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jsavage77
Inspiring
January 23, 2014
Answered

Can I change Illustrator's Script folder location?

  • January 23, 2014
  • 4 replies
  • 4557 views

Is it possible to change the location of where illustrator looks for scripts, or is it possible to add a location?

Correct answer timeshifting

Yes, easy... use a ntfs junction (windows) or symlink (mac). I can confirm this works on Windows, and should do also on Mac OS.

On a Window machine with CS6, the process would be:

1. make a folder inside your dropbox for the scripts, e.g. "C:\Users\Matt\Dropbox\Illustrator Scripts"  (where Matt is your username)

2. rename the original scripts folder to "Scripts.old" or similar, it's located in "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS6 (64 Bit)\Presets\en_GB"  (where CS6 and en_GB match your version and locale)

3. run the command prompt with administrator rights

4. change into the Illustrator presets folder, e.g. "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS6 (64 Bit)\Presets\en_GB"

5. create the junction point, e.g.  mklink /j "Scripts" "C:\Users\Matt\Dropbox\Illustrator Scripts"

6. The root of the Illustrator scripts menu will now be C:\Users\Matt\Dropbox\Illustrator Scripts

The process should be very similar on the mac.

HTH

4 replies

T
timeshiftingCorrect answer
Participating Frequently
January 28, 2014

Yes, easy... use a ntfs junction (windows) or symlink (mac). I can confirm this works on Windows, and should do also on Mac OS.

On a Window machine with CS6, the process would be:

1. make a folder inside your dropbox for the scripts, e.g. "C:\Users\Matt\Dropbox\Illustrator Scripts"  (where Matt is your username)

2. rename the original scripts folder to "Scripts.old" or similar, it's located in "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS6 (64 Bit)\Presets\en_GB"  (where CS6 and en_GB match your version and locale)

3. run the command prompt with administrator rights

4. change into the Illustrator presets folder, e.g. "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS6 (64 Bit)\Presets\en_GB"

5. create the junction point, e.g.  mklink /j "Scripts" "C:\Users\Matt\Dropbox\Illustrator Scripts"

6. The root of the Illustrator scripts menu will now be C:\Users\Matt\Dropbox\Illustrator Scripts

The process should be very similar on the mac.

HTH

J
jsavage77Author
Inspiring
January 28, 2014

Thanks timeshiftingnz! This is exactly what I need!

Silly-V
Silly-V
Legend
January 25, 2014

There is a plugin called "Script Bay" which lets you load a custom palette with scripts from all kinds of locations and they become kind of like buttons in the actions palette.  And I think it lets you make edits and test your scripts while in AI.  However, when I just installed it and attempted to run it, trying to add a script folder kept crashing my CS5.  (O_o)

J
jsavage77Author
Inspiring
January 27, 2014

I've tried scriptbay before and it's been very buggy for me. I'm not sure it's been updated in a while either as the web site is talking about CS5...

M
Muppet Mark
Inspiring
January 24, 2014

Scripts use trusted locations. While it may be possible to do some work arounds why are you wanting to do this?

J
jsavage77Author
Inspiring
January 27, 2014

@WJT, thank you for referencing that post.  I can not seem to locate any of the files they are talking about, maybe they've changed some things in CC?

@MuppetMark, I'd like to sync the scripts folder with an online cloud service like dropbox so that anytime I update a script it will roll out to all my client machines.

W
W_J_T
Inspiring
January 27, 2014

jsavage77 wrote:

@WJT, thank you for referencing that post.  I can not seem to locate any of the files they are talking about, maybe they've changed some things in CC?

I am not a Captive Creative member so I don't know about any changes that may have been made. They probably made it so users could no longer do things, unless you pay extra. (ha, ha) ;-)

jsavage77 wrote:

I'd like to sync the scripts folder with an online cloud service like dropbox so that anytime I update a script it will roll out to all my client machines.

You can use an #include to access a location across a network drive (central location), not sure if that would help you. No idea if something such as dropbox or the like would be possible however, or how.

W
W_J_T
Inspiring
January 24, 2014

Not sure if it is possible from what I have seen. But I could be un/misinformed. ;-)

You can have a slug script per say, that is merely used as a reference file, that uses an #include statement to reference a script location.

// Example:
#include /origPath/subPath/continuedPath/blahBlah/fileLocation/scriptName.js

I did also see the following, which talks about going in and manually altering presets, which may be an option but not too simple to maintain perhaps. If it does work let us know.

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4753174

Hope something proves useful, keep us posted.

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