These instructions are valid for Silicon Connector for Box 2.1 and above. If you don’t have the latest version, you can download the latest from HERE.
Once Silicon Connector for Box is properly installed, launch InDesign to see the following dialog:
If you have a license key for Silicon Connector for Box, click Yes to activate now, or click No to activate later.
If you activate your license later, choose Activate… from InDesign’s Connector menu.
To deactivate the current license, choose Deactivate from the same location. This will allow you to activate Silicon Connector for Box on another computer.
Opening Silicon Connector for Box
From the main InDesign menu, choose Window > Extensions > Silicon Connector for Box
You will be presented with a log in. Just type in your credentials for Box to start using Connector.
You will be presented with a login dialog. Enter your credentials, and click Authorize to start using Silicon Connector for Box. To logout from your session, choose Logout from the Silicon Connector for Box flyout menu. To login again, you’ll find the menu item now shows Login. Choosing that will bring up the login dialog again.
Once logged into Silicon Connector for Box, you will be presented with your Home location. You can navigate from folder to folder, or use the directory tree to go back to previous folders visited.
The Silicon Connector for Box flyout menu also offers a Home option to go directly to the Home location.
Once you’ve found an image, select and drag it to your InDesign document. Release your mouse button, and your cursor will load with a thumbnail of the image. Just drag to place it on your document at the size you want.
If you are working with Word files, or are a power user who needs InDesign’s “Show Import Options” for PDF or other image types, use this preference for more flexibility and options with drag and drop.
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
If you want to perform a search on a certain file type or a given file name, you can choose Search from the Silicon Connector for Box panel flyout menu, or click on the magnifying glass search widget. Once you’ve entered your search terms in the Search field, clicking the Search button will list your asset results in the window below.
Silicon Connector for Box has a number of customizable preferences to enhance your workflow.
Hide files that cannot be used for general placement. When checked, removes files from view that cannot be used in the document. When unchecked, all files can be seen.
Replace Selected on place. When checked, replaces any selected object with the asset you drag onto the page. When unchecked, dragging an item allows placement as a new object on the page.
Replace Selected on place. When checked, replaces any selected object with the asset you drag onto the page. When unchecked, dragging an item allows placement as a new object on the page.
Open file on Download if possible. When checked, will open the chosen asset in your Adobe application if supported. If unchecked, the file will be downloaded, but not opened.
Save to box_connector_files/Downloads folder: Saves downloaded files to your User Documents/box_connector_files/Downloads folder. When unchecked, Connector opens the System browser, so you can choose a folder.
Write to log file: When checked, creates a log file in your Documents/dropbox_connector_files folder
Clear log file: Click this to clear the log file.
Double-clicking an asset in the extension panel will open the asset preview. To download a copy of an asset from Box, double-click the asset you want to download to get an expanded thumbnail of your asset. Then click the download arrow to the left of the thumbnail to begin the download process to your Documents/box_connector_files folder.
The Silicon Connector for Box flyout menu has several options to assist the user:
About shows the version number of Box Connector you are using.
Home Takes the user to their Home directory on the DAM for use with Connector.
Refresh reloads the contents of the current folder.
Upload from Disk opens your System File Browser to upload an asset to the folder currently showing in Connector.
Upload InDesign Document Uploads the active InDesign document to the folder currently showing in Connector.
Upload Selected Uploads the selected asset in the document to the folder currently showing in Connector.
Relink to Current Folder Relinks local assets to assets of the same name in the current Box Connector folder.
Upload all Non-HTTP Assets Uploads any assets not on the DAM to the folder currently showing in Connector.
View Folder in Box opens your browser to the folder in view.
Preferences opens Silicon Connector for Box Preferences (see above).
Log In / Log Out manages authentication to the user’s Box account.
When working in InDesign, users sometimes want to open up a placed image or Illustrator file for editing. Users can do this by using the native Edit Original option from the InDesign links panel. Users can work in Photoshop or Illustrator and use the Save command to update the local file and see their changes in InDesign. When complete, choose Finish Edit Original from the Connector for Box panel in Photoshop or Illustrator to save, close, upload the file to Box and restore the URL link in InDesign.
After installing Silicon Connector for Box, you’ll find the same extension in Photoshop and Illustrator. If you wish to edit an existing file on your Box account, Drag and Drop your asset like you would in InDesign. A copy of the file will be saved locally to the box_connector_files folder in your Documents folder, and then opened in your Adobe app. Currently, you cannot drag and drop from the extension panel to place a Box asset as a new layer. Make your edits in Photoshop or Illustrator and save. Versioning is not directly supported in Silicon Connector for Box, but if you upload directly to your Box account from the Box.com web UI, you will generate a new version as usual. If you want to upload from Silicon Connector for Box, save the file with a new name, and choose Upload from the flyout menu. Then just navigate to where you saved the file, and click Okay. You can upload any supported file types to Box this way.
Since Silicon Connector for Box requires network access to Box and the Silicon Publishing licensing server, there are certain network requirements to consider. You may find that working from home, where there is not proxy or firewall, you can use Silicon Connector for Box without a problem, but at work you run into errors when trying to activate or use it
You can configure your proxy settings in the SC.properties file located in
/Users/username/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
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.
Silicon Connector for Box has two parts: an extension to provide the panel and the plug-in to provide the underlying linking technology.
If you do not plan on installing Silicon Connector for Box in the future, deactivate Silicon Connector for Box by choosing the menu item Connector > Deactivate from the main InDesign menu.
Remove the extension folder:
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/SiliconConnectorForBoxCC
Remove the plug-in folder:
/Applications/Adobe InDesign CC 2017/Plug-Ins/SiliconConnectorBox
Remove the box_connector_files folder:
/Users/username/Documents/box_connector_files
If you do not plan on installing Silicon Connector for Box again, you can also remove the preferences located at:
/Users/username/Library/Preferences/SiliconConnector/
If you do not plan on installing Silicon Connector for Box in the future, deactivate Silicon Connector for Box by choosing the menu item Connector > Deactivate from the main InDesign menu.
You can use the Windows Control Panel to uninstall Silicon Connector for Box like you would any other installed application.
If you need to uninstall manually, you can remove the following folders:
Remove the extension folder:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CEP\extensions\SiliconConnectorForBoxCC
Remove the plug-in folder:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CC 2017\Plug-Ins\SiliconConnectorBox
Remove the box_connector_files folder:
C:\Users\username\Documents\box_connector_files
If you do not plan on installing Silicon Connector for Box again, you can also remove the preferences located at:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\SiliconConnector\