How to Customize Your Adobe Creative Cloud Extension Package

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Since I published the Package, Distribute, Install Guide for Adobe Creative Cloud extensions, I have received many questions from developers on how to customize the package, such as:

The short answer is “use the MXI file to add custom configurations.” In this post, I will explain how to decide what to include in your package as well as how to build your configuration file, which is covered in this step of the package guide.

Note: If you are new to building Creative Cloud extensions, I’d recommend you take a look at the Getting Started Guide first.

1. Decide the package folder structure

To help you understand the process more easily, look at the example folder structure below:

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In this example, we have a folder that contains a packaged CEP extension (cep.zxp) and another folder that contains a PSD file. Also, we have the configuration manifest (id.mxi) in the root. Note that your actual content structure has to match the structure defined in your .mxi file explained in the next step.

2. Write the configuration manifest that matches the content structure

The .mxi file is a configurable XML file that contains installation instructions, including the list of folders/files to be installed, install location, supported CC products, and other specific instructions. Based on the example content structure defined in the first step, you need to write an .mxi file like the one below:

https://gist.github.com/dkstevekwak/e1f19b3abe155e36edf403aa1483ae44#file-id-mxi

Here are descriptions of each tag:

In our example, the package includes two files, a CEP panel package and a PSD file.

For the CEP panel:

For the PSD file:

For the complete list of tags and explanation, refer to the General MXI Elements page.

3. Package your extension

Now that you have the folder, files, and the .mxi file ready, you are ready to package your extension. Follow the rest of the steps in the Package, Distribute, Install Guide.

I hope this article helps you understand how to customize your Creative Cloud Extension Package. If there are any other topics you would like me to cover, please let me know in the comments below.

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