Adobe Exchange Panel
From Adobe Labs
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Release Notes
The new Adobe® Exchange is a Creative Suite® extension marketplace. It is available as a panel within a variety of CS6 applications. The Adobe Exchange panel provides a new way to search, discover, and install plug-ins, extensions, and other content for Creative Suite products. With this preview of the Adobe Exchange panel, users can browse through items that are available for their application; download, and install those items; and update acquired items when new versions are available.
Learn more about Adobe Exchange panel
Do you produce content for Creative Suite users?
In addition to a panel, Adobe Exchange includes a producer portal where you can upload your extensions, plugins, templates, actions, brushes, swatches, styles, fonts and any other content that can enhance the functionality of the Creative Suite applications.
Learn more about Adobe Exchange producer portal
Key Features of the Adobe Exchange Panel
Consistent user experience
The Adobe Exchange in-application panel uses the Common Extensibility Platform (CEP) architecture in CS6 to present a consistent user experience across different point products. The experience and functionality of the panel will be the same in whichever CS6 application you are using. For those CS6 applications that enable users to change the color theme of the application, the Exchange panel conforms to the current theme as set by the user, retaining a native look and feel within the host application. All payment workflows also flow through a single payment vendor that offers for a consistent purchase experience.
Host product compatibility
From the Adobe Exchange in-app panel you can browse or search for products relevant to the host and version of the product you are using. For example, if you open the panel in InDesign CS6, it shows only those products compatible with InDesign CS6.
Easy product installation
The new Adobe Exchange uses Extension Manager CS6 to install any necessary product components into the right location for you, quickly and easily.
Single sign-on
The Adobe Exchange panel uses a new device-based authentication scheme, which means that you only have to log in once to the Adobe Identity Management Service (IMS) and your credentials are stored securely in the machine keychain or keystore. Authentication is required early during the installation of Creative Suite CS6, which means that you can navigate directly to your My Stuff view or begin a purchase without having to re-enter your Adobe ID and password. If you need to sign in as a different user, you can select ‘Switch User’ in the ‘My Stuff’ view.
Browsing
The Adobe Exchange panel makes it easy to browse and find products. The home screen shows featured products as well as the latest product additions to Exchange. All products are conveniently divided into free and paid sections. The search box supports searching via product name, producer name, keywords and product twitter tags.
Private sharing
Adobe Exchange producers can privately share products with one or more users for design and testing. A producer can choose to share a product with a group of privileged users. That product is immediately available to members of the group through their Adobe Exchange in-app panel, without any purchase or search. Anything privately shared with you by the producer appears in the ‘My Stuff’ view of the Exchange panel, where you download and install it directly.
Ratings and reviews
As a user, you can see the ratings and read reviews written by others who have acquired a product through Adobe Exchange. You can also rate and review products you have acquired.
Trial products
Producers can provide a free trial version in addition to a paid version of their product. When you have acquired a trial version and a paid version is available, you see an additional button in your ‘My Stuff’ view that takes you to the Product Details page, where you can buy the product directly.
Update notifications
A producer can provide a patch version for a published product, with new features or bug fixes. Users who have already downloaded the product see an Update button in the ‘My Stuff’ section. The Adobe Exchange in-app panel itself can also download its own updates and install them itself, as new functionality is released.
Known Issues
- If Extension Manager has a dialog open when you begin installation of a product from the Exchange panel, the install operation fails (#3122981). Workaround: Close any dialogs before installing from Adobe Exchange.
- (Windows only) Extension Manager sometimes fails to get focus on product install (#3122881). Workaround: Click the Extension Manager window to get focus when the “Installing” notice appears in the 'My Stuff' view of the Exchange panel.
- (Dreamweaver only) Typing in the search box or credentials input produces an alert sound (#3061717). Workaround: Mute alert sound.
- Clicking on the currently selected Adobe Exchange panel tab (All/Paid/Free/My Stuff) de-selects it (#3098545). Workaround: Click the tab again to select it.
- Scroll bars in the Reviews page disappear if a review form is not completed.
- (Fireworks only) Dropdown locale menu for the purchasing workflow is positioned incorrectly (#3181656). Workaround: Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate to the desired locale.
- Exchange panel: newly-published products do not appear in All/Paid/Free tabs until products feed is refreshed (#3152143). Workaround: refresh the feed by changing page, searching or closing and re-opening the Adobe Exchange panel.
- Updating the Adobe Exchange panel requires you to close the panel and the point product that you had open in order for the install to complete successfully.
