What is new in SnapGene 8.1?
SnapGene 8.1.0 was released on May 21, 2025. See the release notes for a summary of all changes and improvements.
Interface Changes
Access the Home View
To access the "Home" screen in SnapGene 8.1 or later, click the Home button at the top of the SnapGene main window.
Forget Open Tabs on Restart
In SnapGene 8.1 we provide a new preference that allows SnapGene to alway start with an empty workspace. See this article for more details – Set Project and Tab Behavior When SnapGene Restarts.
Updated Enzymes View
In SnapGene 8.1 we have updated the Enzymes view to match the SnapGene 8.0 Features and Primers views. See this article for more details – SnapGene 8.1 – Changes to Enzymes View.
Updated Secondary Structure view
In SnapGene 8.1 we have updated the Secondary Structure viewer to align with the SnapGene 8.0 Features and Primers views. See this article for more details – View the Predicted Secondary Structure of Single Stranded Sequences.
Updated Project Search
In SnapGene 8.1 we have improved the Project search tool. Search results update automatically if files are modified or moved, either in SnapGene, or in the OS File Explorer/macOS Finder. You can now perform "bulk actions" directly on search results. See this article for more details – Searching a Project folder.
New Color Options
Quick Switching Between Light Dark Modes
Click the "Settings" button in the top toolbar and choose Appearance to quickly switch between Light and Dark modes. See this article for more details – Configure Dark Mode and Background Color.
Protein and Nucleotide Color Schemes
In SnapGene 8.1 we have added the ability to color protein and nucleotide sequences with additional color schemes. See these articles for more details – Show, Hide or Set Protein Colors. and Show, Hide or Set DNA or RNA Colors.
Side Toolbar Button Coloring
A new preference is available to show colorful side toolbar buttons. See this article for more details – Use Colorful Side Toolbar Icons.
Navigation and Data Management
Changes to the Side Panel
In SnapGene 8.1 all open files are now shown in the left side panel. Any open files not contained within the open Project folder are listed under "OTHER OPEN FILES".
Select any combination of files or folders in the side panel to perform"bulk actions". See this article for more details – Bulk Actions in SnapGene.
Focus On Region (previously called Zoom)
In SnapGene 8.1 we have reinstated the Zoom button, which has been renamed the "Focus on Region" button. This button is available in Map and Sequence view for sequences over 10,000 bp in length. See this article for more details – Focus on Region (previously called Zoom).
You can access the "Focus on Region" controls for any length sequence via menu View → Focus on Region, or using keyboard hot keys (command-option + or command-option z, macOS, CTRL-ALT + or CTRL-ALT z, Windows and Linux)
