Customize After Effects without Admin Rights

1. User Presets Folder (ffx files)

After Effects looks in your user profile for presets:

Windows path:

C:\Users\<YourUsername>\Documents\Adobe\After Effects <version>\User Presets\

• Replace <YourUsername> with your Windows username.
• Replace <version> with your After Effects version, e.g., 2025.
• Put your .ffx files here.
• They will show up under Animation → Apply Animation Preset inside After Effects.

Make sure that you select Explorer Folders from Effects&Presets panel.

2. Extensions (zxp files)

1. Unpack the .zxp (if needed)
   • Rename your-extension.zxp → your-extension.zip and extract with Explorer / 7‑Zip. You should get a folder containing CSXS/manifest.xml (or an extension folder structure).
2. Create the per‑user CEP extensions folder
   • Open Explorer and go to:
     %APPDATA%\Adobe\CEP\extensions\
   • (I.E.: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming)
   • If the CEP\extensions path doesn’t exist, create it.
3. Choose the extension folder name (ID)
   • Use the extension’s ID (usually in manifest.xml as ExtensionBundleId or Extension Id) as the folder name. If unsure, pick a short unique name (e.g. com.yourname.myext).
   • Example final path:
     %APPDATA%\Adobe\CEP\extensions\com.yourname.myext\
4. Copy files
   • Copy the extracted extension files into that folder (so CSXS/manifest.xml sits under %APPDATA%\Adobe\CEP\extensions\com.yourname.myext\).
5. Enable loading unsigned / per‑user CEP extensions (PlayerDebugMode)
   • CEP often refuses unsigned extensions unless debug mode is enabled. You can set this per‑user via the registry (no admin required) — run these in a Command Prompt (normal user):

reg add "HKCU\Software\Adobe\CSXS.6"  /v PlayerDebugMode /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Adobe\CSXS.7"  /v PlayerDebugMode /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Adobe\CSXS.8"  /v PlayerDebugMode /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Adobe\CSXS.9"  /v PlayerDebugMode /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Adobe\CSXS.10" /v PlayerDebugMode /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

• (These keys target common CSXS versions; add/remove lines for other version numbers if needed. HKCU edits do not require admin.)

6. Restart Adobe app and Creative Cloud / CEP host
   • Quit the target Adobe application (Photoshop/Illustrator/After Effects etc.) and restart it. If necessary, sign out/in of Creative Cloud or restart the computer to clear caches.
7. Open the extension
   • In the host app look under Window > Extensions (or Window > Extensions (Legacy)), or use the menu the extension documents specify. Some hosts expose extensions under Window > Extensions only when manifest’s Host list matches the app version.

3. Scripts (JavaScript / JSX / JSXBIN)

• These are executed by the host app directly (e.g., Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects).
• Per-user location (no admin required):

%APPDATA%\Adobe\<AppName>\<Version>\Presets\Scripts\

Example (Photoshop 2025):

C:\Users\<YourUser>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2025\Presets\Scripts\

• Place .jsx or .jsxbin files here.
• After copying, restart the app. The scripts appear under: File > Scripts

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4. ScriptUI Panels (JSX + .xml for UI)

• ScriptUI panels are basically scripts with a panel UI.
• To make them show in the Window > Extensions / Panels menu, they need to be placed in:

%APPDATA%\Adobe\<AppName>\<Version>\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels\

Example (Photoshop 2025):

C:\Users\<YourUser>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2025\Presets\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels\

• Copy your .jsx file there.
• Restart Photoshop. The panel appears under: Window > Extensions > YourPanelName