Background
With confirmation from Adobe Technical Support (Case ID: E-000041193), the new intended behavior of Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop 4.9x is to only disable the Apps panel, NOT completely hide it.
The best part? Adobe provides the end-user (with local admin rights) a link to instructions on how to re-enable the Apps panel.
Heavy-handed Approach
We're testing out the following script, which runs weekly on computers which have single Adobe products (i.e., not Master Collection).
Script
#!/bin/sh
####################################################################################################
#
# ABOUT
#
# Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Panel Visibility
#
# See: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/kb/apps-tab-missing.html
# See: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/kb/disable-updates-and-apps-panel-for-the-creative-cloud-products.html
#
####################################################################################################
#
# HISTORY
#
# Version 1.0, 12-Oct-2017, Dan K. Snelson
# Original version
#
# Version 1.1, 29-Jul-2019, Dan K. Snelson
# Updated for Creative Cloud Desktop app 4.9.0.504
#
####################################################################################################
### Variables
loggedInUser=$( /usr/bin/stat -f%Su /dev/console ) # Currently logged in user
### Functions
killProcess(){
echo "Quit Adobe-related process: "${1}" ..."
/usr/bin/pkill -l -U ${loggedInUser} ${1}
}
echo "### Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop: Panel Visibility ###"
# If Parameter 4 is blank, use "false" as the default value ...
if [[ "${4}" != "" ]] && [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "" ]]; then
AppsPanelVisibility="${4}" # Apps Panel Visibility (i.e., "true" | "false")
else
echo "Parameter 4 is blank; using "false" as the visibilty setting for the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Apps panel ..."
AppsPanelVisibility="false"
fi
# Check for a valid value for Apps Panel Visibility (i.e., "true" or "false")
if [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "true" ]] || [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "false" ]]; then
echo "Using "${AppsPanelVisibility}" as the visibilty setting for the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Apps panel ..."
echo "Quit Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App ..."
killProcess "Creative Cloud"
killProcess "CCLibrary"
killProcess "Core Sync"
killProcess "Core Sync Helper"
killProcess "Adobe Desktop Service"
killProcess "CCXProcess"
if [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "false" ]]; then
echo "Disabling Apps Panel Visibility ..."
/bin/echo "<config>
<panel>
<name>AppsPanel</name>
<visible>false</visible>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>FilesPanel</name>
<visible>false</visible>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>MarketPanel</name>
<masked>false</masked>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>StockPanel</name>
<visible>false</visible>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>BehancePanel</name>
<visible>false</visible>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>FontsPanel</name>
<visible>false</visible>
</panel>
<feature>
<name>SelfServeInstalls</name>
<enabled>false</enabled>
</feature>
</config>" > /Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE/Configs/ServiceConfig.xml
elif [[ "${AppsPanelVisibility}" == "true" ]]; then
echo "Enabling Apps Panel Visibility ..."
/bin/echo "<config>
<panel>
<name>AppsPanel</name>
<visible>true</visible>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>FilesPanel</name>
<visible>false</visible>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>MarketPanel</name>
<masked>false</masked>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>StockPanel</name>
<visible>false</visible>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>BehancePanel</name>
<visible>false</visible>
</panel>
<panel>
<name>FontsPanel</name>
<visible>false</visible>
</panel>
<feature>
<name>SelfServeInstalls</name>
<enabled>false</enabled>
</feature>
</config>" > /Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE/Configs/ServiceConfig.xml
fi
# Reload preferences
echo "Reload preferences for ${loggedInUser} ..."
/usr/bin/pkill -l -U "${loggedInUser}" cfprefsd
# Launch Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App
#echo "Launch Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App as "${loggedInUser}" ..."
#/usr/bin/su - "${loggedInUser}" -c "/usr/bin/open '/Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud/ACC/Creative Cloud.app'"
else
echo "ERROR: Parameter 4 set to "${AppsPanelVisibility}" instead of either "true" or "false"; exiting."
exit 1
fi
# Record result to JSS
echo "Set Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Apps Panel Visibility to "${AppsPanelVisibility}"."
exit 0
