Configurable auto-refresh interval in Adobe plugin

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While using the Zoom Adobe plugin inside Adobe apps, the status of the project and its associated links are automatically refreshed at regular intervals. From Zoom 6 onwards, users can configure this auto-refresh interval in different ways.

 

This auto-refresh is configured using zoom.properties. Follow the steps as per your Zoom version:

For Zoom 6:

  1. Open zoom.properties file for editing in a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit ([Userdir]/.zm/zoom.properties).
  2. Locate the property AUTO_REFRESH_INTERVAL_IN_PLUGIN. Add this property if it is not present.
  3. Set the property AUTO_REFRESH_INTERVAL_IN_PLUGIN to a number denoting the auto-refresh interval in seconds.
    • To configure Zoom to auto-refresh every 40 seconds, set the property to 40. Any value above 5 seconds can be set this way. If we try and set the value to any number between 0 and 5, then Zoom sets it to 5 automatically.
    • To configure Zoom to stop auto-refresh, set the property to 0 or any negative value like -7.
    The default value of auto-refresh interval is 5 seconds. Zoom auto-refreshes every 5 seconds if no value is set in the zoom.properties file.
  4. Save and close zoom.properties file. Select Reload Zoom properties from the plugin. 
 
 
For Zoom 7:

In Zoom 7, auto-refresh could only be turned on or off. If it is turned on, the auto-refresh interval is fixed at its default value of 30 seconds.

  1. Open zoom.properties file for editing in a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit ([Userdir]/.zm/zoom.properties).
  2. Locate the property AUTO_REFRESH_ON. Add this property if it is not present.
  3. Set the property AUTO_REFRESH_ON as follows:
    • To configure Zoom to stop auto-refresh, set the property to 0.
    • To configure Zoom to auto-refresh every 30 seconds, set the property to any other number (not 0). For eg, set the property to 1 to start auto-refresh.
    The default value of auto-refresh interval is 30 seconds. Zoom auto-refreshes every 30 seconds if the property is not set in zoom.properties file.
  4. Save and close zoom.properties file. Restart Adobe applications to see these changes in the plugin.  

 

For Zoom 7.1:

  1. Open zoom.properties file for editing in a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit ([Userdir]/.zm/zoom.properties).
  2. Locate the property AUTO_REFRESH_INTERVAL_IN_PLUGIN. Add this property if it is not present.
  3. Set the property AUTO_REFRESH_INTERVAL_IN_PLUGIN to a number denoting the auto-refresh interval in seconds.
    • To configure Zoom to auto-refresh every 40 seconds, set the property to 40. Any positive number can be set this way.
    • To configure Zoom to stop auto-refresh, set the property to 0 or any negative value like -7.
    The default value of auto-refresh interval is 30 seconds. Zoom auto-refreshes every 30 seconds if no value is set in the zoom.properties file.
  4. Save and close zoom.properties file. Select Reload properties from the plugin flyover menu.

 

From Zoom 7 onwards, if the relevant property is not set (not present in zoom.properties file) or is set to an invalid value, Zoom enables auto-refresh. The auto-refresh is at the default interval for that version.

The default interval is 5 seconds for Zoom 6. It is 30 seconds from Zoom 7 onwards.

 

Tips and Tricks:

  • For Zoom 6 and 7.1 onwards:
    • If auto-refresh takes time then set AUTO_REFRESH_INTERVAL_IN_PLUGIN property to a higher number so that automatic refresh is not triggered frequently.
    • However, if the auto-refresh still takes time, you could disable auto-refresh using the method mentioned above for your Zoom version.
    • If the auto-refresh interval is set to a low value while working with files having many layers/links, the application may hang. To fix, either increase this value or set it to 0.
  • For Zoom 6:
    • If the auto-refresh interval is set between 0 and 5 (not including), the interval defaults to 5 seconds i.e. auto-refreshing in less than 5 seconds is not allowed.
  • For Zoom 7.1 onwards:
    • Don’t forget to reload Zoom properties from the plugin after changing the auto-refresh related property in zoom.properties file.

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