Suppressing Adobe CC 2015 Splash Screens

Adobe has released new version of the CC apps, now called the “2015” versions. With the new Adobe CC apps comes new behavior.

Many of thew new CC 2015 apps have new splash screens. Some of them use a new welcome screen called “Hello” which is actually an interactive web page that requires network connection to function. This has resulted in some problems) for some users or bad network conditions.

Even if it works fine, it’s an extra step for users who just want to get started. In some cases, I’d prefer to suppress this welcome screen if possible. Here’s how you can do it for the new CC 2015 products:

Centrally managed

Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign:

These apps are helpfully documented by Adobe. It involves downloading a file called “prevent_project_hello_launching.jsx” and placing it into the startup scripts folders for the Adobe software.

Here’s a script to build a package to do this, once you download the file and extract it from the .zip:

	#!/bin/bash
	temppath="$(mktemp -d -t AdobePSIDIL)"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CC/Adobe Photoshop/"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CC/Adobe InDesign/"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CC/Illustrator 2015/"
	/bin/cp prevent_project_hello_launching.jsx "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CC/Adobe Photoshop/"
	/bin/cp prevent_project_hello_launching.jsx "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CC/Adobe InDesign/"
	/bin/cp prevent_project_hello_launching.jsx "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CC/Illustrator 2015/"
	/usr/bin/pkgbuild –root "$temppath" –identifier "org.sacredsf.adobe.psidil.welcome" –version 1.0 AdobePSIDIL-Welcome.pkg

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WPSuppressAdobeWelcome_PSIDIL

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AfterEffects:

After Effects uses the same “Startup Scripts CC” folder as the ones above, but requires a slightly different script.
Place this content into /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CC/Adobe After Effects/suppress_welcome.jsx:

app.preferences.savePrefAsBool("General Section", "Show Welcome Screen", false) ;

Alternatively, you can also just run this script to build a package to do this (you do not need to save the above file):

	#!/bin/bash
	temppath="$(mktemp -d -t AdobeAfterEffects)"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CC/Adobe After Effects"
	echo "app.preferences.savePrefAsBool(\"General Section\", \"Show Welcome Screen\", false) ;" > "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CC/Adobe After Effects/after_effects.jsx"
	/usr/bin/pkgbuild –root "$temppath" –identifier "org.sacredsf.adobe.aftereffects.welcome" –version 1.0 AdobeAfterEffects-Welcome.pkg

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WPSuppressAdobeWelcome_AfterEffects

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Lightroom 6

Lightroom 6, thankfully, uses the built in preference system. All the settings are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.Lightroom6.plist, and can be changed using defaults.

Lightroom launches a barrage of messages, notices, and prompts at the user when it first launches, but they all correspond to preference keys that can be changed or managed. Here are the preference keys:

firstLaunchHasRun30 = 1
noAutomaticallyCheckUpdates = 1
noSplashScreenOnStartup = 1
"com.adobe.ag.library_Showed_Walkthroughs" = 1
"Showed_Sync_Walkthrough" = 1
HighBeamParticipationNoticeHasShowed = 1

Here’s a profile that will configure those settings as well.

Per-user Preferences

Dreamweaver

Unfortunately, Dreamweaver doesn’t seem to have any nice mechanism for centrally managing the preferences via startup scripts or anything. The only way I’ve discovered to manage this is by copying in a pre-fabbed “Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2015 Prefs” file into the preferences folder, which is located at:
~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2015 Prefs.

To apply this setting to all users, we need to deploy it to a central location (such as /Library/Preferences/Adobe/Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2015 Prefs, which is simply the non-user-specific equivalent of the preferences path), and then copy it into each user’s Library at login. We can use Outset to accomplish this easily.

These are the settings you need to provide in the Prefs file that will turn off the hello page on startup (including first run). Save this file as “Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2015 Prefs”:

[GENERAL PREFERENCES]
show hello page=FALSE

This script will be run by Outset to copy the preferences file from a centralized Library location into the user account’s correct Preferences location:

	#!/bin/sh
	/bin/cp -f "/Library/Preferences/Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2015 Prefs" "$HOME/Library/Preferences/Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2015 Prefs"

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WPSuppressAdobeWelcome_DWOutset

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Download and save this script as “AdobeDWCCPrefs.sh”. The ending destination for this script is going to be /usr/local/outset/login-once/, which will trigger the first time a user logs in.

This script will build the package that will deposit all the necessary files in the right places, once you’ve downloaded and saved the two files above (the script, and Prefs file):

	#!/bin/bash
	temppath="$(mktemp -d -t AdobeDreamweaver)"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/Library/Preferences/"
	/bin/cp "Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2015 Prefs" "$temppath/Library/Preferences/Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2015 Prefs"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/usr/local/outset/login-once"
	/bin/chmod ugo+x AdobeDWCCPrefs.sh
	/bin/cp AdobeDWCCPrefs.sh "$temppath/usr/local/outset/login-once/"
	/bin/mkdir "scripts"
	/bin/cp AdobeDWCCPrefs.sh "scripts/postinstall"
	/usr/bin/pkgbuild –root "$temppath" –identifier "org.sacredsf.adobe.dreamweaver.welcome" –scripts "scripts" –version 1.0 AdobeDreamweaver-Welcome.pkg

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WPSuppressAdobeWelcome_DWPkgbuild

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Muse:

Muse has the same problem as Dreamweaver. You will need to drop a pre-configured “helloPrefStore.xml” into the Muse preferences folder, which is located at:
~/Library/Preferences/Adobe/Adobe Muse CC/2015.0/helloPrefStore.xml

As with Dreamweaver, we’ll deploy this file into a central location (such as /Library/Preferences/Adobe/Adobe Muse CC/2015.0/helloPrefStore.xml), and then copy it into each user’s Library at login with Outset.

Save this file as helloPrefStore.xml in a local directory:

<prop.list>
<prop.pair>
<key>helloPrefVersion</key>
<ustring>2015.0</ustring>
</prop.pair>
<prop.pair>
<key>helloUIDontShowAgain</key>
<false/>
</prop.pair>
</prop.list>

This script will be run by Outset to copy the preferences file from a centralized Library location into the user account’s correct Preferences location:

	#!/bin/sh
	/bin/cp -f "/Library/Preferences/Adobe/Adobe Muse CC/2015.0/helloPrefStore.xml" "$HOME/Library/Preferences/Adobe/Adobe Muse CC/2015.0/helloPrefStore.xml"

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WPSuppressAdobeWelcome_MuseOutset

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Download and save this script as “AdobeMuseCCHelloPrefStore.sh”. The ending destination for this script is going to be /usr/local/outset/login-once/, which will trigger the first time a user logs in.

This script will build the package that will deposit all the necessary files in the right places, once you’ve downloaded and saved the two files above (the script, and XML file):

	#!/bin/bash
	temppath="$(mktemp -d -t AdobeMuse)"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/Library/Preferences/Adobe/Adobe Muse CC/2015.0/"
	/bin/cp helloPrefStore.xml "$temppath/Library/Preferences/Adobe/Adobe Muse CC/2015.0/"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/usr/local/outset/login-once"
	/bin/chmod ugo+x AdobeMuseCCHelloPrefStore.sh
	/bin/cp AdobeMuseCCHelloPrefStore.sh "$temppath/usr/local/outset/login-once/"
	/bin/mkdir "scripts"
	/bin/cp AdobeMuseCCHelloPrefStore.sh "scripts/postinstall"
	/usr/bin/pkgbuild –root "$temppath" –identifier "org.sacredsf.adobe.muse.welcome" –scripts "scripts" –version 1.0 AdobeMuse-Welcome.pkg

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WPSuppressAdobeWelcome_MusePkgbuild

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Required welcome screens

Edge Animate

Unlike some of the other CC applications, Edge Animate CC 2015’s welcome screen is required to load the rest of the app content. The welcome screen serves as the entrypoint into creating or loading up a project (similar to iMovie or GarageBand’s introductory windows). The welcome screen will appear regardless of whether or not you have a project available or previously opened, and closing the welcome screen will quit the application.

Flash CC

Flash CC uses the welcome screen as part of its window templates, so it can’t be suppressed.

Prelude

Similar to Edge Animate, the welcome screen is a required way to access projects. However, by default, it will show this window every startup regardless of whether or not you are loading a project already.

You can uncheck that box by default by pre-providing a stripped down copy of Adobe Prelude’s preferences file, located at ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Prelude/4.0/Adobe Prelude Prefs:

	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
	<PremiereData Version="3">
	<Preferences ObjectRef="1"/>
	<Preferences ObjectID="1" ClassID="f06902ec-e637-4744-a586-c26202143e36" Version="30">
	<Properties Version="1">
	<MZ.Prefs.ShowQuickstartDialog>false</MZ.Prefs.ShowQuickstartDialog>
	</Properties>
	</Preferences>
	</PremiereData>

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WPSuppressAdobeWelcome_Prelude

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You can use the same mechanism as described above in Muse to do so. Save the above gist as “Adobe Prelude Prefs”.

Save this Outset script as “AdobePreludeCCPrefs.sh”:

	#!/bin/sh
	/bin/cp -f "/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Prelude/4.0/Adobe Prelude Prefs" "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Prelude/4.0/Adobe Prelude Prefs"

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WPSuppressAdobeWelcome_PreludeOutset

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Use this script to build a package for it:

	#!/bin/bash
	temppath="$(mktemp -d -t AdobePreludePro)"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Prelude/4.0/"
	/bin/cp Adobe\ Prelude\ Prefs "$temppath/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Prelude/4.0/Adobe Prelude Prefs"
	/bin/mkdir -p "$temppath/usr/local/outset/login-once"
	/bin/chmod ugo+x AdobePreludeCCPrefs.sh
	/bin/cp AdobePreludeCCPrefs.sh "$temppath/usr/local/outset/login-once/"
	/bin/mkdir "scripts"
	/bin/cp AdobePreludeCCPrefs.sh "scripts/postinstall"
	/usr/bin/pkgbuild –root "$temppath" –identifier "org.sacredsf.adobe.prelude.welcome" –scripts "scripts" –version 1.0 AdobePrelude-Welcome.pkg

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WPSuppressAdobeWelcome_PreludePkgbuild

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Just remember that you cannot completely suppress the Prelude welcome screen, but you can prevent it from coming up by default in the future.

Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro displays a similar “Hello” welcome screen that Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator do. With Premiere Pro, like Adobe Prelude, the splash screen will always display on startup if no default project has been selected / created. Otherwise, it will open the last project. It does not seem possible to isolate a specific key to disable the welcome screen – if anyone finds one, please let me know in the comments!

Premiere Pro’s preferences are stored in ~/Documents/Adobe/Premiere Pro/9.0/Profile-/Adobe Premiere Pro Prefs.

Although I’m not sure what happens if you make changes here, it also lists a “SystemPrefPath” as /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro Cc 2015. You may be able to centralize preferences there.

CC applications with no welcome screens:

• Audition
• Character Animator (Preview)
• InCopy
• Media Encoder
• SpeedGrade