Version Cue is a file-versioning system that is tightly integrated into most of the CS4 version applications. Its key benefit is that it lets you set up projects for sharing over a network. All files within these projects are version-controlled, allowing members of the team to access the very latest versions of each file. The versioning features also ensure that team members don't accidentally save changes over the top of other changes.
Version Cue is accessed from within the File menu. Using the Adobe Version Cue CS4 Server utility, you can control all aspects of Version Cue from an administration interface. This interface lets you create and edit the access and authentication for users, create and define project properties, and lock files.
When CS4 is installed, Version Cue is also installed by default, but it is not enabled by default. Once the Version Cue server is started, it can be used.
Note
Version Cue comes only as part of Creative Suite. If you purchased a license for only a single CS4 application, it won't include Version Cue, but the application can work with Version Cue if somebody else on your network has it installed.
Version Cue is installed by simply installing CS4. Version Cue preferences are set using the Adobe Version Cue CS4 Server dialog box. To access this dialog box, shown in Figure 7.1, double-click the Adobe Version Cue CS4 icon. This icon is found within the System Preferences (on the Mac) or in the Control Panel (in Windows). In the Adobe Version Cue CS4 Server dialog box, you can start or stop the Version Cue server. For Windows systems, you also have an option to Show Server Tray Icon, which makes the Version Cue CS4 icon visible in the system tray located in the lower-right corner of the interface. Mac users have an option to Show Version Cue CS4 Status in Menu Bar.
The Server Visibility field lets you make the workspace shared or private. The two options are Visible to Others and Private.
You can use the next three preferences to optimize the workspace and to specify the type of files that you are versioning. You can set Workspace Size to Single User, Small (2–4 People), Medium (5–10 People), or Large (10+ People). By specifying the workspace size, Version Cue can make more connections available so users don't have to wait as long to gain access to the files. The Memory Usage field lets you specify the amount of memory on your local machine or on the network that is available for Version Cue to use. Increasing this value enables you to retrieve files very quickly but leaves less memory available for the other applications. You also can opt to turn Version Cue on when the computer starts.
When Version Cue is first enabled, two folders are created on your local system. The Version Cue folder is located in the Documents folder. This folder holds temporary working copies of the files that you're currently editing.
The other folders are located by default in a system folder separate from where the Creative Suite applications were installed. These folders, consisting of folders named Adobe Version Cue CS4Serverdata and Adobe Version Cue CS4Serverackups, hold the information about the server setup and data backups of the server data and are referenced in the Locations panel of the Version Cue Preferences dialog box, shown in Figure 7.2.
Warning
If you look at the files located in the data and backups folders, you won't be able to find any recognizable file formats. Do not manually move or edit any of these files; if you do, Version Cue won't work properly.
Figure 7.2. The Locations panel of the Version Cue Preferences dialog box lets you specify the location of data and backup folders.
If you want to change the data and backups folder locations, you must turn Version Cue off and click Apply before the Choose button in the Locations panel becomes active. After the Choose button is active, you can click it to select a new directory.
The Updates panel of the Version Cue Preferences dialog box, shown in Figure 7.3, includes a single button that lets you check for updates to the Version Cue. Your computer needs to be connected to the Internet in order for this button to work.
Figure 7.3. The Updates panel of the Version Cue Preferences dialog box checks the Adobe Web site for any Version Cue updates.
If any software updates are found, the Adobe Updater appears. The Adobe Updater lists any updates that are available. If you select the check box to the left of the update filename in the All Available Updates section, the size of the download and the time required to download the update are displayed at the bottom of the Updater. The Download Updates button also becomes active. Clicking this button begins the update process. If you select any of the updates listed, a description of the update is listed in the Description text field.
The Preferences button opens a dialog box, shown in Figure 7.4, where you set the Adobe Updater to automatically check for updates every month. You also can specify a directory to save the downloads.
Although CS4 is enabled and turned on by default, each individual CS4 application can use its own preferences to turn off its ability to use Version Cue. The setting for enabling Version Cue for each separate CS4 app is found in the File Handling panel of the Preferences dialog box. For example, to enable or disable Version Cue for Photoshop, Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, and Flash, open the Preferences dialog box (found in the application-name menu on the Mac or in the Edit menu in Windows) and select the File Handling panel (within Illustrator, the option is located in the File Handling & Clipboard panel). The option for enabling Version Cue for Acrobat 8 Professional is found in the General panel of the Preferences dialog box, which you can access by choosing Edit
Figure 7.4. The Adobe Updater Preferences dialog box includes an option to automatically check for updates once a month.
Note
Version Cue is on by default in all listed applications, except for Flash. Also note that enabling Version Cue as an application's preference does not turn on the Version Cue server, but only sets the particular application to interact with Version Cue.
Note
Version Cue also works with InCopy.
Within the File Handling panel of the Preferences dialog box, shown in Figure 7.5, is a Use Version Cue option. Enabling this option makes Version Cue available for that application.
Note
Dreamweaver doesn't interact with Version Cue in anyway. Dreamweaver has support for Subversion, another popular file versioning system used in Web development.
Version Cue can also be enabled for all CS4 applications using the Startup Scripts panel in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Bridge.
When Version Cue is turned on and enabled for the working application, you need to create a Version Cue project where the project files are made accessible. You can then connect to the Version Cue project using Adobe Drive, shown in Figure 7.6.
To create a connection to an established Version Cue server, click the Version Cue icon in the Adobe Drive dialog box. All available servers are displayed. Simply select the server you want to connect to and click the Connect button. If the server requires authentication, you're prompted to enter a Name and Password, as shown in Figure 7.7.
Once connected, the project appear as a drive in the Open and Save As dialog boxes within the various CS4 applications.
You must start the Version Cue server and create projects before they appear within Version Cue. Creating a new project is accomplished using the Version Cue Administrator utility. More on this utility is presented at the end of the chapter.
File contained within a Version Cue project are easily opened using the File
When a file is opened from a Version Cue project, the File
When you save Version Cue files by choosing File
When you're ready to save a new version of the edited file to the Version Cue repository, choose File
You can add single files, multiple files, or synchronize files to a Version Cue project, or you can drag and drop files into a Version Cue project using Adobe Bridge:
Single file: Choose File
Multiple files: To add multiple files to a project, copy all the files into their correct folders of the working project file located in the connected Adobe Drive.
To delete a Version Cue-managed file, you select the Version Cue file in the Adobe Drive folder and choose delete.
You can complete many Version Cue administrative tasks—including creating, deleting, backing up and editing projects, locking files, editing user access rights, and viewing logs and reports—using the Version Cue CS4 Administration Web pages.
You access this utility by clicking Server Administration in the Adobe Version Cue CS4 icon in the Control Panel or from the system tray in Windows or from the menu bar in Mac dialog box, or by selecting the Edit Properties menu command from the Project Tools pop-up menu and clicking Server Administration.
When you first access the Version Cue CS4 Administration Web pages, a login page appears, asking you to enter your username and password.
Note
All users on the system are given access to this utility, but only the user with the System Administrator username and password may set the rights of the other users.
The Version Cue CS4 Administration utility opens within a Web browser. After you create an account, you need to log in every time you access the utility using a login page.
After you've logged in, the home page of the utility appears, as shown in Figure 7.9. This home page includes four tabbed page links along the top—Home, Users/Groups, Projects, and Advanced. The home page also includes several common tasks that you may perform using this utility.
Clicking the Users/Groups link in the Version Cue CS4 Administration utility opens a page with several tasks. If you click the Manage User/Groups link, the page shown in Figure 7.10 appears. This page lists all the users and their information and allows you to create edit, edit, and delete users who have access to the workspace. Global permissions can also be set for the selected groups and users. Global permissions apply to all users and groups by default.
To add a new user, click New and a New User page opens where you can enter the information for a new user including his username, login, password, phone number, and e-mail address, as well as comments about that user. You also can specify the user's privileges as None, User, Project Creator, or System Administrator.
Clicking a user's name in the User page opens the Edit User page. The Edit User page is similar to the New User page. The Edit User page is where you can edit a user's information. This page also lets you specify the user's access to the various projects.
Figure 7.9. The Version Cue CS4 Administration utility home page includes links to several different utility pages and several basic tasks.
The Import Users button lets you import a list of users directly into the administration utility. Users can also be imported from an LDAP server using the LDAP Preferences link. LDAP attributes can also be mapped to Version Cue attributes. LDAP imported users are displayed using a different icon from users created manually.
The Projects page in the Version Cue CS4 Administration utility opens a page, shown in Figure 7.11, that lists all the available projects. From within this page, you can click New to create a new project. Using the buttons in the page, you also can duplicate, back up, export, and delete the selected projects.
Figure 7.11. The Projects page of the Version Cue Workspace Administration Utility lets you manage projects in the current workspace.
Clicking New in the Projects page opens the New Project page, as shown in Figure 7.12. Here, you can select to create a blank project, import from a folder, import from an FTP server, or import from a WebDAV server. Each of these options walks you through the steps to create and define the properties for the project. Clicking Next moves to the next page.
Clicking a project name in the Projects page opens an editing page that lists the properties for this project, its assigned users, and any project backups. The properties for each project that you may set include:
Share the Project with Others: This option enables sharing this project with other users, so other users with rights to this project can view and access its files.
Enable Lock Protection: Only one user can update the version of that file. Other users can open the file, but they're prevented from saving the file as a version of the original file. They may make changes and save the file with a different filename but not as a version of the original file.
Warning
CS2 components and Acrobat 8 files work with Version Cue CS4, but you need to enable the Maximize Compatibility with CS2 Applications and Acrobat 8 option when the Version Cue folder is initially created.
In the Projects pane, you can either click the project name link to edit the project info and create a backup, or you can use the check box to the left of the project name to select the project and use one of the buttons at the top of the Projects pane. If you click Back Up on the Projects page for a selected project, then a page, shown in Figure 7.13, appears. This is where you can verify the name that is used for the backup as well as which items are backed up. Clicking Save starts the backup process.
Back on the Projects page, the Backup List button (which is available only after you run a backup) opens a page that lists all the available backups. Selecting a backed up project from the list opens a page with a Restore button that you may use to restore the backed up project.
Clicking the Advanced tab (located to the right of the Projects tab) opens a Web page with options to set Preferences, Import Version Cue CS2 Data workspaces, schedule maintenance, and set logs and reports. This page is shown in Figure 7.14 and offers the following options:
Setting Preferences: The Preferences link opens a page of preferences including the Workspace Name, the Log Level and Log Size, an option to Compress the log file, and ports for the FTP and HTTP Proxies. The Security Preferences option includes settings for configuring SSL and the LDAP Preferences option is used to import LDAP users.
Import Version Cue CS3 Data: The Import Version Cue 3.0 Data lets you quickly import all projects and user accounts saved with the previous version of CS.
Unlocking files: The Advanced tab also includes an option to Reset Locks. You may find this invaluable for times when a critical file becomes permanently locked so no one can view it. Be aware that resetting the locks will kick all users out of their opened files.
Purging old files: The Remove Old Files option gives you a page where you can delete all files older than a certain date, or you can specify that only a given number of versions are kept. This is a quick way to clean up a project to free some network disc space if needed.
Version Cue Backup: This option gives you the ability to move the entire Version Cue server to another computer. The Administer Backups option lets you view and access the various project backups that you've made.
Restart Server: If the server is having trouble and needs to be reinitialized, then the Restart Server option can be used to do this.
Viewing logs and reports: The Workspace Log is a simple text file that keeps track of all system events. Every time a file is loaded and saved into a project, an entry is logged into the log file. Using this tool can help you find where a file is. It also can help troubleshoot any problems that appear. You can schedule reports to run regularly and to report any errors for a project. Regularly reading these generated reports will help keep your projects in tune and running smooth.
You may access the Adobe Drive to connect to any established Version Cue projects.
The Version Cue Server interface lets you control the server's availability.
The Version Cue CS4 Administration utility may be accessed from the Version Cue Preferences dialog box. This browser-based tool is used to create and edit users and projects, back up and restore projects, and view project reports.