Astute Manager

Astute Manager is our gateway to managing all Astute Graphics plugins in a few steps. It makes the task of downloading, installing, updating, and uninstalling our plugins fast and clear, bringing as much time-saving to managing your plugins as our tools have always brought to vector creative work.

It also provides live information about any upgrades available.

1. Download Astute Manager (Windows)

Download Astute Manager for Windows »

2. Open download

Locate the downloaded MSI installer and doubleclick on Astute Manager.msi to open.

Open Downloaded Astute Manager.msi

3. Install

When asked by Windows if you want to allow the app to make changes to your device, agree by clicking on Yes.

You can also click on the Show more details button in this Windows dialogue to confirm the version of the Astute Manager you are installing.

Install Astute Manager (Windows)

4. Locate

Once installed and run, you can locate the Astute Manager in the Windows Tray.

Locate Astute Manager in Windows Tray

5. Login

The Astute Manager window will automatically open requesting your Astute Graphics account email and password. Enter your email and password, then click on the Sign in button.

Login to your Astute Manager

6. Install Plugins

Please refer to Plugin management options in Astute Manager.

It is highly recommended to have the Astute Manager loaded in the menu bar/task bar at all times (or at least on a regular basis) to ensure that you are not inconvenienced with temporary license inactivity.

If you wish to transfer to a different computer, simply log out of the Astute Manager on the previous computer and log in on the new machine. The licensing will follow automatically. You can keep the plugins installed on both (or more) computers, but computers not actively logged into the Astute Manager will deactivate.

1. Download Astute Manager (macOS)

Download Astute Manager for macOS »

2. Open download

Locate the download in the Finder and doubleclick on the Astute Manager.dmg file to open.

If macOS asks you're sure you want to open an app downloaded from the internet, click Open to continue.

Open Downloaded Astute Manager.dmg

3. Install

With the DMG file opened, drag the Astute Manager icon from the left-side of the window and drop it over to the Applications folder icon on the right.

Drag Astute Manager into Applications Folder (macOS)

4. Start

Locate Astute Manager in your Applications folder and doubleclick to start it.

Locate Astute Manager in Applications Folder

5. Authorize

Upon first running a new installation of the Astute Manager, macOS will ask you to authorize the installation of the software.

Enter your macOS account login username and password as prompted, then click on the Install Helper button.

Authorize Astute Manager with System Password

6. Locate

Once installed and run, you can locate the Astute Manager on the right of the macOS top bar as highlighted below.

Astute Manager Location (macOS)

7. Login

The Astute Manager window will automatically open requesting your Astute Graphics account email and password. Enter your email and password, then click on the Sign in button.

Login to your Astute Manager

8. EULA

Upon successfully entering your Astute Graphics email and password, you will be presented with the End User License Agreement (EULA).

Read the terms, and if in agreement, click on the I agree button.

9. Install Plugins

Please refer to Plugin management options in Astute Manager

It is highly recommended to have the Astute Manager loaded in the menu bar/task bar at all times (or at least on a regular basis) to ensure that you are not inconvenienced with temporary license inactivity.

If you wish to transfer to a different computer, simply log out of the Astute Manager on the previous computer and log in on the new machine. The licensing will follow automatically. You can keep the plugins installed on both (or more) computers, but computers not actively logged into the Astute Manager will deactivate.

Astute Manager - Main Panel

The main screen displays six areas described as follows:

A. Sections of Astute Manager

Navigate around Astute Manager using the sidebar options.

B. Avatar Menu

See: Avatar Menu.

C. Top Indicators

User Indicator, Theme Switcher and Announcements

User Indicators including:

1. A “Beta” indicator appears if the user is enrolled in the “Beta Programme.”

2. Switch between light and dark interfaces by clicking the moon or sun icon.

3. The bell icon allows you to view the latest announcements.

D. Cookie Settings

Customize cookie preferences. Users can accept all or configure them as needed.

Astute Manager Cookie Settings

Astute Manager - Dashboard

1. What's new?

Details of the latest updates for each plugin, including their version and improvements.

2. Latest News

This section contains information about updates and compatibility with new versions of Adobe Illustrator and operating systems.

Astute Manager - Plugins Page

List of free and premium plugins.

1. Pulldown menu with available Adobe Illustrator versions.

2. Free Plugins.

3. Premium Plugins.

4. Menu to install, uninstall, and update all plugins.

5. Individual plugin installation and update indicator button. The dropdown menu allows you to uninstall the plugin and shows detailed information in Learn More.

For more information see Astute Manager: Plugin Management.

Astute Manager - Updates Page

All updates and new plugin versions appear in this section as soon as they become available.

1. Menu to select the Adobe Illustrator version.

2. Description of the plugin and its new features or improvements.

3. Individual update button.

4. Menu to update all available plugins.

For more information see Astute Manager: Updating Plugins.

Astute Manager - Refer a Friend

1. Description of the promotion and its benefits.

2. Email input field for the referred person.

3. Summary of acquired benefits.

Astute Manager - Texture Packs

Texture packs for subscribers, to be used with Texturino.

1. Texture description and download button.

2. Texturino video tutorials.

Astute Manager - Brush Sets

Exclusive brush sets for subscribers.

1. Brush description and download button.

2. Video tutorials on brushes and how to use them with Astute Graphics plugins.

Astute Manager - Graphic Styles

Collections of graphic styles for subscribers, created using the plugins.

1. Graphic styles description and download button.

2. Video tutorials on creating and applying graphic styles with Astute Graphics plugins.

Profile packs for use in Reprofile.

1. Profile description and download button.

2. Video tutorials on Reprofile.

Astute Manager - Learn

Access to quick tutorials, guest artist tutorials, and specialized workflows.

1. Click to open the tutorial in your browser.

Astute Manager - Docs

Access to documentation for all plugins and our services.

1. Navigation system by topic: Videos, Features, Effects, and Plugins.

2. Quick access for getting started.

Astute Manager - Teams

Section dedicated to team license management.

1. Team management.

2. Team license guide.

For more information see Business Team Licensing.

Astute Manager - Avatar Menu

Clicking on the avatar image provides access to:

1. My Account

Manage your account details such as email address and two-factor authentication login. (See: Avatar Menu: My Account).

2. Billing

Manage your subscription and update your payment details. (See: Avatar Menu: Billing).

3. Settings

Change the settings of your Astute Manager application, including which folder your plugins are saved into and error reporting. (See: Avatar Menu: Settings).

4. Logout

Option to log out of the Astute Manager.

The Astute Manager gives complete control over your Illustrator plugins. It allows you to install, update, learn more about the plugins and uninstall. The following section describes the different operations on offer.

Note that if trialling, your 7-day trial starts at the point of installing any premium plugin.

There is no longer any need to consider activation or deactivation on your machines as logging into or out of the Astute Manager performs that task. If you want to entirely uninstall your plugins from your system, please refer to this page.

Important

Before attempting to make changes to your plugin installations, you first need to quit all instances of Adobe Illustrator. Do not attempt to restart Illustrator while the Astute Manager is displaying its lower progress bar.

First-time user or "clean installation"

When first presented with the Astute Manager and prior to installing any plugins, you will see a window similar to this:

Installing Plugins in Astute Manager

When installing, updating or uninstalling plugins, you are operating on a single installed version of Adobe Illustrator. The highlighted pull-down menu, above, determines which version you're modifying.

Once you have selected the version of Illustrator you wish to modify, the simplest option is to Install All. Clicking on this will start the download and installation process. A progress bar will appear at the bottom of the Astute Manager window.

Alternatively, if you only want to install select plugins, such as the free ones, you can use the appropriate individual Install buttons.

If you have previously installed plugins and updates become available, you may see something similar to:

Updating Plugin in Astute Manager

In this example, there are both new installations and updates.

You can update plugins individually by clicking on each Update button.

Alternatively, you can either navigate to the Menu and select Update all plugins to update all plugins for the currently managed version of Adobe Illustrator.

Or, you can navigate to the Updates page by clicking on the menu entry in the left-hand menu and again, opt to update plugins individually:

Updating Plugins Menu Options

From here, it's possible to see what each update provides.

Please note that if you have more than one version of Illustrator installed, you'll need to update your plugins for each version.

The Astute Manager can be customised to how you want to use it. Additional settings are planned, so ensure you stay updated to take advantage of what's on offer.

To access the settings, click on the down facing arrow in the top right of the Astute Manager window, then click on Settings (as shown in the screenshot below):

Locating the Settings Page within Astute Manager

At present, the settings allow you to:

• Check current application version number.

• If required, send a bug report, automatically including the log report (details on this available on request).

• Opt to Auto update.

• Opt to Startup with OS (launch at login).

• Control which instances of Illustrator are handled by default.

Which versions of Illustrator does Astute Manager support?

Each time the Astute Manager loads, it will detect all available instances of Adobe Illustrator present on your machine and automatically add access to newly installed major Illustrator versions when present.

However, it's possible to add or remove instances of Illustrator that are supported. At present, these can be any or all of:

• Illustrator 2020.2+ (v24.2+)

• Illustrator 2021+ (v25.0+)

• Illustrator 2022+

• Illustrator 2023+

• Illustrator 2024+

• Illustrator 2025+

Each of these versions and instances of Illustrator requires a different version of plugin due to internal changes. Astute Manager takes care of this headache for you.

What to do if you install or remove an instance of Illustrator

Upon changing which versions of Illustrator are installed on your machine, you'll need to let the Astute Manager know. Either quit and restart the Astute Manager or click on the Detect installed Adobe Illustrator versions (1) button found near the bottom of the settings window, followed by Save Custom Settings (2).

Adobe Illustrator Version Settings

For advanced users: Setting the plugin folder locations manually

Adobe Illustrator Version Settings

Due to the possibility of instances of Illustrator being present on removable drives (not advised!) or using Adobe's relatively unknown preference allowing users to set a custom plugins folder location, you can manually tell Astute Manager where you want a certain version of the plugins to be installed.

To do so, click on the default location text (3) and edit to suit.

Once changed, scroll down and click on the Save Customer Settings (2) button.

After these changes, all future plugin management in the Astute Manager will follow these settings. Note that changing these settings will not automatically remove existing plugin installations – this has to be performed manually.

To reset to default, click on the Set default paths (4) button and then Save Custom Settings (2).

By default, only plugin folders for detected versions of Adobe Illustrator are listed. If you wish to manually specify the installation and folder location of additional versions, disable the Enabled versions only (5) option to reveal all variants.