Application Manager shows 'Install' next to apps already installed

[puffmoike]

I have been using CS6 apps as part of a Creative Cloud subscription since not long after CC was released. I have only installed the apps as part of CC.

However my AAM window shows a blue Install link next to apps (eg ID, PS, AI, Acrobat) which I use every day. (You can see ID CS6 in the background of the screengrab below.)

The only two apps which show up as installed are AE (which I downloaded a month or two ago) & LR5 (which I downloaded yesterday) and even that shows a grey 'Installation complete Launch app' message when I've already been using it.

Does this suggest that AAM isnt properly monitoring the update status of my apps?

How can I fix this?

[Jeffrey_A_Wright · Accepted solution]

Puffmokie please see Creative Cloud AAM lists Applications as "Up to Date" when not installed - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/aam-lists-removed-apps-date.html for a solution to your current difficulties.

[puffmoike]

Hi Jeff,

Tried Solution 2 (as it seemed to be the quickest and simplest) and it sort of had the desired effect:

Apps such as PS, ID, AI and Acrobat (which were missing in AAM before) now show up correctly but AE and LR (which were displayed correctly before) have now gone missing.

What should I do now? Can I just ignore it (what happens if I do)? Should I reinstall those two apps? Will the LR database be affected, or will a fresh install recognise it?

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

If they are missing then please double check the system requirements to make sure you meet and exceed the current system requirements.  Lightroom 5 just became available for example so if you were using Windows Vista it would no longer be available.

If you do meet the minimum system requirements then I would recommend you complete the remaining steps in the previously offered document.

[puffmoike]

Jeff, to be clear I have successfully downloaded, installed and use all the apps I've discussed.

All the apps work just fine (on a late-2009 iMac with 32GB of RAM running OS 10.8.3). The only thing that is wonky is AAP. Initially the links next to the listed apps suggested that I had only installed AE and LR and not apps like PS, ID, AI and Acrobat which I use every day.

After removing the OPM.db file AAM now thinks I have installed PS, ID, AI and Acrobat (and a few others which I've had a quick play with) but not AE and LR.

It's almost like AAM thinks I have used two separate Adobe accounts to install the apps (which isn't the case).

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Puffmoike there are additional steps available within the document.  If you have completed solution 1 and 2 and are still unable to reinstall After Effects then you would want to continue with Solution 3 and 4. 

If you can however use After Effects but it is just not listed in the Adobe Application Manager properly I am not sure how much more time I would recommend spending with your current difficulties.  After Effects CC will be available on Monday and this may mainly be a minor inconvenience if the applications are functioning properly.

[puffmoike]

Excellent advice. I'll ignore my OCD tendencies and hold off until after the CC versions are launched. Thanks

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

No worries I tend to get caught up on the details as well.  Feel free to bookmark this discussion though and if you face additional difficulties next week you are welcome to respond to this discussion and see what additional steps maybe necessary.  The offered document should still be relevant as much of our installer technology is not changing.

[puffmoike]

Well the week has passed and the situation remains roughly the same. But with a twist, which I'll discuss first before returning to the more obviously directly related issue flowing from my earlier questions.

CC Desktop app and AAM

Now in my Mac's menubar I have icons for both AAM and the new Creative Cloud desktop app. I've just had a quick look at the Install and Update Apps help page which says:

Adobe Application Manager is automatically updated to Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app on Mac OS X 10.7 or later, and Windows 7 or later.

I'm confused. Surely CC desktop app is intended to replace AAM.

However whilst the CC desktop shows the new CC versions of AI, PS, ID, AE and updated Edge Inspect apps (and the previous CS6 versions of all but AE) as up to date AAM says updates are available for the CC versions of AI, PS & ID, as well as DPS Desktop Tools CC and PS Camera Raw 8.

Should I simply ignore AAM from this point forward? Should I uninstall it (and if so how, I don't see any reference to it in Application/Utilities/Adobe Installers)?

Lightroom

Assuming CC desktop app is meant to be my central (and only) Adobe app installer and manager should I uninstall LR5 using the process outlined above and then reinstall it using CC desktop app?

And if so will the new version of LR5 recognise my existing LR database (and is there anything I should do in preparation to ensure I don't have any problems)?

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Puffmoike the Adobe Application Manager is a component which is utilized by the Creative Cloud application.  If you did remove it would need to be reinstalled again.  You may see this solution being given for Adobe Applicaiton Manager installation issues.

You can safely ignore the Adobe Application Manager at this point and use the Creative Cloud interface.  Also the normal Adobe icon will still be displayed for the time being when updates are available.  These will eventually be handled within the Creative Cloud application interface but I have seen the same Adobe icon on several of my upgraded computers already.

For the question regarding the Lightroom database I would recommend inquiring with the Photoshop Lightroom forum.  I have used Photoshop Lightroom a bit but I want to make sure you get a correct answer to your question.  You can find the Photoshop Lightroom forum at http://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom.

I will also see if one of my colleagues can look at our discussion and provide an answer to the Lightroom database question.

[puffmoike]

You can safely ignore the Adobe Application Manager at this point and use the Creative Cloud interface.

So just to be absolutely clear if CC desktop app (is there an accepted abbreviation?) says everything is up to date I should just ignore AAM, even though it's pestering me to update apps?

Thanks so much for your help.

[Pete.Green]

Puffmoike,

Lightroom

Assuming CC desktop app is meant to be my central (and only) Adobe app installer and manager should I uninstall LR5 using the process outlined above and then reinstall it using CC desktop app?

[Pete] I don't see the need to do this really. IF you want to you can, but they're the same application. I'd stick with what you already have installed.

And if so will the new version of LR5 recognise my existing LR database (and is there anything I should do in preparation to ensure I don't have any problems)?

[Pete]If you do choose to reinstall Lightroom, you will be able to open your LR5 catalog again with LR5 when it is reinstalled. (again, this really isn't necessary)

Regards,

Pete

[puffmoike]

Pete.Green:

I don't see the need to do this really. IF you want to you can, but they're the same application. I'd stick with what you already have installed.

Cool.

So assuming Pete and Jeff are on the same page is the basic advice to:

1. use the CC desktop app to monitor the update status of the remainder of my Adobe apps, and
2. simply keep an ear to the ground for any updates to LR and update LR from within the app itself (Help / Check for updates…)?

Jeff A Wright:

You can safely ignore the Adobe Application Manager at this point and use the Creative Cloud interface.  Also the normal Adobe icon will still be displayed for the time being when updates are available.  These will eventually be handled within the Creative Cloud application interface but I have seen the same Adobe icon on several of my upgraded computers already.

Jeff, was 'can safely ignore' intended to mean that I can choose to ignore AAM, or that I should ignore AAM? If an update is shown to be available via the AAM icon in OSX's menubar is a user meant to use AAM or CC desktop to update the apps? And if the update status of the 'production' apps is at odds in the 'management' apps (as it currently is on my computer) which should I trust?

Is AAM now simply an app which is intended to work in the background (and hence should I uncheck 'Notify me of new updates on the menu bar' setting in Preferences)? Is that is something that will happen down the road, but isn't ready yet?

Sorry for all the questions -- which I appreciate are veering a little into the academic rather than being strictly necessary (I can at least use my production apps at the moment) -- but I'm just surprised how confusing this all is. And I don't imagine I'm the only person who is confused.

The Creative Clud Desktop help page makes no mention of AAM, and the Install and Update Apps help page only seems to add to, rather than clear up, the confusion about how the two managment apps are meant to work together.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Puffmoike from your perspective you don't need to be concerned with the Adobe Application Manager.  You will still want to apply any updates you are notified of when it is convenient to you.  For the moment these updates will still appear as an Adobe icon and launch the update component of AAM.

In the future this process will become more integrated and the UI for applying the updates will be moved into the Creative Cloud application.  The same components will still be working behind the scenes to deliver an install the updates to you.

Thank you for your feedback as well.  I will keep an eye out and see if the current workflow is causing confusion for other users as well.  If so then we can certainly look at increasing our documentation on this subject.

[puffmoike]

Jeff,

It appears that the process has already become more integrated.

When I sat down at my computer just now the CC icon in the menu bar was blue. I had to login to CC again, but then the apps shown in this screengrab all had an Update button. I just updated Illustrator (directly from within CC) and at no stage was prompted to use the AAM UI (I understand it might still provide the underlying infrastructure).

Clicking on the AAM icon now takes one directly to the CC UI shown in the screengrab. I would have expected this update to automatically remove the AAM/Adobe icon from the menu bar - which I can no longer even achieve manually, as I can't get to the existing Preferences panel within AAM - so I'm left with a redundant icon permanently in my menu bar. But otherwise the process now seems pretty self-evident.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Puffmoike if you reboot the computer then the icon should go away.

[puffmoike]

Okay, two weeks in I am basically back where I started.

Initally the CC desktop app was showing that the new CC versions of AI, ID, PS & AE were installed (as per my previous screengrab).

But I just checked it now, and it's only showing LR, IN (Edge Inspect) and the CS6 version of AE are installed (but none of the CC versions of AI, ID, PS & AE).

Seems that despite only ever having had one username and one password Adobe seems to think I have two separate accounts.

I also get nagged to login more that seems necessary or desireable (possibly when I switch between an apps in one group to an app in the other?).

I know this is going to bug me, and presumably also means I'm not informed of updates to the apps in the 'other group' to whichever account CC currently thinks is logged in.

Will working through the steps outlined in the article you initially linked to solve my problems? Which apps should I uninstall? All of them? Or just those from one of the two 'sets' that I have? And will it matter which 'account' I am logged into at the time?

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Puffmoike the steps you have linked to should allow you to resolve your current difficulties.  I would recommend that first you try quitting the Creative Cloud application and relaunching it.  This will also update the index and may resolve your difficulties.

If relaunching Creative Cloud resolves your difficulties can you please update this discussion with the results?  I am looking at adding this solution to the referenced document if it ends up solving enough Users issues.

[puffmoike]

Jeff,

Relaunching CC didn't resolve my difficulites.

Before I do the steps in the article can you please clarify a couple of things:

1. Should I uninstall every Adobe app I have, or just those that don't appear to be installed according to CC?
2. If I only need to uninstall the apps that aren't showing up in CC have you got any ideas how to get into my 'other account'? Currently CC shows just three apps installed. My 'other account' has about a dozen apps (including the CS6 versions).
3. Should I also uninstall the CS6 versions of the same apps? (I use Font Explorer X and I don't think it has yet released CC plugins. I probably still want access to at least AI CS6 and ID CS6)
4. The linked article lists multiple 'Solutions'. Are these intended to be stand-alone solutions, or am I meant to follow them linearly? Should I complete Solution 1 and then reinstall the apps and see how I go? Or should I work methodically through all four Solutions before I start reinstalling?

Cheers

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Puffmoike most of your questions are addressed in AAM lists applications as "Up to Date" when not installed - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/aam-lists-removed-apps-date.html.  You will want to begin with solution 1 and work your way down if each solution is not resolving your current difficulties.

To reinstall the CS6 applications please see Download previous versions of Adobe Creative applications - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/download-previous-versions-creative-applications.html.

[puffmoike]

Is this advice still up to date? I've already tried steps 1-3, and all seemed fine for a couple of months. But looked at the CC app today to see it only thinks I have Edge Inpect installed.

This has been tedious beyond words, and the thought of uninstalling and reinstalling everything again does not fill me with joy. How confidnet can I be that step 4 will work?

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

The document is still up to date.  Puffmoike do you use any registry cleaners or system optimizers on your computer?  If so which ones?

[puffmoike]

Hi Jeff. Thanks for the reply. No I don't use anything like you've mentioned.

Sounds like I'm onto Step 4…

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Thanks for the update Puffmoike.  If you can keep an eye out for any cause or application you tend to use prior to this behavior occuring.  Perhaps you have a weekly or monthly virus scan or something similar set up?

[puffmoike]

Hi Jeff,

Nothing springs to mind. I've got a 2009 iMac and other than replacing the RAM I'd consider it a pretty vanilla computer.

Since I switched to OSX three years prior to that I haven't felt the need to run any utilities like virus scans, etc. And whilst I ran a pretty big range of apps I can't think of any that I'd expect would be trying to modify system files that might affect my Adobe apps (but whilst I'm fairly tech-savvy I'm by no means an expert, so I'm not ruling anything out).