Astute Manager Updates

Launch of Astute Manager Pro

• Backup, sync and restore Illustrator Preferences, Settings and graphical assets.
• Free and Premium options for Individual users and Teams.
• Explore the full Astute Manager Pro service functionality at Astute Manager.

Fix isolated instance of crashing when opening Settings page

• Isolated instance of the Astute Manager crashing when the Settings Page is opened fixed.
• Not made available as an automated update, but available to all users from the Astute Manager web page as a manual installation.

Improvements to logged-in and license states

• Better ensure the Astute Manager remains logged-in between sessions.
• Improve the licensing activity period for subscribers (better avoiding 'ID' license warnings in the Astute Graphics plugin panels).

Bugfix

Starting the Astute Manager from the UI application causing a error has been resolved.

Documentation integration

• Documentation integration allowing the written user manuals to be viewed directly in the Astute Manager.
• All Astute Graphics panels in latest plugin updates provide a “question mark” button which opens the relevant documentation in the Astute Manager.
• “Show in Illustrator” buttons in the documentation automatically open the related Astute Graphics panel in Adobe Illustrator.
• Astute Manager window can now be resized to area of screen.

Improved AG Core support

Advised update for all users including those using older versions of Adobe Illustrator.

Introducing the required AG Core plugin

This is an essential update for all subscribers and introduces the first stage of our planned enhancements to the Astute Manager bringing connectivity between the plugins and web services. To allow this to happen, this version of the Astute Manager will install the new AG Core plugin automatically. You are required to manually download and install, replacing your current installation.

UI refresh

• UI design refreshed to enhance clarity.
• New plugin action menu giving quick access to multiple plugin installation and removal options.
• Option to enable 2FA for additional account security.
• Data collection privacy options.

Improved auto-updated mechanism

• Minor update to help with an auto-update issue that affected a small number of users.

Ignore deprecated plugin versions

• Deprecated plugins, eg. builds for Adobe CS6, deployed using legacy Astute Graphics installers are now ignored.

Major new version (important update)

• Handling of orphaned (deprecated) plugins, requesting a user to remove reference from the Astute Manager database or completely remove all orphaned plugins.
• macOS protected folders (Downloads, Documents, Desktop) are not allowed as plug-ins installation paths.
• The customised folder location interface in Astute Manager > Settings now offers a directory picker instead of requiring a user to type in location manually.
• Astute Manager no longer stops a logging out or shut down procedure on macOS.
• In some cases, the Astute Manager is now expected to show an error message instead of silently crashing.
• Stability improvements.

Improved support for non-Latin usernames

v3.0.4

• Improved support for users who experienced issues due to non-standard Latin characters in the user folder names.

Fix for non-functioning auto-update

v3.0.1

• Astute Manager failed to auto-update from v2 to v3 on release. This fix ensures future updates can be automatically installed if the Auto-update option is left on.
• Requires manual download and installation if v3.0.0 is installed.

Major new version (important update)

v3.0.0

• Essential update for all Astute Graphics plugin users - please read blog post for full details.
• Reduced power consumption.
• Revised, clearer UI/UX.
• Light and dark UI modes.
• Apple M1 hardware native.
• Video playback (for product information and future training).
• Changelog technical update information for each plugin version.
• Resizable window.
• Window remains in last placed location.
• macOS compliant menu bar icons (for the OS' light and dark modes).
• Latest security

Licensing improvement

v2.2.1

• Improved local license recall and management.
• Improved multi-user account support on macOS.

Licensing improvement

v2.1.0

• Important: plugins must also be updated to remain compatible with licensing improvement.
• Support for extended character set usernames.
• Application auto-update now optional in the Settings page.

Major update

v2.0.1

• All new user-interface with many improvements based on user feedback since the original v1 release.
• Manage on single, targeted installations of Adobe Illustrator (eg. Illustrator 2019, 2020.2+, etc.).
• Full information about each plugin within the Astute Manager.
• Details of what's changed in each plugin update.
• Direct access to bonus resources (Textures, Brushes and Graphic Styles) for subscription customers.
• Direct access to billing and account pages, including secure payment.
• All-new plugin licensing system providing added flexibility.
• Internet connection error handling.
• Updated support pages.

Minor update

v1.1.3

• Supports self-updating feature
• Required update to access the new InkFlow plugin

Minor updates

v1.0.8

• Improved support for operating system language settings

Minor updates

v1.0.6

• Improved logging of details for when customers actively submit a report
• Header image and link directs for future news and updates
• Minor bug fixes

macOS 10.15 Catalina and Windows 32 bit compatibility

v1.0.5

• Compatibility: now compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina including the deployed plugins
• Compatibility: improved compatibility with 32 bit variants of Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10
• Enhancement: plugins which already have updates in the Annual Service Plan can be downgraded to previous Annual Service Plan versions via the plugin entry's pull-down menu Advanced > Force > ...
• Enhancement: improved clarity on log submission process
• General fixes to installation, licensing and activation processes

First non-beta Astute Manager release

v1.0.2

• New feature: licensing mechanism for the Annual Service Plan including suggested method of global installation and automatic activation for all Illustrator plugins
• New feature: macOS menu bar and Windows tray icons altert to new versions
• No longer possible to deploy pre-Annual Service Plan plugins – for legacy installations, please refer to the support article How do I reinstall my old licenses?