Synchronize Dreamweaver settings with Creative Cloud

Users can use offline import and export functions to store and transfer settings between machines. Sync settings will remain functional in previous Dw public versions until April 2025, after which the service will be discontinued across all Dw versions.

For the users who are using the previous versions of Dreamweaver

Adobe Creative Cloud subscription account lets you activate Dreamweaver on two machines. A subscription account is basically the Adobe ID account you used to purchase the subscription. Synchronization with the cloud is tightly tied with your subscription account.

The cloud sync feature helps you keep the following Dreamweaver settings synchronized between the two machines:

• Application Preferences:
  
  • General: All preferences except Enable Related Files, and Discover Dynamically-Related Files.
    
  • Code Format: All preferences except tag libraries.
  • Code Hints: All preferences except changes done using the link Tag Library Editor.
    
  • Code Rewriting: All preferences.
    
  • Copy/Paste: All preferences.
    
  • CSS Styles: All preferences.
    
  • File Compare: This setting is synchronized only between computers running on the same operating system.
  • File Types/Editors: Only Reload Modified Files and Save On Launch.
  • Highlighting: All preferences.
  • New Document: All preferences except Default Document Type (DTD) and Default Encoding.
    
  • Preview In Browser: Only Preview Using Temporary File is synchronized.
    
  • Site: All preferences except Always Show <options> On the <Right/Left>.
  • W3C validator: All preferences except changes made using ‘Manage’.
  • Window Sizes: All preferences.
    
  • On Mac, the Application bar and Application frame settings.
    

Note: Except File Compare, all the other Preferences listed above are synchronized between computers irrespective of the operating system they are running on. For example, Mac to Windows.

• Site settings: All site settings (except username and password) are synchronized between computers running on the same operating system. username and password cannot be synchronized.

The path and name of the local site folder is synchronized if a folder with the same name exists in the same path.

If a site does not exist on a machine, Dreamweaver creates a new site folder in the default location and all the paths are relative to this folder. You can change this path at any point in time. For all subsequent synchronizations, only the changes in the site folder are synchronized.

• Keyboard shortcuts: The keyboard shortcuts are synchronized only between computers running on the same operating system.
• Workspaces: Workspaces are saved when you quit Dreamweaver and are then synchronized with the cloud. If you want to synchronize Workspace changes without exiting Dreamweaver (in the current session), click Save Current in the Workspace menu and then manually synchronize the settings (Preferences > Sync Settings).

Workspaces are synchronized only between computers running on the same operating system.

• Code snippets: All code snippets are synchronized between computers running on the same operating system.

Synchronization with Creative Cloud is not supported in the following scenarios:

• You have a volume license and are signed in as an anonymous user.
• Your machine is configured to connect to the Internet through a proxy server.
• You switch from an Administrator accout to a standard user account.

Important: For a successful synchronization, ensure that none of your settings files contain special characters (\/:*?"<>|) in the filename. Files containing special characters in their names are not synchronized and Dreamweaver displays an error.

When you launch Dreamweaver on the machine you installed it first, the Sync Settings dialog box appears:

Synchronizes the settings with the cloud immediately.

Synchronizes the settings automatically. For more information, see Automatic Synchronization.

Disables synchronization.

Opens the Sync Settings options in the Preferences dialog box.

On your second machine, the following dialog box appears when you launch Dreamweaver:

Brings in the settings on the cloud. Application preferences in the second machine are overridden with the settings on the cloud. Site settings in the cloud are added to the ones on the second machine.

Changes made to preferences and site settings on the second machine are retained and are pushed to the cloud as well.

Synchronizes the settings automatically. For more information, see Automatic Synchronization.

Opens the Sync Settings options in the Preferences dialog box.

The following scenarios help you understand the difference between Sync Cloud and Sync Local options:

Scenario 1

You change the Preferences on the first machine and sync those changes with the cloud. On the second machine too, you change the Preferences. Then, when you click:

Changes to Preferences on the first machine are synchronized with the second machine. The changes you made on the second machine are lost.

Changes to Preferences on the second machine are retained and are also synchronized with the cloud. The next time you synchronize the first machine and choose Sync Cloud, these changes are reflected on the first machine.

Scenario 2

Changes to site settings on the first machine are ‘added’ to the settings on the second machine.

Changes on the second machine are retained and are synchronized with the cloud. The next time you synchronize the first machine and choose Sync Cloud, the new site gets added to the settings on the first machine.

Import settings from previous versions of Dreamweaver

If you had synchronized Dreamweaver settings with Creative Cloud even once in the previous version of Dreamweaver, the new version of Dreamweaver displays the following dialog box upon first launch:

• To import settings that are stored on Creative Cloud, click Import Sync Settings. 

Note: This option is not made available to you at a later point in time. 

• To synchronize the settings in the current Dreamweaver instance with Creative Cloud, click Sync Local.
  
• To synchronize settings automatically hereafter, select Always Sync Settings Automatically.
• To view advanced sync settings options, click Advanced.

If you had not synchronized the settings with Creative Cloud using the previous version of Dreamweaver, the options described in First-time synchronization are displayed.

If you want to import settings at a later point in time, you can do so using the Preferences dialog box. 

Important: The options that you choose in the Settings To Sync section are not applicable for importing settings saved on the cloud. All settings saved on the cloud are imported and the local settings are overridden when you choose the Import Sync Settings option.

Edit preferences for sync settings

Using the Preferences dialog box, you can choose the settings that you want to synchronize, specify conflict resolution settings, enable automatic synchronization, or trigger an on-demand synchronization.

Automatic Synchronization

You can enable automatic synchronization in one of the following ways:

• Select Always Sync Settings Automatically in the Sync Settings dialog box.

Note: The Sync Settings dialog boxes appear only when you access Dreamweaver for the first time after installing it on your machines. For subsequent synchronizations, use the Preferences dialog box.

• Select Edit > Preferences (Win) and Dreamweaver > Preferences (Mac), and then select Sync Settings > Enable Automatic Sync.

When you enable automatic synchronization, Dreamweaver checks for changes on the cloud every 30 minutes and synchronizes the settings automatically if there is a change.

Manual synchronization

• Click Sync Settings Now in the Sync settings dialog box.
• Click Edit > (your Adobe ID) > Sync Settings Now.

If there are updates available on the cloud, they are downloaded onto the computer. The Sync Settings Now button changes to Apply Now. You can choose to apply the updates immediately or at a later point in time. If you make any changes to Dreamweaver settings before applying the downloaded updates, a conflict can arise, which is resolved based on conflict resolution settings.

• (On Mac) Dreamweaver > Sync Settings Now and on Windows, Edit > Sync Settings Now.

Resolve conflicts during synchronization

When there is a difference between the settings on the machines and the cloud, the conflict is resolved based on the Conflict Resolution settings in the Preferences dialog box.

If the Conflict Resolution is set to My Preference, a dialog box appears when a conflict arises:

If you select the Remember My Preference option, the option you choose (Sync Local or Sync Cloud) gets selected in the Preferences dialog box.

IMPORTANT: If you press Esc to close the Conflicting Settings dialog box, the Sync Local action is executed.

Access resources on Creative Cloud directly

You can open, select, or save files on Creative Cloud directly from the Dreamweaver user interface. Install the ‘Creative Cloud Connection Preview’ utility from http://creative.adobe.com.

When you install this utility, the Creative Cloud Files option (highlighted in the screenshot) becomes available in the Open, Save, and Select dialog boxes of Dreamweaver.