Preview CiviCRM’s upgrade alerts

Here’s a nice tool that will help you get ready for your next CiviCRM upgrade: CiviCRM Upgrade Message Previewer.

How does this make upgrades easier?

Upgrades in CiviCRM will sometimes present you with alert messages that need a little extra thought — and sometimes need a little extra action.

Normally, the first time you encounter these messages is while you’re in the middle of an upgrade. That is, after you’ve already loaded the newest CiviCRM code files on your site.

Considering that some of these messages call for additional action on your part, it can help a lot to know what to expect ahead of time, so you can be ready.

How does it work?

Just tell it your current CiviCRM version, the version you’ll be upgrading to, and your CMS (Drupal, WordPress, etc.), and click the button.

You’ll get a full list of the pre-upgrade and post-upgrade messages you can expect to see in that upgrade, including helpful descriptions and links to additional documentation when it’s relevant.

Shouldn’t I see these messages when I upgrade my sandbox site?

Yes! If you’re making the extra effort to upgrade a sandbox copy of your live site first — as a test before actually upgrading you’re live site — that’s great! It’s the recommended practice.

And when you do that, you’ll see these same messages. Since the site is just a sandbox copy and not your actual live site, you’ll have time to react to those messages.

But for folks who still have a hard time building a sandbox copy of their site, that kind of prevew workflow is not an easy option.

All the best,
A.