CKEditor 5 v47.4.0 Release Highlights: Improvements for Tables, Email Layouts and more
This release makes table structures easier to work with, improves how the editor interprets image alignment from existing HTML, and tightens email layouts compatibility for older email clients.
Under the hood, v47.4.0 introduces a new experimental option for working with table header cells, adds an editing-time visualization for hidden table borders, and expands the Email Editing inline-styles tooling for more reliable rendering in older versions of Outlook. The release also includes several smaller improvements across CKEditor AI and updates Emoji dataset availability on the CDN.
Tables
Experimental support for table header cells
Some workflows require more complex table structures than “data cells only,” particularly when users need to build tables with real header rows and columns. In v47.4.0, an experimental tableCellTypeSupport flag allows changing a cell between a standard data cell and a header cell (th). This gives teams more control over how tables are authored and stored, without forcing custom handling outside the editor.
If you want to try it, enable the flag as described in the update guide and evaluate it against your content model and output requirements.
Visualize table structure even when borders are hidden
Tables with no visible borders often look clean in published content, but they can be difficult to edit, especially when authors need to understand the structure at a glance. CKEditor 5 v47.4.0 introduces config.table.showHiddenBorders, enabled by default, which draws dashed helper borders in the editing view when inline styles hide the borders (for example border: none or border-style: none applied to table or cell elements).
Email editing
Email HTML is unforgiving, and Outlook clients in particular have limited CSS support. This release improves Outlook compatibility with a new inline-styles transformation, resulting in more reliable rendering of resized inline images in older Outlook environments.
For block images, the optional useFigureToTableFallback flag in the email inline-styles transformers can replace figures with tables to improve alignment and width handling in older email clients. This option is intended for teams targeting broad email-client coverage where table-based layout remains the most dependable approach.
Export with Inline Styles is available as an add-on in the Essential, Professional, and Custom plans.
Start a 14-day free trial or contact us to learn more.
Other updates and improvements
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CKEditor now recognizes CSS
floatstyles on images (such asstyle="float: left"orstyle="float: right") and applies them to the corresponding image. This applies to both inline and block images and is especially useful when loading legacy content or pasting from external sources where alignment is expressed through floats. If your integration defines custom image styles, those will continue to take precedence over float-based mapping so existing style systems remain in control. -
CKEditor AI received multiple usability and stability fixes, including improved tooltips for web search sources in AI Chat, proper handling of Quick Actions when opening the AI Chat panel, resolved loading state issues in the AI Review sidebar, and others.
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The Emoji plugin can now be used with the Emoji v17.0 dataset, available on the CKEditor CDN. This does not change the default emoji version used by CKEditor, but gives integrators an updated dataset option where needed.
Old installation methods sunset
With the move to the new installation methods, the old installation methods will only be supported up to CKEditor 5 v48.0.0, currently planned for release in early Q2 2026. If your project still relies on the older approach, now is the right time to either migrate to the new setup or consider CKEditor 5 Long Term Support (LTS) if a near-term migration is not feasible.
You can find a detailed timeline on the dedicated GitHub issue.
