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Installing ZXP Extensions on CC Enterprise

Explorer ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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I am looking for ideas/input on a potential work-around to install ZXP extensions on Photoshop CC Enterprise that does not require a lot of confusing, tedious manual steps (from the end user's perspective).

According to the Enterprise documentation - Including extensions in your package - encrypted packages, i.e., ZXP extensions from Adobe Exchange are not installed via the package method and based on my own experience launching a product to Exchange and reports from Enterprise users, you cannot install from Exchange nor using any of the popular Extension Manager installers.

I have verified that it is possible to un-archive the ZXP and manually place the folder structure in /Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions but my concern is that this might be problematic for end users. I don't think it is really all that technical, obviously, but many users have a psychological aversion to messing with what they perceive as the core system.

It is probably a long shot but I'm curious if anyone else has encountered this problem and what solutions you've employed to work around it.

Thanks in advance.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

LEGEND , May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

So you want personally to uncovert .ZXP and provide the content (so all folders with files in bulk) to users?

You can attach .jsx script (user will run by Photoshop) that will copy all of that to Adobe/CEP/Extension folder.

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LEGEND ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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So you want personally to uncovert .ZXP and provide the content (so all folders with files in bulk) to users?

You can attach .jsx script (user will run by Photoshop) that will copy all of that to Adobe/CEP/Extension folder.

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Explorer ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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Thanks for the feedback. I will take a look at this as an option.

Question for you to follow up. I work on a Mac so I know the path to the CEP/Extensions folder. Do you happen to know the path on Windows? I'm sure I can look it up and will do so but thought I'd ask for the sake of clarity and completeness on this thread.

Thanks again.

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LEGEND ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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'C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\Extensions'

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Explorer ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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Awesome. Thanks. I should probably buy a cheap Windows machine at some point for testing. Very much appreciated.

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LEGEND ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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Do you write own extensions on Mac you have a link to some website they're on, or you want only install some purchased?

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Explorer ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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I write a lot of extensions for my own use and am currently working on some products I intend to sell. And yes, I work on a Mac. But this specific question is for a client. I did not build the original extension but re-wrote a fair amount of the code to add new features, new UI, etc. They recently released the extension on Adobe Exchange - https://www.adobeexchange.com/creativecloud.details.101546.removebg-for-adobe-photoshop.html . The only issues we've run into are with folks who have CC Enterprise. Those with CC Enterprise get an error however they try to install the extension.

We have figured out that if you install the un-archived source directly in CEP/Extensions it works fine but my concern is that for some users that will be too much effort. In general we can say this is the case with most things. People have a short attention span and want things to be "one-click and forget it". Some of their users are more advanced and do imaging and animation and get such huge benefit from the product that taking 5-10 minutes to do the manual install isn't a big ask, but there will almost certainly be users who won't make that effort. That's not a criticism, just observation of user behavior.

Having a way to install that we control will also help minimize risk of errors. Ideally Adobe would correct this issue. My guess is that since Enterprise software is often installed en masse to many machines across the organization, having 3rd party code that has only been minimally screened installed is a huge security risk. I have no idea how Adobe can solve it but it sure would be nice if they could.

Cheers.

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LEGEND ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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I just tried remove.bg extension by site where you can upload and image, then in Photoshop with Select Subject. The result is almost same so isn't in this extension the same Photoshop tool used or maybe other algorithm, or else first both of them?

I wonder how you omit passowrd that user must enter on Macintosh to allow modification in 'Application Support' folder?

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Explorer ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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The extension calls the API from the site so it is the same server-side service that is doing both. The website is good for single images but if you are a photographer processing hundreds or even thousands of images it will become a huge pain to do it through the web browser. This is also the first version of the extension and I know Kaleido (the maker) has a  lot more features planned for the future.

The only way to remove the necessity to enter a password for modifying Application Support is to change the file/folder permissions but this is not a good idea. They are set this way so that any malicious code that might be introduced to your system cannot access that folder. If it could it could easily inject code into other apps.

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LEGEND ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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ZXP installer for Mac during installation of extension asks user to enter passoword so the installation can be continued. By the script you may only copy files to CEP if previously user gave permission to that folder manually. It seems unexperienced users have to do advanced stuff that you want to avoid...

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Explorer ,
May 01, 2019 May 01, 2019

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Ah yes, you are correct. Hmm. I will have to give this some thought. Entering an admin password "might" not be a big deal. Anyone installing using a tool like Anastasiy's Extension Manager would have to do the same so I am not terribly worried about that as long as that is the only obstacle, I think that is acceptable.

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New Here ,
Mar 11, 2021 Mar 11, 2021

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Hi! I know this is an old post. Could you help me with this? I have the .ZXP file but I don't know how to copy all the files to the right folder using a .jsx script. Any example? thanks!

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LEGEND ,
Mar 12, 2021 Mar 12, 2021

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On Windows you can move the folder with its content:

 

File('~/desktop/ZXP').rename(Folder.userData + '/Adobe/CEP/Extensions/ZXP')

 

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