application. As of Theme Builder version 4.1, organize your themes by priority, purpose, or other criteria, by using the drag-and-drop feature in the List view. With this feature, you can publish and order the themes that are displayed in the Next Experience Theme user preference. See Working with themes in Next Experience for more information.
Yokohama	Edit and style the Unified Navigation component to better suit your brand. Make individual style edits on a component by double-clicking it to quickly access the Component Editor. As of Theme Builder version 5.1, customize the colors of empty state illustrations from within Theme Builder. As of Theme Builder version 5.1, use your own custom images by overriding the default empty state illustrations. See Working with themes in Next Experience for more information.
Zurich	Zurich Patch 9 Beginning with Zurich Patch 9, upload brand guidelines as a PDF to the theme creation workflow in the Now Assist panel to generate themes that align with your brand. Zurich Patch 7 As of Zurich Patch 7, use Now Assist to automatically create brand‑aligned themes, then refine and publish them in Theme Builder. Publish the new Next Experience Coral theme from Theme Builder. Add custom fonts to your theme for enhanced branding. As of Theme Builder version 6.1, configure modal, tile icon, banner, and card colors, and override these default illustrations with your own custom imagery. As of Theme Builder version 6.1, enable dark mode to improve usability of Theme Builder in low-light conditions. See Working with themes for more information.
Australia	Generate color palettes instantly by uploading a brand image and let our AI theme generator automatically detect your brand colors. Customize fonts by category and adjust font sizes to scale typography across specific component categories like headers, buttons, and form fields, or by size groups for consistent styling. Access the new icon library to configure and override default icons using custom assets. See Working with themes for more information.