QGIS 4.0 New Features: First QGIS 4 Release

Introduction

QGIS 4.0 “Norrköping” was released on March 6, 2026. It is the first release of the QGIS 4.0 series. The biggest highlight is the move to the Qt6 framework, but the release also includes more than 100 other updates.

The article below covers the key points of updating to QGIS 4.0 and what to watch for when you migrate, so read it as well.

This article picks out the main new features from the changelog for version 4.0.

User interface

New design for the welcome page

QGIS 4.0 introduces a new welcome page. The layout is cleaner and easier to use.

Create your own toolbars and menus

QGIS has so many features that it has a lot of menu items, and it can be hard to find the one you need. Version 4.0 lets you add and customize your own menus and toolbars with the features you use most, so you can get to the operation you want quickly.

Data management and creation

Double-click the attribute table to zoom to a feature

In the attribute table, double-click the left side of a row to zoom to that feature on the map. It is a simple feature, but before version 4.0 you had to click the Zoom map to the selected rows button every time. This improvement makes data exploration smoother.

Bézier curves

In earlier versions, you could digitize curves with many vertices or circular arcs, but fine adjustment of a curve took effort. In version 4.0, as in common graphic design tools, you can fine-tune curves as Bézier curves.

Click and drag to add a point with handles, and Alt+click to reset a point's handles.

Symbology

Placement modes for curved labels

Curved labels get new placement modes that give you finer control over the position of the text. These options appear when you set curved label placement on a line layer.

The new modes are as follows.

• Default
• Characters at Vertices
• Stretch Character Spacing
• Stretch Word Spacing (for example, QGIS New Version → QGIS  New  Version)

New annotation selection tool

QGIS lets you add annotations to the map. With the annotation selection tool, you can select, move, delete, resize, and rotate annotation items intuitively. Toggle multiple selection with the Shift key, and work with items easily using the mouse.

Print layouts

Legend layer synchronization

QGIS 4.0 reworks the layer settings for print layout legends. It removes the Auto update checkbox and adds a combo box where you choose one of three synchronization modes (Synchronize to All Project Layers, Synchronize to Visible Layers, or Manual).

The Update All action is replaced by a Reset function that restores the legend settings according to the selected mode.

Chart items

With the new layout chart item, you can display charts and graphs that visualize your data directly when you create a print layout. This makes it possible to produce richer printed materials that combine maps with statistics.

Clip by atlas polygons

In this version, when you enable an atlas, you can clip other layers using each polygon shape of the layer you specify. You can easily clip imagery or a background map polygon by polygon.

3D

Highlight identified features in 3D views

QGIS now supports highlighting of vector features in 3D views. A polygon feature you select in Identify mode appears with a semi-transparent overlay, as in the 2D map canvas.

Show annotation layers in 3D views

3D views can now display annotation layers as panels (3D billboards). This lets you visualize text annotations effectively in 3D space.

Processing

Name temporary output layers

You can now name the temporary output layers that Processing algorithms generate. This makes output layers easier to manage, for example when you run the same algorithm several times.

Algorithm to convert to Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF

Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) is a GeoTIFF format optimized for use in cloud storage. QGIS 4.0 adds an algorithm that converts existing raster data to COG. This makes it easier to publish large datasets and to display them smoothly on the web.

New network analysis algorithms

Two new algorithms help you validate networks.

• The Validate network algorithm identifies data and topology errors that can affect network analysis tools such as shortest path.
• The Extract network end points algorithm extracts the end points from a network line layer.

Conclusion

In addition to various improvements that make QGIS easier to use, QGIS 4.0 “Norrköping” adds new algorithms for data analysis.

QGIS 4.0 has many more new features than the ones covered here. See the changelog for details.

Install QGIS 4.0 and try these new features for yourself.

Data sources

• ©︎OpenStreetMap contributors
• GSI vector tiles