RELEASE DATE: JUNE 30, 2026
Key Changes at a Glance
🚀 New Features
- Inclusion of a new database — legacy projects will be copied across to the new database on installation.
- Mac binary signing — The Mac binary now identifies WIPO as the publisher so there should be no more issues with installing WIPO Sequence
- Inclusion of WIPO Sequence Validator - WIPO Sequence now includes WIPO Sequence Validator inside it! The generate report after validating your sequence listing will be identical to that produced by patent Offices
⚙️ Improvements
- Extended bulk edit functionalities resulting in less repetitive actions when annotating your sequences
- Enhanced navigation within a project, including a new 'jump to' functionality
- Extended warnings, including for short sequences and for the use of 1-letter codes when defining amino acids
- Improved performance in terms of time taken to import, validate and generate!
🐞 Bug Fixes
- Fixed issue causing red banners to appear or irregular crashes
- Resolved errors in the Import Report
Detailed Changes
Improvements
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| ST26T-3054 | Automatic addition of mandatory qualifiers to feature keys once they are created |
| St26T-3056 | Extension of the bulk edit functionality to bulk add multiple copies of the same feature to a single SEQ ID |
| ST26T-3053 | Extension of the bulk edit functionality to a bulk “unskip” a range of SEQ IDs |
| ST26T-3496 | Improvement of the bulk edit functionality to allow the feature location to be left blank |
| ST26T-3331/ST26T-3510 | Provision of a warning message in the verification report which details sequences which do not meet the minimum length requirement and which will not appear in the sequence listing |
| ST26T-3479 | Provision of a "jump to" a particular SEQ ID, located near the page navigation at the bottom of the sequence summary table |
| ST26T-3461 | Bulk import of multiple FASTA sequences located in a single file |
| ST26T-3545 | Provision of a tool-tip which indicates 1-letter codes must be used and is always visible when the residues are being edited |
| ST26T-2938 | A validation status being set for each sequence. This means that if a sequence is not edited, then it will not be checked again |
| ST26T-2443 | Sorting of feature locations, after the 'source' feature in accordance with the INSDC requirements: the source feature should always remain on the top and the other features are ordered by location walking the strand from 5' to 3' (likewise for AA) |
| ST26T-2987/ST26T-3086/ST26T-2957 | Certain verification rules regarding sequences are now grouped together into a single message in the verification report. For instance, rules regarding the use of lowercase for nucleotide sequences and uppercase for amino acid sequences. |
Bugs
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| ST26T-2873 | TAB character is not detected in InventionTitle, ApplicantName, InventorName, ApplicantNameLatin, InventorNameLatin during validation process |
| ST26T-2900 | Event Viewer errors when launching WIPO Sequence |
| ST26T-2902 | In a project, the PDF resulting form clicking the Print button contains a wrong priority date and filing date (it reduces the day by 1) |
| ST26T-2946 | Instances where SEQ ID assigned after import is not consecutive |
| ST26T-2851 | Language Dependent Qualifiers page cannot be loaded when project contains more than ~12.700 language dependent qualifiers |
| ST26T-3003 | 'Frequency' not being treated as a language dependent free text qualifier |
| ST26T-2993 | Wrong verification rule applied for circular_RNA qualifier |
| ST26T-2972 | No error thrown when DOCTYPE declaration include random characters at the end |
| ST26T-2895 | When pop-up for new person or organization appears, selecting 'no' can freeze the tool |
| ST26T-3052 | Verification rule for invalid translation qualifier value not always triggering |
| ST26T-3067 | Bulk Edit only affects the first 20 sequences of a range |
| ST26T-3089 | Cannot bulk delete more than 20 sequences at once |
| ST26T-3462 | Certificate issue in Mac OSX (Error message "WIPO Sequence" cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified") |
| ST26T-3564 | Priority date decreased by one day when importing projects created in one time zone, into a WIPO Sequence instance located in another time zone |
| ST26T-3542 | Error after installing WIPO Sequence Tool in unsupported Mac Version - uncaught exception |
| ST26T-3545 | No warning regarding the 1-letter code for amino acid being expected - tool tips should indicate that only amino acid symbols in one letter code are expected |
| ST26T-3521 | Changing the default language change from Russian to English does not change the language of UI |
| ST26T-3393 | Some rules which should trigger when there is an incorrect qualifier for a particular feature key are not triggering |
| ST26T-3598 | When language code is missing or incorrect, the language code is not always returned as part of the verification message |
| ST26T-3364 | Not possible to save a sequence after unchecking "mark as internationally skipped sequence" |
Upgrade/Installation Notes
In order to upgrade to version 3.1.2, when you open WIPO Sequence you will see an auto-update pop-up box. Please agree to continue with the upgrade and WIPO Sequence will initiate the new installer. The new installation package will also be available on the WIPO website at: https://www.wipo.int/en/web/standards/sequence/index
During installation, you will be prompted to copy across existing projects to the new database. This will happen automatically if you click next. Note that these existing projects in the old database will not be deleted, allowing you to rollback to version 2.3.0.
While we are providing an improved release of WIPO Sequence, the version 2.3.0 installer will remain on the WIPO website until December 31, 2026 in order to ensure a smooth transition to the new version.
Important Notes
Known issues, both those resolved and existing, are available on the Knowledge Base at: Known Issues and trouble-shooting Note: Workarounds are provided for the majority of known issues.
Supported platforms
We have conducted testing on the following distributions:
- Windows 10 Enterprise edition 22H2
- Windows 11 Enterprise edition 25H2
- macOS Sequoia 15.4.1
- Ubuntu 24.05.5
💡 For detailed instructions relating to the new functionalities of the tool, refer to: https://www.wipo.int/en/web/standards/sequence/user-manual
Experiencing Issues?
Contact us at WIPO by emailing wiposequence@wipo.int