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Jonathan Ferman
Community Manager
Jonathan FermanCommunity Manager
Community Manager
June 23, 2014
Question

Another way to install Add-ons (updated)

  • June 23, 2014
  • 7 replies
  • 21094 views

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that we just provided another way to install Add-ons, this is primarily if you encounter an install problem when using the Creative Cloud desktop app, then we now have an alternative way to install. We have also made it more discoverable. You can now find it in 2 places:

1. In My Add-ons (Click on "Install issues?" and if the Add-on is compatible with CS6 and you want to use it specifically for CS6 now you can! Just click the blue text "Install for CS6" which will take you to a direct download for use with Adobe Extension Manager CS6.

2. In the Where to find it section after you have acquired a product. Look at the "Install another way" section for details.

We also have a new troubleshooting check list.

It's not as slick as using the Creative Cloud Desktop app but it should work.

Clicking Download Add-on for that Add-on downloads a zxp file. You need to have Adobe Extension Manager installed to then unpack the zxp.

Please read the Where to find it section of that Add-ons for next steps once the Add-on has been installed via Extension Manager and please ensure you are using the compatible version of Extension Manager for that Add-on, so for instance if it's for CC or CC 2014 apps you need Extension Manager 7.2 or later. If it's for CS6 you would need Extension Manager CS6, there are links on the page to download Extension Manager.

Here's download links for Extension Manager

Download Adobe Extension Manager

If you already have Extension Manager CC you can also get a small update to Extension Manager CC 7.2 which works with CC and CC 2014 release here.

We hope you like this new alternative installation method. See below for a screenshot.

Update (July 29): You can now get access to install via Extension Manager in My Add-ons.

If you are having trouble

If the Add-on

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    7 replies

    A
    Ankit5E99
    Participant
    December 29, 2020

    great info

    celebstori

    arkadyBron
    arkadyBron
    Participating Frequently
    November 24, 2015

    I am trying to download three add-ons. One for Lightroom two for Photoshop on of them I have paid for.

    CC desktop doesn't seem to know that there is anything to do, so I've tried your method and get the error that the add-on needs Photoshop 13 or greater. I am using CC 2015.

    I don't know where to go next

    Capt. Igor
    Capt. Igor
    Inspiring
    October 21, 2015

    Stupid question. I bought Industrial brushes add-on and it (CC) says that it was installed, but I cannot see it anywhere. Restarted Ai and nothinng...So, where it is?

    3
    3ringquercus
    Participant
    November 10, 2014

    Isn't working for me. I get the error message: "extension package is invalid. The extension will not be installed." No other telemetry available. I have Extension Manager CS6, trying to install the Bootstrap extension on DWCS6. What's wrong?

    Z
    zazorro
    Participant
    May 16, 2015

    same problem here - no add-ons work / same error message.

    totally sucks when you've PAID for add-ons (that won't install). ugh.

      K
      Community Manager
      K_Woods-99W0pKCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      May 19, 2015

      For this issue, we recommend upgrading your version of Extension Manager to the latest version build. For CS6, it is 6.0.8.28.

      jesse63
      jesse63
      Participating Frequently
      October 8, 2014

      I'm running OSX 10.6.9 on a MBP 15", dooming me to be very selective width CC vs CS6 installations. The Cloud app does not run on my OS, as far as I know, so I try to install via Extension Manager CC. Which apparently goes fine, but my (compatible, yes) purchased and presumably installed Lightroom 4 presets do not show up in Lightrrom, exactly as for this fellow:

      I am unable to see the add-on I installed through extension manager in Lightroom

      How come the installation procedure has to suck that much for the lot of us who havent the latest shining hardware/software ?!?

      REALLY, REALLY annoying! Frustrating!

      Jonathan Ferman
      Community Manager
      Jonathan FermanCommunity ManagerAuthor
      Community Manager
      October 8, 2014

      Hi Jesse63,

      While the Creative Cloud desktop application provides a much better install experience it does have higher operating system requirements. That is one reason why we offer installs via Extension Manager, because it can help install items into a precise location rather than just the Downloads folder. However, with Lightroom an install via Extension Manager ultimately installs the files or folder into the Downloads folder. This is not an ideal experience so we are working on providing support for files like Lightroom Plug-ins to get installed via the CC desktop app and Extension Manager directly into Lightroom to make the experience better.

      Regards,

      Jonathan

      L
      LisaPerrett
      Participant
      July 19, 2014

      Doesn't work for me. Creative Cloud refuses to sync (it spins and then times out) and using your alternate download method has proved useless as well since it trigger an install of an exchange file (file:///Users/xxxxxxxxxxxxxx./Downloads/com.adobeexchange.FontAwesome.1391077856.1c253dca466b9df31d2a5cc0f1b3dfd8_1.0.2_04404d-2.zxpthe .zip) which launches Extension manger. Muse is not recognized as a "Product" in EM and it prompts for an add-on .zip file that doesn't exist.

      SOLUTION (Update) - I installed Creative Cloud Desktop and then attempted to download an ad-on. This triggered a clean install of Creative Cloud Desktop and all previous attempted add-ons loaded.

      Jonathan Ferman
      Community Manager
      Jonathan FermanCommunity ManagerAuthor
      Community Manager
      July 22, 2014

      sorry to hear of the issues you encountered but glad all is working again. Also thanks for your feedback. All feedback (good and bad) is welcomed so we can continually improve Add-ons. It's still a very new service so there are plenty of things left to do and improve.

      Thanks,

      Jonathan

      skilled_thinking15A8
      Adobe Employee
      skilled_thinking15A8
      Adobe Employee
      June 23, 2014

      GREAT News!

      Thanks

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