Atto text editor

The Atto text editor will be removed from Moodle and replaced with TinyMCE. The text editor provides a set of buttons and functionalities that allow users to create content in a familiar way. The new editor will still provide similar functionalities and a similar experience.

Deprecated From

Jun 18, 2024

Expected Withdrawal /Final Deprecation Date

Jun 16, 2025

Current Status

Available

Deprecation roadmap

Moodle are working towards retiring the Atto plugin and replacing it with TinyMCE.  Support was dropped in November 2023 (and security fixed will go until end of 2025).

Moodle HQ timeline for retiring Atto (it may change)

From Moodle 4.1:

  • The default editor for new and existing installs is still Atto

  • The legacy version for TinyMCE (TinyMCE 3) is still available

  • TinyMCE 6 is available as an administrator setting, or user preference

Developers are working on creating and/or migrating plugins that were available for Atto to TinyMCE 6. We are planning to work on changes to make it easier to use native TinyMCE plugins too but these are not yet complete and our investigation is not complete.

From Moodle 4.2:

  • the legacy version of TinyMCE has been removed

  • TinyMCE 6 becomes the default editor for new installations of Moodle

  • there is no change to the default editor for existing installs

From Moodle 4.4:

  • TinyMCE 6 will become the default editor for existing installations

From Moodle 4.5:

  • Atto will be removed but can still be installed from the plugins database

From Moodle 4.6:

  • The underlying libraries that Atto uses are planned for removal and it will no longer be possible to use Atto at all.

Developer Forum information

https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=455467

What does it mean?

Myplace will still use the Atto editor until the end of the 24/25 academic year as the default as some of the functionalities are not yet available for TinyMCE.

We believe that Myplace will move to TinyMCE by the start of the 25/26 academic year. Please keep in mind that we may have to change our plans if any majoir issues arise with the Atto editor.

Accessibility

We are aware of a few existing accessibility and usability issues with the Atto editor. As this part of Moodle core, and Moodle has dropped support for the Atto plugin, these are unlikely to be fixed before a the switch to the new editor is completed. We will however ensure that the same issues are not persisted in the TinyMCE.

More info

MDL-77325 Make TinyMCE the default editor for existing installs

MDL-77005 Atto Removal

Discussion about Atto deprecation timeline - Moodle forum