Every time you start the Astute Manager, it will automatically detect and add any new major versions of Adobe Illustrator (eg. Illustrator 2025) that have been installed, opened and quit.
ℹ️ A quick approach to adding a new version of Illustrator to the Astute Manager — so that it offers management of plugins for this version — is to quit and restart the application.
⚠️ Note: simply closing the Astute Manager window does not quit the application, as a background manager will continue to operate, detecting any updates. To fully quit the Astute Manager, select the ☒ Quit option in the left-hand menu bar in the Astute Manager window. When fully quit, the Astute Manager icon should vanish from the Tray (Windows) or top Menu Bar (macOS). Alternatively, to ensure you restart the Astute Manager, reboot your computer.
⚠️ Note: If you are seeing a Host Application with identifier error, please follow this advice.
Manual Illustrator detection method
Click on the account "face" button in the top right of the Astute Manager window, then click on Settings (as shown in the screenshot below):
In the Astute Manager Settings page, scroll down to the bottom and click on the Detect installed Adobe Illustrator versions button (as shown here):
All versions installed on your computer should now have its associated plugin folder location listed below.
If all appears to be correct, click the Save Custom Settings button.
When returning to the main Plugins page (top left menu), you will now be able to target the newly detected version of Illustrator for plugin installations and updates:
For further information on managing your Astute Manager settings, please read the Settings in Astute Manager page.
Advanced — enable versions manually
If the Astute Manager does not automatically detect an installed version of Illustrator, or incorrectly detects a duplicate, it's possible to manually specify the "Plug-ins" folder location for any supported version of Adobe Illustrator.
ℹ️ This technique is also the method required if a user manually specifies an alternative Illustrator plugins folder location, as is possible using Illustrator's Preferences > Plug-ins & Scratch Disks > Additional Plug-ins Folder option.
Take the following steps once you have navigated to the Astute Manager Settings page (see above for details of where to find this)...
Turn off the Enabled versions only toggle
Carefully ensure you opt for the correct version of Adobe Illustrator you wish to target manually, and switch on the associated Enable toggle.
Click on the Browse button and select the "Plug-ins" folder associated with the targeted version of Adobe Illustrator.
If all appears to be correct, click the Save Custom Settings button (you may need to scroll down to see this button).
⚠️ We strongly advise that the manually specified plugins folder location is not on a removable drive.