Silicon Connector for AEM User Guide

Installation & Licensing Instructions

Before installing Silicon Connector for AEM, close Adobe InDesign and other CC applications. To install Silicon Connector for AEM, simply run the installer provided.

Configuration

To configure Silicon Connector for AEM, you will need to edit a configuration file called SC.properties. This file is installed by default but is also included as an attachment to this article at the bottom of the page. The file is well documented and can be edited with a standard plain text editor. You’ll find the file at

Mac: /Users/username/Library/Preferences/SiliconConnector/SC.properties

Win: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\SiliconConnector\SC.properties

Credentials

The most common property you’ll need to edit in the SC.properties file will be sc.aem_userid and sc.aem_pw. These set the username and password you use to log into AEM. To set these values, remove the leading “#” from the sc.aem_userid=admin and sc.aem_pw=admin lines and replace “admin” with your own credentials.

Proxy

If your organization’s network uses a proxy, Silicon Connector for AEM should auto-detect it and work without additional configuration. Depending on the specific network environment, this may not work and you’ll need to manually set the proxy configuration in the SC.properties file.

Other properties are documented with the comments in the SC.properties file.

Scripting

For enterprise installations, configuration of Silicon Connector for AEM can be automated using scripting. At the bottom of this page, you’ll find the reference guide attached.

General use

Activation

When you launch InDesign 2020 or later, you will be presented with a dialog telling you that you’re using a trial of Silicon Connector for AEM.

If you have a license key for Silicon Connector for AEM, click “Yes” to activate now, or click “No” to activate later.

To activate the Connector license, select Activate from InDesign’s Connector menu. To deactivate the current license, use Deactivate from the same menu.

Using Connector from AEM

Silicon Connector for AEM allows drag and drop directly from AEM into your InDesign Document.

If you plan on making use of AEM’s “Renditions” feature, be sure to enable that feature from the Links Panel menu, via Panel Options.

Your AEM Renditions will be named with the file’s resolution appended to the end of the file name you are using. If you are using the original image, the Links panel will display the Rendition as “original”.

To replace a low-resolution rendition with a higher resolution one, select your placed image and drag a higher resolution rendition on top of that image. You can swap any image from AEM using this select and replace method.

Here’s a placed Rendition:

Opening Silicon Connector for AEM

From the main InDesign menu, choose Window > Extensions > AEM CC Connector

You will be presented with a log in. If you have multiple logins, you can save them here through the Server Setup. Then just choose your login and enter your credentials to start using AEM CC Connector.

To logout from your session, choose Register from the AEM CC Connector flyout menu.

Using Silicon Connector for AEM

Once logged in, Silicon Connector for AEM will display your Home location, where you can navigate from folder to folder, or search for specific files. Breadcrumbs are also available from the folder dropdown menu to Navigate backwards through the folder tree.

Once you’ve found an asset you want to place, drag it from Connector into your InDesign document and release your mouse button to begin the drop process. Connector will start loading the place cursor with data from the DAM.  This takes longer than getting data from your local drive, so be patient. Once the data has been downloaded from the DAM, InDesign will display the place cursor.  Click or drag to place the asset.

Note:  If you click  before the place cursor appears, InDesign will place the asset at 100%, as if you clicked the place cursor.

Supported file types

The following file type extensions are able to be placed and linked from Connector.

ai, bmp, ct, doc, docx, emf, eps, gif, icml, idms, incx, indd, indt, inma, jpeg, jpg, pcc, pcx, pdf, png, psd, rle, rtf, sct, text, tif, tiff, txt, xlsx

Search for Assets and Images

To search for a certain file type or file name, just click inside the Search field. Once you’ve entered your search term, clicking the magnifying glass will display the search results.

Silicon Connector for Dropbox Preferences

Silicon Connector for Dropbox has a number of customizable preferences to enhance your workflow, accessed from the Preferences flyout menu option.

Troubleshooting

Write to log file: When checked, creates a log file in your Documents/aem_cc_files folder
Clear log file: Click this to clear the log file.

Detail View

To download a copy of an asset from Silicon Connector for Dropbox, double-click the asset for an expanded view. Then click Download to save a local copy.

For more information on where these files are saved, see Download Options above.

AEM CC Connector Menu Listings

The AEM CC Connector flyout menu has several options to assist the user:

Working with Connector in Photoshop and Illustrator

Photoshop and Illustrator both have access to AEM CC Connector when you install the program. If you wish to edit an existing file from your AEM account, Drag and Drop your asset from Connector, just like you would in InDesign. A copy of the file will be saved locally at aem_cc_files\downloads  in your Documents folder, and then opened in your Adobe app.  Make your edits in Photoshop or Illustrator and save. Once your local file is saved, choose Upload from the AEM CC Connector flyout menu. You will be presented with the System browser to locate your saved file for upload.

Network Considerations

Since AEM CC Connector requires network access to AEM and the Silicon Publishing licensing server, there are certain network requirements to consider. You may find that working from home, where there is no proxy or firewall, you can use AEM CC Connector without a problem, but at work, you run into errors when trying to activate or use it.

Proxy

You can configure your proxy settings in the SC.properties file located in

/Users//Library/Preferences/SiliconConnector/ (Mac)

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\SiliconConnector\ (Win)

This file can be edited with a basic text editor and is documented with definitions of each property. Properties should be formatted with key=value syntax, e.g. sc.http.proxy_server=proxyserver.com

Firewall

If your company has a firewall, you will need to be sure to whitelist the Silicon Publishing licensing server. The url to whitelist is https://licensing.siliconpublishing.com.

Uninstallation

Should you need to uninstall Silicon Connector for AEM, we recommend deactivating first. You can do this using the menu item Connector > Deactivate.

Installing an updated version of Silicon Connector for AEM does not require any manual uninstallation of the previous version or deactivating.

To uninstall Silicon Connector for AEM completely, you’ll need to quit InDesign, then remove the following folders:

Mac

/Applications/Adobe InDesign 2021/Plug-Ins/SiliconConnectorAEM

/Users/username/Library/Preferences/SiliconConnector

Windows

You can use the Windows Control Panel to uninstall Silicon Connector for AEM like you would any other installed application.

If you need to remove the folders manually, they are in the following locations:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign 2021\Plug-Ins

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\SiliconConnector