Adobe Technical Communication Suite Installation Guide

September 6, 2021

Adobe Technical

Communication Suite

Installation Guide

i ADOBE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SUITE

Contents

Install Adobe Technical Communication Suite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Core hardware and operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Supported software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Supported languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Supported browsers for publishing output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Get Adobe TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Install Adobe TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Prerequisite to installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Install from Electronic Download files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Silent deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Additional notes on installation and uninstallation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Deploy TCS through Admin Console - for VIP and ETLA customer administrators . . . . . 8

Get your organization's account provisioned in Admin Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Customize and create packages for TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Download package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Distribute package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Other common tasks in Admin Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Add or remove users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Update a package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Legal notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

ADOBE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SUITE ii

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

CHAPTER 1 INSTALL ADOBE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SUITE

Install Adobe Technical Communication Suite

Adobe Technical Communication Suite (TCS) is an end-to-end solution for authoring, reviewing,

managing, and publishing technical information and training content. You can use it to create and main-

tain technical documentation, user assistance systems, knowledge-bases, simulations, software demon-

strations, and other support information.

This document explains the following:

• Minimum system requirements that must be met to install Adobe TCS; see System requirements

• Various options available to access the latest version; see Get Adobe TCS

• How to download and install from DVDs or through electronic downloads; see Install Adobe TCS

• Solutions to common installation issues; see Additional notes on installation and uninstallation

• How to install TCS using Adobe Admin Console; see Deploy TCS through Adobe Admin Console

System requirements

Before installing Adobe TCS or individual products from the Adobe TCS bundle, ensure that your system

meets the following requirements:

• Core hardware and operating system

• Supported software

• Supported languages

• Supported browsers for publishing output

Core hardware and operating system

Category Adobe TCS Adobe FrameMaker Adobe RoboHelp

Processor Core i5 or faster

Operating system Microsoft® Windows®

10, 8.1

Microsoft® Windows®

10 or macOS 10.14.6

(or higher)

RAM 16 GB or higher 4 GB or higher

Hard-disk space 128 GB or higher 64 GB or higher

Architecture (CPU and

Operating system)

64-bit

Additional software JRE 8 JRE 8 -

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

CHAPTER 1 INSTALL ADOBE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SUITE

NOTE: Microsoft® PowerPoint 2016, 2013, or 2010 is required if you are installing Adobe Presenter.

IMPORTANT: Installation is not supported on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on remov-

able flash storage devices.

Supported software

Supported languages

Adobe TCS and all the bundled products are available in the following languages:

• English

• French

• German

• Japanese

Maximum supported

screen resolution

4K (3480 x 2160, 8.3 megapixels, aspect ratio 16:9)

Software Adobe TCS

Adobe

FrameMaker Adobe RoboHelp

Microsoft Word 2013, 2010, or Office 365 (only

document downloaded from Office

365)

Microsoft Word

2010 or later

Acrobat Desktop Application XI, Pro 2015, Pro

(2017 release) or

the latest version

XI, Pro (2017

release), latest

version

Adobe Captivate 2019 or later - 2019 or later

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 or Online 2013 or Online Online

Adobe Presenter 11.1.6 Yes - -

Adobe Experience Manager 6.5, 6.4, and 6.3 6.5, 6.4, and 6.3 -

DITA-OT 3.x Yes Yes -

Microsoft Azure DevOps Server Yes - Yes

Git for Windows/Mac Yes - Yes

Category Adobe TCS Adobe FrameMaker Adobe RoboHelp

GET ADOBE TCS

HAPTER 1 INSTALL ADOBE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SUITE

Supported browsers for publishing output

The latest version of the following browsers is supported:

• Google Chrome

• Mozilla Firefox

• Microsoft Edge

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 (Basic certification)

Get Adobe TCS

Visit the Adobe TCS portal to access the latest version of Adobe TCS. Depending on your requirement,

you can do the following:

• Download a free 30-day trial by filling a simple form.

• Request a free private demo by filling a form.

• Purchase or upgrade to the latest version from Adobe Store. You can have the latest version deliv-

ered as an electronic download file.

• Deploy through Adobe Admin Console.

Install Adobe TCS

The installation process for Adobe TCS varies, depending on the delivery method you chose while

purchasing or upgrading to the latest version.

Prerequisite to installation

During the installation of Adobe TCS, if certain applications are running on your system, an error dialog

appears and the installation is interrupted. Therefore, before starting the installation process, ensure

that you close the conflicting applications.

Conflicting applications to be closed before installation:

Adobe applications Microsoft applications

Operating system and other

applications

Adobe FrameMaker MS Excel AutoCAD Map 3D

Adobe RoboHelp MS Word Netscape Navigator

Adobe Acrobat Pro MS Outlook

Adobe Reader MS PowerPoint

MS Visual Studio

INSTALL ADOBE TCS

HAPTER 1 INSTALL ADOBE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SUITE

Next, depending on your chosen delivery method, follow the appropriate installation procedure:

• Install from Electronic Download files

• Silent deployment

Install from Electronic Download files

Adobe provides two electronic download files that you can download from the TCS trial download site:

•

TechCommunicationSuite_x_0_LREFDJ.zip—Contains the following:

– Adobe Presenter 11.1.6

– Adobe TCS bundle, which includes the following:

• Adobe FrameMaker

• Adobe RoboHelp

• Adobe Captivate

• Adobe Media Encoder

• Adobe Acrobat Pro

– Adobe TCS readme files (for the Adobe TCS bundle)

•

TechCommunicationSuite_x_0_Content_LREFDJ.zip—Contains the following:

– Adobe TCS add-ons

NOTE: Retail subscription users, including those who have purchased from other buying

programs offering subscription, do not have access to Adobe TCS add-ons.

– Adobe TCS readme files (for each product in the Adobe TCS bundle)

MS Access

MS Notepad

MS Project

Character Map (close from Task

Manager)

Adobe applications Microsoft applications

Operating system and other

applications

INSTALL ADOBE TCS

HAPTER 1 INSTALL ADOBE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SUITE

To install Adobe TCS from an electronic download file, do the following:

1) Download the

TechCommunicationSuite_x_0_LREFDJ.zip file from the TCS trial down-

load site:

2) Extract the installation files to the default folder path or specify an alternate folder path:

3) Navigate to the folder that contains the

Set-up.exe file.

4) Double-click

Set-up.exe to run it.

INSTALL ADOBE TCS

HAPTER 1 INSTALL ADOBE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SUITE

5) Select the desired components to be installed and click Continue.

6) Follow the installation prompts until the installation is complete.

Silent deployment

If you are an administrator, run Set-up.exe in silent mode on ESD Bootstrapper to install, uninstall, or

update Adobe TCS. Use the following command-line syntax:

NOTE: Arguments in bold font are mandatory.

• To install

Set-up.exe --silent=1

-installLanguage=<language_supported_by_TCS>

-proxyUserName=<internet_proxy_username>

-proxyPassword=<internet_proxy_password>

• To uninstall

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON INSTALLATION AND UNINSTALLATION

CHAPTER 1 INSTALL ADOBE TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SUITE

Set-up.exe --silent=1 -uninstall=1 -sapCode=FRMK

-productPlatform=<platform_version> -codexVersion=<codex_version>

-deleteUserPreferences=true -proxyUserName=<internet_proxy_username>

-proxyPassword=<internet_proxy_password>

• To update

Set-up.exe --silent=1 -update=1 -sapCode=FRMK

-productPlatform=<platform_version> -codexVersion=<codex_version>

-installLanguage=<language_supported_by_TCS>

-proxyUserName=<internet_proxy_username>

-proxyPassword=<internet_proxy_password>

NOTE:

• In the

-productPlatform argument, specify win64.

• In the

-codexVersion argument, specify 15.0.0 for TCS 2019 or 16.0.0 for the latest release

of TCS.

• In the

-installLanguage argument, specify en_EN for English, fr_FR for French, ge_GE for

German, or

jp_JP for Japanese.

By default, ESD client returns progress and exit codes in the console. A parent script or automation can

use the exit code to track the success of the operation.

Exit Code = 0 denotes success; other exit

codes indicate errors.

NOTE: In case of uninstallation and update, ESD client creates a copy of itself in the temp location, from

which it runs the process. Since the ESD client cannot connect to the parent console outside the temp

location, it does not return the progress and exit codes. So, the parent script or automation cannot track

the exit code and it depends on logs.

Additional notes on installation and uninstallation

You must consider the following points while installing or uninstalling TCS or point products:

• If you are installing Adobe Captive, it must be installed along with Adobe Acrobat.

• The silent deployment of Adobe Presenter works only with a package created through Adobe

Admin Console. Use the following command to install Presenter in silent mode:

msiexec.exe /i <packagename.msi> /quiet

Replace packagename.msi with the name of the package file created under the build folder.

• If you are manually uninstalling TCS or its point products, then Adobe Media Encoder must not be

the last product to be uninstalled.

GET YOUR ORGANIZATION'S ACCOUNT PROVISIONED IN ADMIN CONSOLE

CHAPTER 2 DEPLOY TCS THROUGH ADMIN CONSOLE - FOR VIP AND ETLA CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATORS

Deploy TCS through Admin Console - for VIP and

ETLA customer administrators

If you have Administrator rights for an organization in Adobe Admin Console and the pool of licenses for

Adobe Technical Communications Suite (TCS) or one of its point products, you can create and download

packages through Admin Console. You can then use the Admin Console to assign end users to an organi-

zation and distribute the packages to the users. For more information about how to use Admin Console,

see the Administration User Guide.

As an Administrator of an organization, you need to perform the following tasks to create and distribute

TCS packages to your end users:

1) Get your organization's account provisioned in Admin Console

2) Customize and create packages for TCS

3) Download package

4) Distribute package

In addition, you can also perform some common tasks in the Admin Console:

• Add or remove users

• Update a package

Get your organization's account provisioned in Admin Console

This task is performed by Adobe's account provisioning and licensing team. In this task, your organization

is created in Admin Console that consists of the applications and number licenses you have purchased

for each application. Also, one or more administrative user accounts are created for your organization.

As an administrator, you can create packages and grant application access to users in your organization.

Customize and create packages for TCS

Adobe Templates are pre-created Named User Licensing packages that are available for you to download

from the Packages tab in the Admin Console. They are either single-app packages or collection packages

created by Adobe. These packages are created based on default settings.

For TCS, a pre-configured template is available for each product in the suite. Depending on the licenses

purchased by your organization, you could have templates for one or more applications from the suite

or you could have a template for the entire Technical Communication Suite.

NOTE: If your organization is setup with Adobe Creative Cloud product(s) and TCS, then the TCS package

will contain Creative Cloud desktop app along with other TCS products. The Creative Cloud desktop app

allows you to download and install Adobe Creative Cloud apps. For more information, see Download

Creative Cloud desktop app.

CUSTOMIZE AND CREATE PACKAGES FOR TCS

HAPTER 2 DEPLOY TCS THROUGH ADMIN CONSOLE - FOR VIP AND ETLA CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATORS

Perform the following steps to customize and create a package:

1) Open a browser and access the Admin Console.

2) Enter your Adobe ID and password, and click Sign In.

3) If you're an Administrator for multiple organizations, select an organization.

An Admin can belong to multiple organizations. For example, if a company has several subsidiaries,

each of which has a separate license agreement, or a separate organization under the license agree-

ment, the same Admin may be assigned to all.

4) Navigate to Packages > Adobe Templates.

If your organization has purchased licenses only for FrameMaker, then you will only get

FrameMaker template as shown below:

If your organization has purchased licenses for TCS, then you will have access to all product-specific

templates in the suite:

IMPORTANT: Templates for Acrobat and Captivate have macOS variant, however, those should not

be selected for creating TCS package.

These pre-configured templates contain their corresponding application. For example, the package

for Acrobat contains Acrobat application. Clicking on a template shows the package details.

The Applications column in the templates screen indicates the number of applications bundled in the

package. In case of Captivate, there are 4 application bundled in the package, which are: Adobe

Captivate, Adobe Captivate Assets, Adobe Captivate Voices, and Media Encoder. Similarly, the Pre-

senter package contains 2 applications: Adobe Presenter and Media Encoder.

CUSTOMIZE AND CREATE PACKAGES FOR TCS

HAPTER 2 DEPLOY TCS THROUGH ADMIN CONSOLE - FOR VIP AND ETLA CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATORS

5) To customize the TCS package, click anywhere on the row of Technical Communication Suite

package.

NOTE: If you want to create a package for a point product, click anywhere on the row of the desired

package. Except Captivate and Presenter, there are no customizations available in the point

product packages. You can simply download the package and distribute them to your end users.

The Technical Communication Suite package details are displayed:

6) Click Customize.

7) In the Configure screen, you are shown the Use OS Locale option.

Select the Use OS Locale option to create a package that deploys in the client machine's OS lan-

guage. As TCS is available in four languages: English, French, German, and Japanese, if you try to

install it on a system with any other language, it will fallback to English.

8) Click Next.

CUSTOMIZE AND CREATE PACKAGES FOR TCS

HAPTER 2 DEPLOY TCS THROUGH ADMIN CONSOLE - FOR VIP AND ETLA CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATORS

The Choose Apps screen is displayed.

By default, all applications in TCS are selected. You can remove the application that you do not want

in the package by clicking the cross (X) icon.

IMPORTANT: The latest version of Adobe Media Encoder included in the TCS package is supported on

Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit) Version 1703 or later. If you are creating a package for earlier

version of Windows, then exclude Adobe Media Encoder from the package. You need to install the

Media Encoder separately.

CUSTOMIZE AND CREATE PACKAGES FOR TCS

HAPTER 2 DEPLOY TCS THROUGH ADMIN CONSOLE - FOR VIP AND ETLA CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATORS

The following screenshot shows only FrameMaker, RoboHelp, and Acrobat included in the package:

9) Click Next.

10) On the Options screen, you can select or deselect the Enable Remote Update Manager option.

The Enable Remote Update Manager option enables the use of Remote Update Manager. Adobe

Remote Update Manager lets you remotely run the updater on the client with the benefit of execut-

ing as an administrator. For more information, see Remote Update Manager.

11) Click Next.

12) On the Finalize screen, enter the name of the package, and then click Build Package.

You can also review the included applications and configuration for this package before building the

package.

The package build process starts and you are shown the Packages screen.

IMPORTANT: By default, a package is available for download for 3 days from the creation day. After

this, the package expires, and the download link is no longer available.

DOWNLOAD PACKAGE

CHAPTER 2 DEPLOY TCS THROUGH ADMIN CONSOLE - FOR VIP AND ETLA CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATORS

Download package

After successful execution of the package build process, the package is listed on the Packages screen.

Perform the following steps to download the package:

1) Access the Packages screen.

2) Click on the Download link of the package that you want to download.

3) Save the package ZIP file on your local system.

Distribute package

After downloading the package, you can share the package file with the users entitled to use Adobe prod-

ucts. You can simply share the file on a network location or share it through portable USB storage device.

If your organization uses SCCM server, then you can deploy the package on the SCCM server to distribute

it. For more details, see Deploy Adobe packages with SCCM.

Other common tasks in Admin Console

In addition to creating and distributing product packages, the following tasks are also required on a

regular basis:

Add or remove users

As a Product Administrator, you are assigned administrative privileges to one or more products in your

organization. You can assign users and groups to the products that you have been assigned. Optionally,

you can then assign roles to these users. You can also create product profiles and assign Product Profile

Administrators to the profiles that you create. For more details, see Manage products and profiles.

OTHER COMMON TASKS IN ADMIN CONSOLE

CHAPTER 2 DEPLOY TCS THROUGH ADMIN CONSOLE - FOR VIP AND ETLA CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATORS

Perform the following steps to add users to a product:

1) Log in to the Admin Console.

2) In the products Overview screen, Click Assign Users in the Adobe Technical Communication Suite

tile.

OTHER COMMON TASKS IN ADMIN CONSOLE

CHAPTER 2 DEPLOY TCS THROUGH ADMIN CONSOLE - FOR VIP AND ETLA CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATORS

3) In the Add User to Adobe Technical Communication Suite screen, enter the name or email of the

user and pick the user from the drop-down list that is displayed.

4) Select a profile for the current product and click Save.

NOTE: By default, a profile named Default Adobe Technical Communication Suite Configuration is

available for TCS.

The updated list of users displays, and the user receives a notification email.

Perform the following steps to remove users from a product:

1) While managing a product in the Admin Console, navigate to Users.

2) Select the check boxes to the left of the user names and click Remove Users.

3) In the confirmation dialog box, click Remove Users.

Update a package

If one or more applications in your package is outdated (a newer version exists), you can choose to create

an Update package that includes:

• All the latest versions of outdated applications

• All the updated applications and latest versions of outdated applications

OTHER COMMON TASKS IN ADMIN CONSOLE

CHAPTER 2 DEPLOY TCS THROUGH ADMIN CONSOLE - FOR VIP AND ETLA CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATORS

For example, if you update the following package, you can choose to either create an updated package

that includes all the applications or create an updated package that includes only Adobe Captivate

(11.5.5).

For details about how to update a package, see Create Update package.

CHAPTER 3 LEGAL NOTICES

Legal notices

For legal notices, visit the Legal Notices page.