Adobe has just announced a nice new update to the Creative Cloud. These “CC 2015” versions of apps bring some great new features to subscribers (as usual).

However, someone at Adobe also made a decision that I–and a whole bunch of other graphics professionals–disagree with, and you should be aware of it before you install the latest version.

In a nutshell, the Creative Cloud Installer team has decided that the updated CC 2015 apps will, by default, overwrite your previous, 2014 apps. Past iterations of the Creative Cloud didn’t do this, instead installing the new versions next to the old ones that you know and love. I’m baffled why anyone thought this new behavior was a good idea, but the simple fact is there are lots of reasons NOT to overwrite your existing installation—the most obvious one being it is bad practice to upgrade your software in the middle of project, and I expect a lot of you are in the middle of projects right now. Also, many of you have plugins that may need to be upgraded. A favorite feature may have been updated and you need time to learn the new version, etc.

Whatever the justification, there is good news: you can change this behavior in the CC installer if you know where to look.

Adobe After Effects Product Manager Todd Kopriva has written a blog post that details exactly what you should do to safely install the new versions, and I highly recommend you read it.

There are definitely great reasons to upgrade. Products like After Effects have been updated with sweet new features. As long as you are careful, there is no reason not to enjoy the new Adobe CC 2015 applications.

Just… watch your step.

– Brian Maffitt