# What's new for operators (CBX 4)

> For shop managers and staff who build products and run the store in the CBX backend. This is the "what's better / what looks different" overview. For the con…

Source: CBX documentation, version 3.x (released). Canonical page: https://docs.configbox.at/docs/migration-to-cb4/whats-new-for-operators. Last updated 2026-08-25.

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For shop managers and staff who build products and run the store in the CBX backend. This is the
"what's better / what looks different" overview. For the concrete relearn ("this button moved, this word
changed"), see the retraining brief: [operators-what-changed.md](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/migration-to-cb4/operators-what-changed).

> **This page is about the jump to 4.0.** For what has been built *since* — new admin screens, the
> payment ledger, the on-screen help, the AI assistant — see
> **[Latest features](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/features/latest/)**, and
> [the admin](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/features/latest/admin-experience) in particular. That set is cut by *surface*
> rather than by audience, so it is a different read, not a continuation of this one.

## Dark mode in the admin

- The CBX backend now follows your Joomla admin **light / dark / auto** setting. If you switch the
  Joomla administrator template to dark (or "auto", which follows your operating system), CBX's
  screens go dark with it — menus, forms, lists, the calculation and rule editors, dropdowns.
- Nothing to configure inside CBX; it picks up the admin template's choice.
- No change to how anything *works* — same screens, same buttons, just readable in dark.

## Answers are simpler to build

The biggest change you'll feel: the old split between a **global "Options" library** and **assigning**
those options to questions is gone. Now:

- Each question simply has its **Answers**, edited right there. One editor, one place.
- There is **no separate "Options" menu item** and **no "assign an existing option / Reused Answer"** step.
- Every answer is **independent**: its title, price, SKU, image and settings belong to that answer in that
  question. Editing an answer changes only that answer.

**What this means in practice:** it's more straightforward — you no longer manage a shared library and worry
about "editing this option changes it in every question that uses it." The trade-off: if you previously
reused one option across many questions, those are now separate answers; changing all of them means editing
each (see the retraining brief and the note for decision makers about the one-time upgrade).

## Everything else is where it was

Products, pages, questions, calculations, rules, orders, customers, currencies, tax, shipping, payment,
reviews, notifications, the dashboard — all unchanged in layout and behaviour. Your saved products, carts,
and orders are unaffected by the upgrade.

## For technical staff / deploys

New command-line tools exist for administrators managing the install (clearing caches, applying updates,
reading/writing settings) — see the developer/CLI docs. These are for technical staff, not day-to-day shop
operation.
