With 26.1, OpenText is giving you something concrete: Python‑based automation, AI‑assisted verification, and cloud labs that fit into your existing CI/CD. This turns functional testing from a separate QA activity into a shared capability that developers, SDETs, and testers can all contribute to.
For years, functional tests lived in specialised scripting languages. Automation ownership sat primarily with QA. Execution often depended on Windows machines running outside the delivery pipeline. Modern software delivery does not work that way anymore.
OpenText Functional Testing 26.1 (the new name for UFT One) reflects a continued shift away from that older model.
This release pushes functional automation toward modern languages, broader platform coverage, and AI-assisted testing that fits more naturally into contemporary engineering workflows.
Instead of being the VBScript GUI tool on a Windows box in QA, Functional Testing is increasingly positioned as a testing platform that integrates with modern pipelines, developer tooling, and cloud-based execution environments.
Critically, this is not a single-product story. OpenText Functional Testing 26.1 is a coordinated release across four key products:
- OpenText Functional Testing (formerly UFT One): The Windows desktop automation platform and AI-powered functional testing
- OpenText Functional Testing for Developers (formerly UFT Developer): Developer-centric testing tools with IDE integration
- OpenText Functional Testing Lab for Mobile and Web (formerly UFT Digital Lab): Cloud-based browser and device labs
- OpenText Core Software Delivery Platform Functional Testing module: Cloud-based and AI-powered functional testing
Each product addresses a different execution model, but they converge on the same strategic themes: modern languages (Python), AI assistance, cross-platform reach, cloud execution, and covering the widest range of technologies and applications.
From UFT One to OpenText Functional Testing
The rebrand from UFT One to OpenText Functional Testing signals a broader platform strategy rather than a simple name change. What was once viewed primarily as a desktop automation tool now sits within a broader ecosystem of testing capabilities spanning different roles, platforms, and execution models.
Today, the platform addresses functional testing across several dimensions:
- GUI and API automation
- Desktop, web, and mobile applications
- Tester-centric and developer-centric workflows
- On-premises environments and cloud/browser labs
Python Arrives: Modernising the Scripting Story
The headline change in 26.1 is the addition of Python scripting support alongside existing options, currently available in beta.
For years, VBScript defined how people thought about UFT. Python changes that perception immediately.
Strategically, Python support means:
- Teams can use a language that developers and SDETs already know, making it easier to share automation ownership.
- New test suites can be built in Python while existing assets continue to run, allowing gradual modernisation rather than disruptive rewrites.
- Functional Testing fits more naturally into contemporary CI/CD ecosystems, where Python already has a strong presence.
Automation no longer has to live in its own VBScript bubble. It can become a more natural part of a broader engineering toolchain.
The beta status means certain features are not yet supported; keyword view, active screen, recovery scenarios, business process testing, and robotic process automation remain VBScript-only for now. However, the core automation capabilities are fully functional
Making UI Automation Less Fragile
One of the most persistent complaints about UI automation is fragility. Minor UI changes break locators, maintenance costs rise, and teams end up spending more time repairing tests than expanding coverage.
Several improvements in 26.1 address that problem directly.
- The UIA Pro Add-in moves into full support, providing a stronger object model for Windows desktop applications along with improved object discovery and interaction performance.
- At the same time, new locator capabilities such as traverse-style navigation and relative object paths give teams more stable ways to identify UI elements. Instead of relying on brittle direct locators, tests can anchor themselves to parts of the interface that change less frequently.
- Browser testing also gains more realistic execution options, including support for incognito or profile-based sessions, headless execution, and updated WebDriver compatibility. These capabilities allow automated tests to more closely mirror real user behaviour while running more reliably in CI pipelines.
The goal is pragmatic: fewer flaky tests, less locator maintenance, and more time spent expanding meaningful coverage.
AI Helping With the Repetitive Work
AI in 26.1 appears less as a headline feature and more as a quiet background assistant. It’s focused on reducing the mechanical work involved in maintaining UI automation, not on replacing test design.
Several Core Software Delivery Platform Functional Testing module capabilities illustrate this direction:
- Smart Verify can validate entire screens or flows using AI, reducing the need to write dozens of individual assertions for layout and content (requires Aviator license).
- Improved text recognition combines OCR and DOM-based text detection, making AI-assisted object identification more reliable.
- Model-based testing enhancements simplify how behavioural models are created and maintained, allowing teams to define flows at a higher level and let the tool generate the underlying automation (requires Aviator license).
The pattern is consistent: allow AI to absorb some of the brittle, repetitive work so testers and developers can focus on intent, coverage, and risk.
Developers and Cloud Labs Become First-Class Citizens
Alongside the classic Windows client, OpenText continues to evolve the Functional Testing portfolio with provide shift-left and scalable cloud solutions..
The emphasis here is clear: functional automation must not be limited to QA specialists or isolated tooling, and two developments stand out.
- Developer-friendly environments continue to expand. Support for tools like Visual Studio Code, along with cross-platform execution on Windows, macOS, and Linux, makes it more realistic for developers using OpenText Functional Testing for Developers to contribute automated tests as part of their normal workflow and using the languages and environments they already work in (.NET, Java, JavaScript).
- Cloud-based testing environments are becoming central. Expanded browser and device coverage in OpenText Functional Testing Lab for Mobile and Web, andCore Software Delivery Platform Functional Testing module, including macOS and Safari environments, allows teams to run realistic cross-platform tests without maintaining physical device farms.
Together, these changes move functional automation out of a QA-only corner and into the broader software delivery platform, whether that delivery model is on-premises, hybrid, or fully cloud-based.
What This Means in Practice
OpenText Functional Testing 26.1 is less about a list of new capabilities and more about the continued repositioning of functional automation.
- Language modernisation through Python lowers the barrier for developer participation and provides a migration path from legacy VBScript automation.
- Improved locator strategies and desktop support target the long-standing fragility of UI automation.
- AI-assisted verification and model-based testing help reduce the maintenance burden that slows automation programs over time.
- Developer tooling and cloud labs bring functional testing closer to the heart of modern delivery pipelines, with cross-platform authoring and cloud execution environments that reduce infrastructure overhead.
For existing UFT users, 26.1, the addition of Python scripting gives a new option, alongside the current VBScript approach.
For teams evaluating automation platforms, the direction is clear.
Functional automation is moving away from isolated GUI scripting and toward shared engineering tooling that fits directly into modern pipelines.
OpenText Functional Testing 26.1 is a step in that transition and is a significant evolution of a toolset that can test every aspect of your business.
To find out more, contact us today!
