Unable to open UXP Developer Tools

Report · Apr 13, 2023

Hi,

I want to get interested in Scripting, and I read on the docs that I should use UXP Developer Tools, but I cannot even open it. When I click the link in the CreativeCloud app, it shows an EACCESS error in a popup.
So I don't know what to do. I'm on mac 12.6.3.
(for now I guess I will use extend scripting)

Report · Apr 13, 2023

Maybe restart the CC app and try again.

If you get it to work, be aware that it's not a happy experience. It's a pretty clunky affair. It doesn't have its own editor, but that's the least problem. It just handles very awkwardly. Adobe has been made aware of that and say that an upgrade is on its way.

In addition, UXP is still pretty much in development, various things haven't been implemented yet and some things will still change. And ExtendScript scripts are still considerably quicker than UXP scripts, though that too will change as UXP gets optimised. It's useful to experiment with UXP, but for critical production scripts you're better off with ExtendScript. And finally, ExtendScript, because of the environment in which it is used (VSCode or the ESTK), is easier to set up for beginners.

P.

Report · Apr 13, 2023

Thanks. Actually I was able to do what I wanted using the regular cs6 jsx scripting, so I don't need to use UXP anymore.

Report · Apr 19, 2023

And ExtendScript scripts are still considerably quicker than UXP scripts, though that too will change as UXP gets optimised.

Hi Peter!

That sounds odd to me, I thought UXP was built for speed... I was particularily hopeful after seeing this speed test of fractal drawing in InDesign in both .jsx and .idjs. What kind of scripts are running slower in UXP?

Report · Apr 19, 2023

Hello Erin -- I did two tests: one pure JavaScript without any InDesign DOM access, the other one mainly InDesign things. The pure JavaScript created an array of 2,000 randowm words of random length, sorted it, reversed it, and sorted it again. No InDesign at all, just lot of math and some array operations. The UXP script is a bit quicker (I forget the exact difference right now).

The other script took a document with about 50 pages of text and 120 or so footnotes and converted those footnotes to margin notes. Almost no math at all, but a lot of InDesign DOM access: creating styles, creating anchored frames, moving footnote texts to those frames. The ES script ran much quicker than the UXP script.

The UXP and ES versions of the scripts are identical, they differ only in the way the alert is shown.

The script in the video that you linked is mostly math, with a screen-draw at the end. The difference is indeed pretty big. Not sure what to make of that. For me the real test is with accessing InDesign's DOM extensively -- after all, we're scripting InDesign.

Report · Apr 20, 2023

Thanks, Peter!

Did you happen to share those scripts with anyone at Adobe? Just curious...

Report · Apr 21, 2023

Well, I summarised those findings in the developer slack forum, where an Adobe engineer confirmed the problems with accessing InDesign's DOM, but otherwise there was no interest.

Report · Jun 23, 2025

In 2025 it's still junk. I have wasted hours in it, because it doesn't save your source code when you press Save. As you edit, it'll mark your file as dirty and then pretend to save it; but the file isn't changed on disk. If ID crashes or you close the tool, you lose your work. Pathetic.

Several other things don't work. The option to copy the path of the open file gives you only the file name; no path. There's a "gear" icon (presumably settings) in the UI that does nothing at all. There's no Run button in the editor, despite there being Pause & Stop.

So your only choice is to use an editor like Visual Studio Code, and litter your source with dialogs that pop up to tell you what's happening. So there's no debugger. You're reduced to a programming experience that hasn't been acceptable for 30 years or more.

Report · Apr 20, 2023

The message seems to clearly point to a permission problem or locked file in the path specified in the message. Maybe you can fix this. Try maki g the directory manually.