Support

How do I deactivate or uninstall my legacy plugins?

4 minute read • Last updated 2022-10-18

This article is for users of legacy plugins. If you are already benefiting from the 12 month subscription or have installed a trial of the Astute Graphics plugins using the Astute Manager, please refer to the Deactivate and uninstall in Astute Manager support article.

There are a number of circumstances under which you may wish to either deactivate or uninstall your plugins depending on whether you want to remove the plugin temporarily or more permanently. Please remember to restart Illustrator following either change.

About deactivating plugins

Deactivating is ideal for transferring your license to another machine.

Some deactivating examples:

  • You have 3 machines and you want to use your plugin on the 3rd computer for a short time. In this case you would transfer your licenses from one machine to another (temporarily) without uninstalling.

  • You are sending your laptop away for maintenance, and you’re going to be using another one temporarily, during this time you want to use your plugin licenses on this temporary computer.

About uninstalling plugins

Uninstalling allows you to clean your instances of Illustrator of associated plugins.

Some Uninstalling examples:

  • You use the plugin in your job but you’ve been given a new computer and your old computer is going to be given to someone else in the company.

  • You are selling or discarding your computer.

  • You have expired the trial period and chosen not to purchase.

How to deactivate legacy plugins

  1. macOS: When using Illustrator, open the Illustrator > ... menu
    Windows: When using Illustrator, open the Help > ... menu

  2. In the menu, select the About [plugin name]... plugin

  3. When the "About [plugin]" dialogue window appears, click on Deactivate

  4. You will be prompted to confirm that you want to remove the license code from your computer; select Yes

  5. You will be prompted to enter your computer password

  6. Your plugin is now deactivated

  7. If you have multiple plugins to deactivate, repeat previous steps

  8. Quit and restart Illustrator

When you are ready to reactivate, in Illustrator go to Help > Astute Graphics > Licensing Summary... and click Activate for each associated plugin.

How to uninstall legacy plugins

  1. To uninstall your plugin, first ensure that you have quit Illustrator, then run the legacy installer.

  2. At the stage where you can select the plugins, tick the box next to the plugin that you wish to uninstall, then tick on the Uninstall option.

  3. You will see indication that you have chosen to uninstall. Click on Install to continue.

  4. You will then be prompted to enter your computer password.

  5. Your plugins are now uninstalled.

Details on how to reinstall legacy plugins using the legacy unified installer, please refer to the Unified Installer Installation Method support article.


If you want to entirely uninstall all plugins from your system:

Please ensure you have first quit Illustrator before attempting to remove one of our plug-ins.

macOS:

  • Delete plugin files from /Applications > [AiVersion] > Plug-ins

Windows:

  • Delete plugin files from C:\Program Files > Adobe > [AiVersion] > Plug-ins

  • Or from the "Programs and Features" in the Windows Control Panel (more advice on this as described by Microsoft here.)

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