Adobe Asset Link (AAL) is the new solution to seamless linking of AEM Assets with Creative Cloud products. This session talks about the common use cases where AAL would be the right choice and also provides details around some of the most common pitfalls to avoid when implementing AAL.

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ADOBE ASSET LINK -
USE CASES AND
PITFALLS TO AVOID
Ameeth Palla
Sr. Manager, Customer Experience,
Adobe Experience Cloud - Adobe
August 7th 2019

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• Traditional Integration between AEM-CC
• Adobe Asset Link – Introduction & Benefits
• Desktop App 2.0 - Improvements in 2.0
AGENDA

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TRADITIONAL INTEGRATION BETWEEN AEM & CC
• Too many steps
• Searching / Organizing
• Version Tracking
• Collaboration

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• New panel in Photoshop, InDesign, and
Illustrator
• Connects to AEM Assets
WHAT'S ADOBE ASSET
LINK?

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ADOBE ASSET LINK – LIVE
DEMO
• Live Demonstration

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ADOBE ASSET LINK – AUTHENTICATION FLOW

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ADOBE ASSET LINK –
TROUBLESHOOTING
• Common issues concern the initial
connection.
• First connection attempt may fail,
but it's expected – So Don't Panic!
• Resolution is to add the user's
group to the "DAM Users" AEM
group, exit the app, and connect
again.

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ADOBE ASSET LINK –
TROUBLESHOOTING
• Example shows an improper client
configuration in "assetlink-
settings.json":
{"aemServer":"localhost",
"aemPort":"443",
"aemScheme":"https"}

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ADOBE ASSET LINK –
TROUBLESHOOTING
• For troubleshooting failed
connections, capture client-side
log using
"assetlink-override.json":
{"LOG_LEVEL":"trace"}
Log file is /tmp/adobe-assetlink-
*.log

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CREATIVE CONNECTIONS FOR AEM: WHEN TO USE WHAT
Adobe Asset
Link
AEM Desktop
App
Creative Cloud in-app
experience
I want to discover, use & edit assets
from AEM directly within Creative
Cloud desktop apps (PS, AI, ID)
Creative User
Working in CC apps
Generic desktop
integration
I want to upload files /
nested folders to AEM
from my local disk
I want to open/edit any
asset type in any
desktop application
(including non-Adobe
asset types)
Business / Creative
User
Working on desktop

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WHAT’S DESKTOP APP?
• Standalone application connected to
AEM
• Helps manage/edit assets without
Web UI (outside of AEM)
• Helps utilize all CC applications and
other 3rd party applications used to
edit assets (of any type) that is
pushed back to AEM easily

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WHAT’S NEW IN DESKTOP APP 2.0?
User Experience Architecture & Network
More intuitive UI
Less dependency on Finder /
Explorer
Work-in-progress on local disk with
explicit “check in”
Better support for bulk operations
Better network bandwidth
utilization
Only transfer large originals when
intended / needed
Downloaded files available offline
Applications working with local files

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USE CASES DESKTOP
APP V2
Simplify desktop access to assets
managed in AEM for any application
and file format
DISCOVER by browsing assets from AEM in a
dedicated desktop app built-in browser
SEARCH for assets directly from the desktop app
PREVIEW larger asset rendition and basic
properties
USE by opening in the associated native application
EDIT assets locally and upload changes to AEM
when done
UPLOAD files / folder hierarchies to AEM with
progress monitoring
+

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ARCHITECTURE
OVERVIEW
Operations
AEM
DAM
Content
Disk
Locally
availabl
e
files
Network
Share for
local files
/Users/user1/…
/Volumes/DA
M
App
1
2
4
5
3 1 Transfer files (HTTPS)
2 Put downloaded files to local disk
3 Desktop app can start an application
4 App opens/saves files directly to
local disk
5 Network share maps locally
available files only

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TROUBLESHOOTING COMMON
ISSUESCache
• Windows:
%LocalAppData%AdobeAssetsComp
anionCache
• Mac: ~/Library/Group/Containers/grou
p.com.adobe.aem.desktop/cache
Workflow Optimization
• Transient Workflows
• Tuning AEM Workflows (sling job
queue)

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Capture the logs along with the Desktop app and AEM version
 Windows: %LocalAppData%AdobeAssetsCompanionLogs
 Mac: ~/Library/Logs/Adobe Experience Manager Desktop
Enable debug logs
Windows
Using Windows Explorer, navigate to AEM desktop's install directory. The default location is C:Program Files
(x86)AdobeAdobe Experience Manager Desktop
Edit the file "Adobe Experience Manager Desktop.exe.config" using the text editor of your choice. Replace all
occurrences of INFO with either DEBUG, WARN, or ERROR. Save the file.
Edit the file "javascriptlogging.json" with the text editor of your choice. Replace all occurrences of info with
either debug, warn, or error. Save the file.
Mac
Using Finder, navigate to AEM desktop's application directory. The default location is /Applications/Adobe Experience
Manager Desktop.app
Edit the file "Contents/Resources/Config.plist". Change the value auto to either debug, info, warn, or error. Save the
file.
Edit the file "Contents/Resources/javascript/logging.json". Replace all occurrences of info with either debug,
warn, or error. Save the file.
Last
Resort

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DESKTOP APP RESOURCES
Troubleshooting Desktop App - https://docs.adobe.com/content/help/en/experience-manager-
desktop-app/using/troubleshoot.html
Workflow Best Practices - https://helpx.adobe.com/experience-manager/6-
3/sites/developing/using/workflows-best-practices.html
AEM and Creative Cloud Integration Best Practices - https://helpx.adobe.com/experience-
manager/6-5/assets/using/aem-cc-integration-best-practices.html

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ADOBE ASSET LINK - RESOURCES
• https://helpx.adobe.com/enterprise/using/adobe-asset-link.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/experience-manager/kt/assets/using/adobe-asset-link-feature-video-use
• https://helpx.adobe.com/enterprise/kb/asset-link-troubleshooting.html

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THANK YOU!