Primo VE May 2026 Release Notes

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Announcements

Temporary Result-Limit Due to High Traffic

Due to increased automated (bot) traffic causing slowness and potential service disruptions, a temporary limit of 500 results has been introduced in the April and May releases. This immediate action helps maintain system stability. After reaching this limit, users will see this message: “Please refine your search.”

A full solution, enabling authenticated users to view additional results beyond the limit, is planned for the June release.

What's New in May?

To download the slides for this presentation, select PDF.

August Sneak Preview

Authority Search field configuration
Custom normalization rules for key search fields
CERV #28298: Support the use of wildcards in phrase searching with quotation marks
Library Facet to include electronic resources
Continue NDE UI feature delivery

Features

Prioritizing Online Services in Discovery Based on Current Year Access

May 2026 Alma Resource Management CERV CERV Enhancement (ID#36385) URM-318110

The Additional Settings section on the Online Services Order configuration page (Configuration Menu > Fulfillment > Discovery Interface Display Logic > Online Services Order) now includes a new configuration option: Prefer services with current year access. This enables institutions to prioritize services with coverage dates within the current calendar year. By default this setting is turned off. When enabled, Alma pushes the current year access resources (according to the portfolio's coverage and embargo definitions in the current year) to the top of the list. This takes priority over all the other criteria.

The "Prefer services with current year access" option.

Prefer services with current year access

For Consortia, Network Zone services with current access are prioritized together with Institution Zone services with current access.

For more information, see ViewIt.

NDE UI - Landing Page Configurations

May 2026URM-317720 CERV CERV Enhancement (ID#28360)

The Primo NDE UI now offers an easy way to configure the NDE landing page. Institutions can either use the current customization package option or they can select Enable configuration (Discovery > Display Configuration > Configure Views > [select a view to edit] > Landing Page tab) to change their landing page. Customization for all other pages is still controlled by the customization package.

The option to enable the landing page configuration.

Landing Page - Enable configuration

Configuration-based approach: easy, dynamic, no HTML code required, handling, multi-language support
- This feature can be used dynamically. For example, institutions can choose to enable the “Announcement” section during their semester break, announce holidays with a specific message, and then disable it when it's no longer relevant.
HTML customization: use the existing customization package to maintain full control, including complete layout replacement

Webinar follow-up questions:

The NDE landing page configuration makes it easy to create and update landing page content without code.

In parallel, the customization package should still be used for broader branding and structural elements, such as the header, footer, library logo, and more.

Additionally, even when using the landing page configuration, you can customize icons for quick links using the customization package (e.g., in the assets/icons folder).

For more advanced requirements, customers can combine both approaches:

Use the landing page configuration for layout and content
Extend functionality via the advanced customization package by developing custom components and connecting them to elements on the landing page

Overall, there are multiple flexible options, and these approaches can work together to support both simple configurations and more advanced customization scenarios.

For more information, see Configuration Changes for the Landing Page.

NDE UI - Voice Search Assistant

May 2026URM-199796

When configured (Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views > General > Use Voice Search), the NDE UI now supports Search by voice.

The option to search by voice.

Search by voice

Additionally, the Search by voice functionality is now available in the ASK ANYTHING NDE UI.

The search by voice option in the ask anything window.

ASK ANYTHING - Search by voice

For more information, see Configuring the Voice Search Assistant.

NDE UI - Topic Overview

May 2026URM-206621

When configured (Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views > General > Highlight reference entry on top), the NDE UI now supports Topic Overview.

The about the topic feature.

NDE: ABOUT THE TOPIC

For more information, see Configuring the Display of Reference Entries for Topic Overviews.

NDE UI - Export All Action

May 2026URM-230141

The NDE UI now supports the Export All action for signed-in users.

The Export Actions (Discovery > Display Configuration > Configure Views > Brief Record Display > Record Actions/NDE Record Actions) must be Active for the Export All Results option to be displayed.

The option to export all references.

Export All

If the export_all_for_user_email_only (Configuration > Discovery > Other > Customer Settings) parameter is set to true, the Send To field is auto-populated with the signed-in user's email address and is not editable. For more information, see the Discovery Customer Settings.

The following codes were added to support customization and translation of the labels in this area:

Code Table

Description

Aria labels (Configuration > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)

Code	Description
nde.aria.exportAll.fileType	Select file type
nde.aria.exportAll.encoding	Select encoding
nde.aria.exportAndSave	Save or export all search results

Results Tile Labels (Configuration > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)

Code	Description
nde.brief.exportAllResultsNew	Export All
nde.brief.saveAndExport	Save and Export All Results
nde.brief.exportAllResultsTitle	EXPORT ALL
nde.brief.exportAllResultsSendTo	Send to
nde.brief.exportFailed	Export request failed. Please try again later.
nde.brief.exportConfirm	Your export request has been sent. An email is sent to you upon completion.
nde.brief.exportAll.tooltip	Export all records (available for signed-in users only).
nde.brief.exportAll.noEmailMessage	Exporting is available only to signed-in users with a defined email address.

For more information, see Using the Export All Results Option.

NDE UI - Patron Default Sort

May 2026URM-233337 CERV CERV Enhancement (ID#8810)

Previously, the default sort for advanced and simple searches was Relevance. With this enhancement, when the parameter enable_patrons_default_sort (Configuration > Discovery > Other > Customer Settings) is set to true (default), and the patron is signed in, the patron's default search Sort by is set to their last selected sort type. For signed-in users, this setting is retained between sessions.

The option to sort a search by specific criteria.

Sort by

This functionality is not applicable to other search types (such as Browse Search and Journal Search).

For more information, see Discovery Customer Settings.

NDE UI - Authority Search

May 2026URM-213717

The NDE UI now supports Authority Searches.

The authority search.

NDE Authority Search

For more information, see Configuring Authority Search for Primo VE.

NDE UI - Controlled Vocabulary

May 2026 URM-228778

The Controlled Vocabulary service is now supported in the NDE UI. This service expands user searches with words and phrases that constitute variations of the search term with the same meaning, thereby increasing the accuracy of the users' searches. For example, if the user enters adhd in the query, Primo also returns results that include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. If the user is interested only in results that include adhd, they can select the just search link to the right of the recommendation to remove the results of the expansion.

Controlled Vocabulary option showing "adhd" expanded to include "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," with the option to just search for "adhd".

Controlled Vocabulary Expansion

For additional information, see Configuring Search Expansion with Controlled Vocabulary for Primo VE; Performing Basic Searches in the NDE UI.

NDE UI - Search Inside Journal

May 2026 URM-241030

The Search Inside option for journals is now supported in the NDE UI. This option enables users to search for articles within a journal, and is available in the Full Display of a journal record. The search is performed on the journal's CDI record, and covers the full text of articles, so that the results locate relevant articles based on their titles and keywords. The search results open in a new window/tab.

In the Original UI, this feature was included in the list of available services in the Full Display of the journal record. In the NDE UI, the feature appears beside the list of services for the journal.

Search Inside feature in the Full Display of a Journal record.

Search Inside Option in a Journal Record

In the NDE UI, the Search Inside feature is enabled by default. It can be disabled by setting the enable_search_inside_journal customer setting to false (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Other > Customer Settings).

For additional information, see Configuring Discovery Views for Primo VE; Configuring Journal Search for the NDE UI.

NDE UI - Expand Results Options

May 2026 URM-319340

A new menu has been created for the Brief Results page: the Expand Results Options menu. The menu contains the following options: Search in Full Text and Expand My Results, and is located above the list of results. These options were previously included in the side filter panel. Moving them to a separate menu makes them more visible to users.

Expand Results Options Menu Open

A new customer setting, expand_results_toggles_visible (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Other > Customer Settings) controls whether the Expand Results Options menu is initially expanded (true) or collapsed (false) when the Brief Results page opens. The label of the menu can be modified and translated in the nde.expandresults.expandOptionsButton label settings (Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels).

The mobile UI was not modified.
In small screens, such as tablets, the menu appears as a button without a label.

These options are also available in the Search Results page when no records are found for the search query.

The Expand Results and Search in Full Text options in the Search Results page when no records were found for the query.

Expand Results and Search in Full Text when No Records Were Returned for a Query

For additional information, see Configuring Search Profiles for Primo VE, Performing Basic Searches in the NDE UI.

NDE UI - Links to Specto Exhibitions

May 2026 URM-242756

Primo VE customers who also subscribe to Specto can include links to Specto exhibitions in the configurations of collections in Alma. When these links exist, Primo VE adds links to these exhibitions to the Collections Lobby page, the Collection page, and in the Full Display of records that are associated with collections that have an exhibition link:

A link to a Specto exhibition can be added to a collection in the collection's configuration (Resources > Manage Inventory > Manage Collections > [Edit the collection]), in the Discovery tab, under Specto Exhibition.

Collection Configuration - Discovery tab with Specto Exhibition settings.

Specto Exhibition Settings

The link appears in the Collections Lobby page as a Go to Exhibition icon ( Link Icon for Specto Exhibition. ), and in the Collection and Full Display pages as a Go to Exhibition button. Selecting the link opens the exhibition in a new window/tab.

Collections Lobby in which one of the collections has a icon link to a Specto exhibition.

Collections Lobby Page with a Collection that Has a Go to Exhibition Icon

Collection page with a link to a Specto exhibition.

Collection Page with a Collection that Has a Go to Exhibition Link

Full Display of a record with a link to to a Specto Exhibition.

Full Display Page with a Go to Exhibition Link

At present, this functionality is supported for collections but not for sub-collections. In the future, support for sub-collections will be added.

For additional information, see Configuring Collection Discovery for the NDE UI. For information about creating exhibitions in Specto, see Exhibition Builder Workflow.

NDE UI - Links to Leganto

May 2026 URM-223254

For Primo VE customers who also subscribe to Leganto, links from the Course Information section of the Full Details page to the user's Leganto reading list are now supported in the NDE UI.

Linked course information in the Full Display.

Course Information with Links to Leganto

The configuration of this feature in NDE is the same as it is in the Original UI. For additional information, see Configuring Course Reserves for Primo VE.

Additional Enhancements

May 2026 URM-325688
Filtering Logic of Dedup Key Generation for c5 Field – Filtering logic was added to the dedup key generation for the c5 field: the c5 key is not created if the field value is shorter than 5 characters or does not contain any digits. For additional information, see Understanding the Dedup and FRBR Processes (Primo VE).
May 2026 Updated 20 May, 2026
This development has been temporarily rolled back, due to a problem in the display of some facets. For additional information, see the June announcement.
Indexing of MARC21 Subfields $0 and $1 – MARC21 subfield $0 is now indexed for search and display for controlled fields. This enables linking by GND ID. Re-indexing is required for this enhancement to be implemented.
May 2026 URM-123601
Improved French Linguistic Support – Query parsing in French now includes French inflections and pluralization.
May 2026 URM-313934
Removal of Non-filing Characters – Non-filing characters are now removed from MARC fields 880 and 245. Re-indexing is required for this enhancement to be implemented.
May 2026 URM-321767
NDE UI - Scroll Bar for Book Chapters and Reviews – In the Full Display, the entire lists of book chapters and book reviews are now included from the outset, with a scrollbar enabling the user to navigate within the lists. In addition, the total number of items in the lists is displayed at the tops of the lists. Previously, only the first few items in each list were initially displayed, and users had to select a Show more button to view additional items. For additional information, see Configuring Contextual Relationships for Primo VE.
May 2026 URM-313751
CSL Style Update – The Citation Style Language (CSL) styles were refreshed from the central repository. The May release includes a snapshot from February 2026.
May 2026 URM-316231
NDE UI - Ongoing Accessibility Improvements – Continued resolution of issues following the second audit by Deque, which was conducted in November.
- More than 50 issues were resolved in the May release. Some of these improvements have been shared via the Known Issues.
- Among the fixes that were implemented:
  - Keyboard Focus – The placement of the keyboard focus during user interaction, content refresh or update, and in certain other cases, was improved.
- Next phase:
  - An additional audit is planned for the end of H1 2026, to validate fixes and post-November updates.

Resolved Issues

May 2026 SF: 08019430 08083253 URM-248593
In some cases, facets were not retrieved. This was fixed. If your facets are not displaying, contact Support to apply the fix.
May 2026 SF: 07732491 07912134 08345920 URM-234315
Previously, the rft.genre attribute only worked for book and bookitem resource types. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 7787589 URM-237135
Updated 25 May 2026
Previously, local records with 699 MARC field were not indexed. This was fixed. NOTE: This fix requires re-indexing.
May 2026 SF: 08098031 07838728 URM-239017
Previously, indexing of Polish/German characters for titles with Hebrew or Arabic language in the MARC 041a field were incorrect. This was fixed. NOTE: This fix requires re-indexing.
May 2026 SF: 7982628 URM-246564
Previously, the author was not populated correctly in the Resource Sharing Request Form. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08153808 07952377 URM-247753
Previously, when editing My Account > Edit Personal details > Address, the form could be saved without including a street address or SMS number. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8116772 URM-306099
Previously, the Send to Print and Email options displayed the code for the Type field in the details section rather than the label. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08102489 08215635 URM-313934
Non-filing characters were removed from 880-245. NOTE: This fix requires re-indexing.
May 2026 URM-316698
Previously, the Title and Author were not populated in the digitization request form for a Book Chapter item level request in the Where to get it from other institutions section. This was fixed. NOTE: Contact support to enable the parameter required for this fix.
May 2026 SF: 7987312 URM-317261
Previously, contextual relationships were not displayed for the value books in the pnx Display/Type field. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8215034 URM-319282
In some cases, the Place in Queue calculation in Primo was incorrect when selecting a specific Terms of Use. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8223232
Updated 25 May 2026URM-320132
Previously, when there were multiple 035 fields in UNIMARC records, the values were concatenated into one C5 Dedup key rather than separate keys. This was fixed. NOTE: This fix requires re-indexing.
May 2026 SF: 08276213 08266948 08266370 08292126 08328584 08336456 URM-320989
Previously, citations were unexpectedly appended with links from the 856 42 field. This was fixed. NOTE: This fix requires re-indexing.
May 2026 SF: 8298232 URM-321911
Previously, the Primo VE active loans count incorrectly displayed the historical loans count in the Fulfillment Network even when the parameter view_historical_loans_in_primo (Configuration Menu > General > General Configuration > Other Settings) was set to false. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8294320 URM-322492
Previously, after authentication, the Research Assistant page was blank until it was manually refreshed. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 7895607 URM-322626
Previously, HTML-tagged URLs in the Collection Discovery description fields were not linked to the correct target URLs. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8338244 URM-323982
Previously, the Patron default sort was not applied to Research Assistant View more results searches. This was fixed.
May 2026 URM-327209 CDI-33233 SF: 08407623
The Research Assistant was not working in Portuguese (PT1). This was fixed.
May 2026
NDE UI - Accessibility - More than 50 accessibility issues raised as part of the second audit by Deque in November 2025 were resolved (see Additional Enhancements, above).
May 2026 SF: 8052565 URM-250115
NDE UI - In the user's Saved Records page, when the user filtered the records by a specific label, if they then removed all the records with that label from the Saved Records, the Saved Records page continued to implement the filter, and thus showed no saved records even when other saved records existed. This was fixed. Now, when this occurs, the filter is automatically reset to All.
May 2026 SF: 8092100 URM-254555
NDE UI - The warning message for guests who attempted to save records was displayed even when the Display Favorites Warning Message for Guest option was not selected in the View's configuration. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08114067 08244118 08288099 08256621 08417273 URM-254646
NDE UI - In the Saved Records page, a record type's code was displayed instead of its label in the list of saved records. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08247794 08120403 08230913 08368433 08412407 URM-313649
NDE UI - The facet names displayed for local fields were normalized when they should not have been. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08127187 08290726 08373091 URM-313666
NDE UI - In the item level display, GES physical items were not aligned correctly with other items. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08200383 08233237 08213748 08277754 08294186 URM-316710
NDE UI - Certain records could not be opened in the Full Display - apparently because they were empty or corrupted. When these records were included in the Brief Results, the Full Display could not be opened for other records in the Brief Results, either. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08213342 08259702 08325883 08345433 08277225 08372286 08256405 URM-316908
NDE UI - Resource-sharing requests were not offered under Extra services on a Service page. This was fixed.
May 2026 URM-317435
NDE UI - When a simple search yielded no results, a link to a newspaper search did not appear on the results page as it should have. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08229506 08253316 08373830 URM-317985
NDE UI - Request options available for holdings with items and holdings without items were not consistent. This was fixed.
May 2026 URM-318506
NDE UI - On mobile devices, the Filter your results > Sort by options had no effect. This was fixed.
May 2026 URM-318823
NDE UI - Resource-type labels for saved records in the Overview section of the User Account were not translated. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08249201 08262392 08292496 08252098 08355577 URM-319354
NDE UI - Database categories were incorrectly sorted for non-English languages. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8258301 URM-319556
NDE UI - HTML tags were not supported for facet labels and the GES Public Note field. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08224410 08295110 08275554 08326340 08393283 URM-320366
NDE UI - Database categories were not displayed when Journal Search was configured with no categories. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8256239 URM-320413
NDE UI - The Filters panel was displayed when there were no results to filter. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8282290 URM-320608
NDE UI - An incorrect label was used for the message that was displayed in the Full Display when a holding had no items for a particular location. The labels used in the original UI in this situation should have been used in the NDE UI, too. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8390967 URM-321166
NDE UI - When the Browse search option was selected twice in a row, the search options were missing when the page opened for the second time. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8265523 URM-321188
NDE UI - When a search was initiated from the Browse search option, and an item was opened in the Full Display from the results, the wrong label (Back to ... browse list) appeared on the Back to results link. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8265519 URM-321243
NDE UI - When an NDE view had Rapido features enabled, the Expand your search option was included in the Browse search area when it should not have been. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8268605 URM-322046
NDE UI - In the Brief Results, in the Summary section, when selecting Read More and then Read Less, the user was not returned to the correct location in the page. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8316033 URM-322600
NDE UI - For local records, hyperlinks in the metadata of the Details section were not displayed in the correct color for the selected theme. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8287280 URM-322890
NDE UI - The Portuguese language code displayed for Portuguese language PT was not correct. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8319478 URM-322930
NDE UI - Under My library, some institution names were not translated. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08256442 08353864 URM-322941
NDE UI - In the Full Display, the Type appeared as a code rather than its description. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08254729 08371999 08409085 08413904 URM-322942
NDE UI - In the Full Display, the Source appeared as a code rather than its description. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08299319 08352561 URM-322981
NDE UI - The Booking Request form displayed the Hold Request description instead of the Booking Request description. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08316427 08384117 08401170URM-323088
NDE UI - In certain cases, holdings information was either incorrect or missing. This was fixed by correcting the holding-identification flow.
May 2026 SF: 8359189 URM-324490
NDE UI - Tooltips did not appear for Main Menu items when navigating through the items using the Tab key. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8321198 URM-324812
NDE UI - For file types not supported by the embedded viewer, the representation link for the digital version did not always use the correct view. Instead, it used an NDE view that failed to open the file. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08359710 08379487 URM-324838
NDE UI - FRBR versions could not be opened from Journal A-Z. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08363540 08360700 08399756 08416181 08423635 08427410 URM-324977
NDE UI - Search results from Journal A-Z were not sorted by alphabetically title as they should have been. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8332835 URM-325066
NDE UI - Did You Mean links were not displayed in the correct color for the selected theme. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08256245 08378113 08367495 08365012 08404365 URM-325518
NDE UI - The Resource Sharing Request form did not include some fields that were configured in Alma as required. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8365284 URM-325660
NDE UI - The Availability line was misaligned in the Hebrew (RTL) interface on smaller screens and mobile devices. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 8372451 URM-325699
NDE UI - Central Package resources (e.g., custom.css) were not used by IZ views with IZ customization packages and active inheritance. This was fixed.
May 2026 SF: 08384290 08423764 URM-326102
NDE UI - Journal Category and Database Category searches were not sorted alphabetically by title as they should have been. This was fixed.
May 2026 URM-326257
NDE UI - In mobile UIs, when there was a single search result, the filter icon still appeared. This was fixed; the filter icon no longer appears in this case.
May 2026 URM-324362
NDE UI - In certain environments, an unnecessary horizontal scroll bar appeared at the bottom of the Brief Results and Full Display pages. This was fixed.