Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop 4.9x: Apps panel no longer hidden, only disabled (with Adobe-provided instructions on how to re-enable)

[dan-snelson]

Background

With confirmation from Adobe Technical Support (Case ID: E-000041193), the new intended behavior of Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop 4.9x is to only disable the Apps panel, NOT completely hide it.

The best part? Adobe provides the end-user (with local admin rights) a link to instructions on how to re-enable the Apps panel.

---

Heavy-handed Approach

We're testing out the following script, which runs weekly on computers which have single Adobe products (i.e., not Master Collection).

Script

#!/bin/sh
####################################################################################################
#
# ABOUT
#
#   Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Panel Visibility
#
#   See: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/kb/apps-tab-missing.html
#   See: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/kb/disable-updates-and-apps-panel-for-the-creative-cloud-products.html
#
####################################################################################################
#
# HISTORY
#
#   Version 1.0, 12-Oct-2017, Dan K. Snelson
#       Original version
#
#   Version 1.1, 29-Jul-2019, Dan K. Snelson
#       Updated for Creative Cloud Desktop app 4.9.0.504
#
####################################################################################################



### Variables
loggedInUser=$( /usr/bin/stat -f%Su /dev/console )  # Currently logged in user

### Functions
killProcess(){
    echo "Quit Adobe-related process: "${1}" ..."
    /usr/bin/pkill -l -U ${loggedInUser} ${1}
}


echo "### Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop: Panel Visibility ###"


# If Parameter 4 is blank, use "false" as the default value ...
if [[ "${4}" != "" ]] && [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "" ]]; then

    AppsPanelVisibility="${4}"                        # Apps Panel Visibility (i.e., "true" | "false")

else

    echo "Parameter 4 is blank; using "false" as the visibilty setting for the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Apps panel ..."
    AppsPanelVisibility="false"

fi



# Check for a valid value for Apps Panel Visibility (i.e., "true" or "false")
if [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "true" ]] || [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "false" ]]; then

    echo "Using "${AppsPanelVisibility}" as the visibilty setting for the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Apps panel ..."

    echo "Quit Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App ..."
    killProcess "Creative Cloud"
    killProcess "CCLibrary"
    killProcess "Core Sync"
    killProcess "Core Sync Helper"
    killProcess "Adobe Desktop Service"
    killProcess "CCXProcess"


    if [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "false" ]]; then

        echo "Disabling Apps Panel Visibility ..."
        /bin/echo "<config>
  <panel>
    <name>AppsPanel</name>
    <visible>false</visible>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>FilesPanel</name>
    <visible>false</visible>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>MarketPanel</name>
    <masked>false</masked>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>StockPanel</name>
    <visible>false</visible>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>BehancePanel</name>
    <visible>false</visible>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>FontsPanel</name>
    <visible>false</visible>
  </panel>
  <feature>
    <name>SelfServeInstalls</name>
    <enabled>false</enabled>
  </feature>
</config>" > /Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE/Configs/ServiceConfig.xml

    elif [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "true" ]]; then

        echo "Enabling Apps Panel Visibility ..."
        /bin/echo "<config>
  <panel>
    <name>AppsPanel</name>
    <visible>true</visible>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>FilesPanel</name>
    <visible>false</visible>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>MarketPanel</name>
    <masked>false</masked>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>StockPanel</name>
    <visible>false</visible>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>BehancePanel</name>
    <visible>false</visible>
  </panel>
  <panel>
    <name>FontsPanel</name>
    <visible>false</visible>
  </panel>
  <feature>
    <name>SelfServeInstalls</name>
    <enabled>false</enabled>
  </feature>
</config>" > /Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE/Configs/ServiceConfig.xml

    fi

    # Reload preferences
    echo "Reload preferences for ${loggedInUser} ..."
    /usr/bin/pkill -l -U "${loggedInUser}" cfprefsd

    # Launch Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App
    #echo "Launch Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App as "${loggedInUser}" ..."
    #/usr/bin/su - "${loggedInUser}" -c "/usr/bin/open '/Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud/ACC/Creative Cloud.app'"

else

    echo "ERROR: Parameter 4 set to "${AppsPanelVisibility}" instead of either "true" or "false"; exiting."
    exit 1

fi



# Record result to JSS
echo "Set Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Apps Panel Visibility to "${AppsPanelVisibility}"."

exit 0

[Mauricio]

We have contacted our Adobe support.
This is a feature and not a bug.
Regarding the Help page Adobe has since change it and removed the instructions.
Our tests show that setting in the xml for Macs and Windows is not respected. The Apps Panel is always visible.

[dan-snelson]

Thanks for the heads-up, @Mauricio.

Confirming that Adobe has (thankfully) removed the step-by-step instructions.