We are glad to announce that FieldWorks version 8.3.9 is being released. This version fixes some serious problems we have seen with version 8.3.8.


As of this release, XP is no longer supported. This is due to some of the changes made so FLEx will work with Paratext 8.

FieldWorks for Windows will work with Paratext 8. FieldWorks for Linux will have to wait until version 9 to support Paratext 8.

Most machines already have .Net 4.6.1 installed. But, especially on Windows 8/8.1, this may need to be installed for the Paratext 8 interface to work.

After upgrading to this version, the data will not open in any version prior to 8.3.3, so make a backup before upgrading. If you are sharing data with others, the entire team should use a version of FieldWorks with the same data model. For more specifics about version 8.3 and the changes made, see the release notes.

Bugs fixed since 8.3.8

  • LT-18329 Preserve glosses when focusing sandbox when there is an analysis but no gloss.
  • LT-18313 Fix “FieldWorks has stopped working” bug in Try a Word parser.
  • LT-18294 Relation abbreviation and name configuration order no longer ignored.
  • LT-18267 Fix and preserve some font attributes.
  • LT-18270 Give a better message when a dictionary configuration part cannot be migrated.
  • LT-18390 Fix SFM import of restrictions.
  • LT-18256 Fix problem where reversals were lost when changing a writing system.
  • LT-18324 Fix crash displaying tree relations between senses.
  • LT-18171 Fix crash in the dictionary view when an SFM import has created an invalid file link.
  • LT-17408 Fix concordance search hiding the first character with Right-to-left writing systems.
  • LT-18304 Fix refresh problem when deleting an entry and attempting to view it in the Configure Dictionary dialog box.
  • LT-18344 Fix that some projects wouldn’t open in version 8.3.8.
  • LT-18413 Fix duplicate nodes crash when migrating from version 8.1.4.
  • LT-18395 DB4O/fwdb sharing works in version 8.3.9.
  • LT-17880 Special characters & and < are now allowed in custom list names.
  • LT-18462 Paratext 8 now works with FieldWorks for Windows.
  • LT-18460 Fix the Wasta 16 package so that a fresh install should work.
  • LT-2352 Improve SFM import preview.
  • LT-18450 Speed up merging .fwlayout files with custom fields.
  • LT-18470 Referenced Headwords now show up under Reversal Subentries.
  • LT-18489 Correct adding subcategories from catalog.
  • LT-18519 Morpheme ad hoc rules in a group are now passed to XAmple.