ADOBE
EXCHANGE
Adobe Exchange facilitating work with
complex programs.
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Programs like Photoshop, InDesign, and Lightroom are relatively complex, offering users many possibilities of editing and displaying photos and layouts. However, in everyday work with the programs there are work steps that could be carried out more quickly and problems that cannot be solved as desired. With Add-ons, widgets, and extensions, additional tools for the respective program can be directly from Adobe, independent developers are developing such products increasingly. Members of the Adobe Community also have the opportunity to offer specified applications.
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What was known until mid-2015 under the Adobe Exchange Panel has now been further developed into Adobe’s Exchange App Marketplace. The link https://exchange.adobe.com/ leads directly to practical aids that were developed for Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Muse, Lightroom, and many other programs. At the top of the home page a selection of recommendations is shown. Under the now Add-ons, of which are there are now some 2,000, functions for Photoshop and Lightroom, for example, are offered that are advantageous for image editing and cataloguing. There are features for different textures, watermarks, reflections, shadings, and diverse filters. Security Add-ons that protect the photos from being deleted by mistake are also available. Certain additions shorten tedious reformatting and enable pictorial material to be uploaded directly on to various platforms or the dropbox.
Image edited with Adobe Lightroom CC and new Singular Collection
Before an Add-on is downloaded, interested people can read through detailed product information as well as experiences and opinions of previous users. In addition, the author is named and the user is informed about which program versions are compatible with the Add-on. Many of the products on offer are free, while others are predominantly sold at a lower price. The list can be arranged based on free or pay offers, popularity, title, or new products. Although the prices in the overview are provided in U.S. dollars, when you click on the price it is converted into the currency of your country of residency and the amount is deducted from the credit card provided. A free Add-on can be downloaded by clicking on the blue button. But a valid Adobe ID is required here too – even if it is a free product.
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Naturally, if you want to develop a widget or an extension yourself, you can offer your product on the Add-ons website. The author merely has to register and can subsequently upload and publish his or her development.
Image edited with Lightroom and Lookfilter's Avedon Collection
If you have questions or problems concerning the subject of add-ons, the Adobe Add-ons website will refer you to a specified forum. In this Community, installation problems and use of program extensions are discussed. Furthermore, special Communities for all programs are provided at www.forums.adobe.com in English. In them, topics relating to the respective product are discussed. The forum is also offered in German, but there is no differentiation between specific programs and the questions are only dealt with generally. So if you have special questions it’s worth having a look at the English-language Communities.
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Given the wealth of extensions offered under Adobe Add-ons it’s worth looking around to see how your work can be made easier. Among the offers, most of which are free, you will surely find Add-ons that facilitate editing steps that have been tedious so far and that creatively expand the spectrum of your work.
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Date published Oct. 10, 2019
