High CPU usage due to CEPHtmlEngine

Some users may experience high CPU usage after launching Adobe products. This can cause sluggish cursor movement, performance lag, or even longer app load times.

If you find that the CEPHtmlEngine Helper process is causing high CPU usage, try these solutions:

Solution 1: Delete the plug-in extension folder causing high CPU usage

  1. Open Activity Monitor.

  2. In the process tab, look for the CEPHtmlEngine process which is causing high CPU usage.

  3. Select the process and double-click on it. 

  4. Select the Open Files and Ports tab.

  5. Search for the plug-in name in the logs.

    For example, the plug-in for the Adobe Illustrator app may look like ~/com.adobe.illustrator.OnBoarding.log.

  6. Navigate to the extensions folder located at ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions or ${PP}/CEP/extensions.

    Extension folder

  7. Create a backup of the file.

    Right-click on the folder, and then select Move to Bin

  8. Restart the app.

If the issue is resolved, report it to the extension developer to ensure it's fixed in future releases.

  1. Open Task Manager.

  2. Select the Details tab.

  3. Right-click on the top column. Select the Select column option.

  4. Check the Command line option, and then select OK.

    Command line

  5. Look for the CEPHtmlEngine process which is causing high CPU usage.

  6. Select ctrl+c on your keyboard to copy the corresponding logs from the Command line column.

    Windows Task Manager

    Paste it into an editor.

  7. Search for the plug-in name in the logs.

    For example, the plug-in for the Adobe Illustrator app may look like

    ..\com.adobe.illustrator.OnBoarding.log.

  8. Go to the extensions folder located at C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CEP\extensions or %AppData%\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions or ${PP}\CEP\extensions.

    Windows extension folder

  9. Create a backup of the file.

    Right-click on the folder, and then select Delete

  10. Restart the app.

If the issue is resolved, report it to the extension developer to ensure it's fixed in future releases.

Solution 2: Check the log files folder

macOS

  • Access ~/Library/Logs/CSXS Creative Cloud Libraries using the Go to Folder command.
  • Confirm that the folder exists and you have the write permissions for it.

Windows

  • Access %temp% from the search field in the Start Menu.
  • Confirm that the folder exists and you have the write permissions for it.  

Solution 3: Change the folder content

  1. Close any open Adobe products such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, or InDesign.

  2. Move the content from the folder listed below to somewhere else as a backup (in a folder on your Desktop for example). See the path below for the folder location by product.

    Note:

    You need to select the product executable directly and Ctrl+click it to use the Show Package Contents command to access the product directories listed below.

    macOS

    • Photoshop: /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC [VERSION NUMBER]/Adobe Photoshop CC [VERSION NUMBER].app/Contents/Required/CEP/extensions/com.adobe.DesignLibraryPanel.html/
    • Illustrator: /Applications/Adobe Illustrator CC [VERSION NUMBER]/Adobe Illustrator CC [VERSION NUMBER].app/Contents/Required/CEP/extensions/com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular/
    • InDesign: /Applications/Adobe InDesign CC [VERSION NUMBER]/Resources/CEP/extensions/com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular/
    • Dreamweaver: /Applications/Adobe Dreamweaver/CC [VERSION NUMBER]/configuration/CEP/extensions/

    Windows

    • Photoshop : C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC [VERSION NUMBER]\Required\CEP\extensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraryPanel.html
    • Illustrator : C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [VERSION NUMBER]\Support Files\Required\CEP\extensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular
    • InDesign : C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CC [VERSION NUMBER]\Resources\CEP\extensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular
    • Dreamweaver : C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Dreamweaver CC [VERSION NUMBER]\configuration\CEPExtensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular
    • Premiere Pro : C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Pro CC [VERSION NUMBER]\CEP\extensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular
    Note:

    Holding down the Option key while dragging allows you to create a copy of the folder's content.

  3. Delete the content of the original folder after creating a copy.

  4. Download DL224.zip and extract its content into the folder listed below (same content you backed up and deleted in the previous step).

    Note:

    Select the product executable directly and Ctrl+click it to use the Show Package Contents command to access the product directories listed below.

    macOS

     

    • Photoshop: /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC [VERSION NUMBER]/Adobe Photoshop CC [VERSION NUMBER].app/Contents/Required/CEP/extensions/com.adobe.DesignLibraryPanel.html/
    • Illustrator: /Applications/Adobe Illustrator CC [VERSION NUMBER]/Adobe Illustrator CC [VERSION NUMBER].app/Contents/Required/CEP/extensions/com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular/
    • InDesign: /Applications/Adobe InDesign CC [VERSION NUMBER]/Resources/CEP/extensions/com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular/
    • Dreamweaver: /Applications/Adobe Dreamweaver/CC [VERSION NUMBER]/configuration/CEP/extensions/

    Windows

    • Photoshop: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC [VERSION NUMBER]\Required\CEP\extensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraryPanel.html
    • Illustrator: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [VERSION NUMBER]\Support Files\Required\CEP\extensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular
    • InDesign: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CC [VERSION NUMBER]\Resources\CEP\extensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular
    • Dreamweaver: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Dreamweaver CC [VERSION NUMBER]\configuration\CEPExtensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular
    • Premiere Pro: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Pro CC [VERSION NUMBER]\CEP\extensions\com.adobe.DesignLibraries.angular
Note:

Adobe engineering is aware of the issue and plans to address it in a future update.

This issue can occur when Adobe products are unable to access or write to a log files folder. Check the folder listed below to ensure that it exists and your current user account has write permissions to change its content.

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