Silicon Connector for Box User Guide

These instructions are valid for Silicon Connector for Box 3.0 and above. If you don’t have the latest version, you can download the latest from HERE.

Compatibility

Applications: InDesign 2022+, Photoshop 2022+, Illustrator 2022+ OS: Mac, Windows

Installation & Licensing

Install Silicon Connector for Box by running the downloaded installer (Mac pkg or Windows exe).

Once Silicon Connector for Box is properly installed, launch InDesign to see the following dialog:

If you have purchased 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, you will choose Activate… from InDesign’s Connector menu.

To Deactivate an activated license, choose Deactivate from the same menu. This will allow you to activate Silicon Connector for Box on another computer.

Opening Silicon Connector for Box

From the InDesign main menu bar, select Window > Extensions > Silicon Connector for Box. This will open up the extension panel where you will be presented with a button to Login to Box. Click that to open a browser window where you will log in to Box and grant access. Once that process is complete, return to InDesign. NOTE: If you get the message “Not currently able to make a connection with Box”, it means the log in process took longer than expected. Just choose Login to Box again and repeat the process.

The Connector Interface

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 folder path dropdown to go back to previous folders visited.

You can always get back to the root level (Home) using the Home icon. The Silicon Connector for Box flyout menu also offers a Home option to go directly to the Home location.

You have the option to switch between a tile view and a list view. The tile view shows large thumbnails of each file and its file name. The list view shows the file name, when the file was last edited, and the lock status.

Placing Assets

With a document open, you’re able to place assets that reside in Box, directly onto your document. To do this, either drag a file from the Connector panel onto the document or click Place that appears when you hover over an asset. It might take a moment for the preview image to appear. This is because it is creating a preview of the cloud asset for placement. Drag your mouse cursor to place the asset as you would for a local asset. You’ll notice that in the Links panel (Window > Links) the Path shown under Link Info of the asset is an http url. A reference to the file in Box has been created.

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

Searching for Assets

If you want to search for an asset, you can click the magnifying glass icon to open the search view. There, you’ll see you can enter text for the search and search by File Name, Folder Name, File Type, All Content, Templates, or URL.

Flyout Menu

The flyout menu contains a number of features to help your workflow. Access the flyout menu using the button in the upper right of the Silicon Connector for Box extension panel.About shows the version number of Silicon Connector for Box you are using.

Home Takes the user to their Home/Root directory.

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 the document’s local assets to assets of the same name in the folder currently showing in Connector.

Upload All Non-HTTP Assets Uploads any assets not in Box to the folder currently showing in Connector.

View Folder in Box opens your browser to the folder in view.

Preferences opens the preferences options described below.

Log Out will log you out of Box in Connector.

Preferences

Silicon Connector for Box has a number of customizable preferences to enhance your workflow.

General Options
- Hide files that cannot be used for placement – This setting will filter the files shown in the Connector panel so that it only shows files you can place.
Place Options:
- Replace selection on place – This will cause a selected item on your document to be replaced with the asset you place from the Connector panel.
Import Options:
- Show Import Options – When you import a file, the options will show.
Download Options:
- Open file on download (if possible) – When viewing the preview of a file in the Connector windows, there is a Download button. If a file is not locked and is a type that can be opened, Connector will open the file once it is downloaded.
- Save to box_connector_files/downloads folder – Downloaded files will be saved to your Documents folder, under box_connector_files/downloads.
Troubleshooting:
- Write to log file – Causes Connector to write to a log file with debug information as you use it. This will accumulate until you click the Clear Log File button. We recommend leaving it unchecked unless you’re experiencing issues and need to provide the log file to support.

Edit Original

You can use the Edit Original feature of InDesign with linked assets. Right-click on a selected asset and choose Edit Original or use Edit With -> Photoshop (or Illustrator) to open the asset in that Adobe application.

After you have made edits to the image, choose Finish Edit Original from the flyout menu of the Silicon Connector for Box extension in that application. This will trigger the save of that edited image back to Box.

Return to InDesign and you should see the asset updated to the latest, edited version.

Additional Considerations

Network

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 no 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

Proxy

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

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.

Uninstalling Silicon Connector for Box

Silicon Connector for Box has two parts: an extension to provide the panel and the plug-in to provide the underlying linking technology. These instructions will explain how to remove Connector from your system.

Deactivate first!

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. This frees up the activation of the license, allowing it to be activated on another computer.

Mac

Quit InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.

Remove the extension folder:

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/SiliconConnectorForBoxCC

Remove the plug-in folder:

/Applications/Adobe InDesign 2023/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/
```

Windows

We highly recommend you can use the Windows Control Panel to uninstall Silicon Connector for Box like you would any other installed application.

If the standard uninstallation does not work and you need to uninstall manually, you can remove the following folders: