Discontinuing browser support? Why on earth would you do that?

[kylehegge]

Our company leverages Extract heavily, so I am quite disappointed to see that you're planning on discontinuing browser support... The ability to share Extract links between designer & developer has proven extremely valuable and will be missed dearly.

Is there anything you can tell me to help explain this decision? The blog post was profoundly vague...

[Rikover&Co]

You are so right, this feature saved me so much precious time!

The developers i'm working with, use this tool to get the assets, styles, grids... just about anything they need.

What should we do know? go back 2.5 years back and create styleguides?

This tool is one of the main reasons for my Adobe CC subscription...

[kylehegge]

Agreed!

I'm really puzzled by this move and can only hope that there will be some new solution that Adobe plans on employing...

Hopefully whatever it is doesn't prove to be as half-baked as Experience...

[UIpixelator]

I'm running around going crazy about this decision. I have about 10-12 developers on two teams who use this Extract Tool regularly. I share links on JIRA, developers quickly gather CSS and extract image assets. Why in the world did you decide to get rid of this? You don't even have a replacement.

Now I did some research, there is Avocode https://avocode.com/  which does almost the exact thing. Unfortunately, it doesn't support Layer Comps yet. They do have a forum I read where many users have been asking for this feature to get built out, have not yet done so.

Adobe, if XD Design was going to cover this, why didn't you just wait??

[kylehegge]

@UIpixelator I will have to check Avocode out.

If you're looking for other options I'd suggest giving the Sketch+Zeplin workflow a look. At first blush I wasn't terribly fond of Sketch but it has improved quite a bit, and with the rate they're updating it as well as the the community support, its growing harder and harder to shrug it off. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that I depend on integration between Photoshop and After Effects for my motion work, this decision would be enough for me to completely abandon Adobe altogether.

Its absolutely mind-blowing to me that they have made this decision with zero said in regards to any sort of alternative. Furthermore, the fact that not a single community-manager has shown the slightest recognition of us raising these concerns is also very troubling.

What a blunder!

[Rikover&Co]

Any updates here?

I approached Adobe via Chat and FB messenger and got no real answer or alternatives.

[rosgw]

Avacode is only one alternative wich i know.

I think things are simple. Adobe released Extract in 2014. They've been testing it and made certain that this service is essential for devs. Now Adobe wants money. They will integrate Extract with Photoshop and will ship Ps with "new feature" wich is Extract. Thereby you will need to buy Ps to save your workflow and keep using Extract.

Remember Brackets? They killed it too. Adobe is not interested in open source.

[UIpixelator]

rosgw​ Thanks for the info. How did you come to find out about the integration of Extract with PS? And the downside is that most teams work in a cloud based system where links get shared for assets. I hope Adobe accounts for that.

[kylehegge]

I also noticed that Zeplin now supports PS... so I would also recommend that anyone considering a switch to Avocode give that a try as well.

IMHO, Zeplin was far superior to Extract anyway, with its only real downside being that you had to use Sketch... Looks like thats no longer an issue

But seriously Adobe, thanks for the support

[rosgw]

UIpixelator It is my assumption.

[Iremal]

Do not turn off this functionality !

It save time many web developers. Some of them, including me working in Linux enviroment without access to the Photoshop.

[Guest]

How about keeping web version of Extract and charging a few $/month for its maintenance? It is much lighter on resources than Photoshop, and I'd like to allocate RAM for my IDE, rather than Photoshop.

[Rikover&Co]

You can pay to Zeplin or Avocode... What's the reason to pay additional fees if you already subscribed to Adobe CC?

[gallo_88]

I hope that Avocode will create a web solution! Than the solution is switch from Adobe Extract to Avocode.

This is the Avocode answer to my question via email:

Hello!

Right now, you need to download the app for taking the measurements, assets, etc.

However, we are planning to move the experience from the app to web in the very near future, so stay tuned! 🙂

[Pete.Green]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, we do not have an alternative for the Extract service outside of Dreamweaver or Photoshop. We recognize that this change may cause changes to your workflows, and sincerely apologize for any disruptions.

Regards

Pete

[kylehegge]

Pete.Green

Can you give us anymore information as to why Adobe has decided to discontinue this service? The blog posting wasn't very helpful.

[Pete.Green]

Hi Kyle,

Mostly the decision was made due to lack of usage of the service. A very low percentage of users are/were using the extract service.

@UIpixelator -- I understand, and apologize for the inconvenience. I don't have much say in the decision here but am sorry that it's impacting your workflow so heavily. We do appreciate your feedback and candor.

Regards

Pete

[kylehegge]

Pete,

Well I guess thats fair, though I am surprised that more user's weren't taking advantage of this feature. If I had to guess I'd say Adobe really never promoted it they way they should have. I've introduced many design teams to it over the last year, all of which had zero familiarity with it, but instantly saw it as a huge time-saver during production work.

I also think its fair to point out that there are plenty of tools mimicking the Extract toolset (several in fact, improving on the formula), and I think that speaks volumes about the fact that designers are eager to make the styleguide/asset production process smoother.

That said, my team will now be putting our trust in Zeplin, as it seems that's the only tool that will reliably give us what we need. I sincerely wish Adobe would reconsider this move, but it sounds like that boat has sailed. I truly appreciate the wonderful toolset that my CC subscription affords me, its just a shame that I can no longer count Extract as being a part of that

Thanks for the information

[brente206]

It needed to perform better to gain more use. It required a lot of patience, particularly when loading a sophisticated PSD with multiple artboards.  I feel Extract wasn't ready for artboards (artboards came out soon after Extract). 

While Adobe may have seen low use, that use was from a group of power-users. It's a disappointing move, to say the least.

Will Adobe CC continue to support a PSD preview and offer download links in different file formats (png, jpeg, etc.)?

Thank you @eladrahmin for the other resources to fill this hole in our workflows.

[li3to]

So you do Adobe Experience Design app to help those who make digital products and cut the extract which undermines digital teams massively. That's one step forward, two steps back.

I can definitely understand how only small percentage of your users are using extract, but guess what — it's the ones who work in the digital space. Do you suggest we write documentations and do red-lines ourselves now?

[UIpixelator]

Unfortunately Pete, this is by far the worst I've seen it from Adobe. Unacceptable, to remove a service that is part of user's workflow. By the way, Photoshop does NOT have a 1-to-1 replacement for the Extract Tab. Photoshop has some difficult to use tools to acquire the same information that the Extract Tab has, but by far, it will take a user 2-4x longer to get CSS with the cut and paste technique in Photoshop. Also, for Adobe to not provide a workaround solution or anything for that matter... Just, its over. Not cool. What sets one brand apart from another is when the "customer" is the main focus of a business. I can see things clearly now. Thanks.

[b91580242]

Hi Peter,
In the official post found here: Update about Extract for Creative Cloud Assets Online Service and Brackets | Creative Cloud blog by ...  it mentions the Export Assets Panel. But I can't seem to find it.

Am I missing something?

[the-damian2016]

The Extract-Panel was removed some Photoshop Updates ago and now it's only aviable on rightclick on the Layer - choose "Export as".

An earlier Version was an Panel a bit like extract - but thats gone (you could see it in an older training Video Extract PSD assets | Adobe Photoshop CC tutorials  or here Extract Assets in Photoshop CC Tutorial - YouTube ).

For all of you who have a Adobe Cloud membership - you still can use extract in Dreamweaver - it's not that simple like the Browser Version, but it's kind of an alternative - watch the Video: Photoshop-Designs direkt in Dreamweaver extrahieren | Adobe Dreamweaver CC tutorials

We are now testing Avocode (https://avocode.com) - it looks and works quite good for now.

[rosgw]

the-damian2016​ I found that Avocode has font-face problem, it doesn't show full font name. The only thing you can orientate with it is font-weight, thereby you can recognize what font is used in certain block of text. But sometimes its not enaught.

Can you pls tell how do you solve issue with font-face?

[eladrahmin]

Hi all,

At my work we've looked for alternatives and found these 3 below.

I've listed pros/cons for each. Hope it helps you all.

I recommend checking them all out and see if you have any problems with clipping masks, artboards, etc.. :

Avocode - http://avocode.com/

1. Strong CSS extract, but only CSS - letting developers switch between CSS/SCSS (px/em, compass/bourbon mixin libraries, etc..)

2. Can't handle 1 PSD file with multiple artboards

3. Price - each user for 10$

4. has layers panel

5. Inspect only on mac/pc app

6. Upload via webapp/desktop app

7. Asset exporting

Zeplin - https://zeplin.io/

1. CSS/SCSS / iOS / Android

2. Uploads each artboard seperately

3. 8 active projects - $22 total for 8 active project (unlimited users and archived projects)

4. No layers panel

5. Webapp inspector + PC/Mac app inspector

6. Upload via Photoshop extension

7. Can maintain a styleguide with variable names

9. No asset exporting

Sympli - https://sympli.io/

1. CSS / iOS / Android

2. Uploads each artboard seperately

3. 8 active projects - $22 total for 8 active project (unlimited users and archived projects)

4. Has layers panel

5. ** Xcode / Android Studio plugins ** with asset exporting

6. Webapp only inspector

7. Upload via Photoshop extension