UXP WebView installer FAQ

What is UXP?

Unified Extensibility Platform (UXP) is an extensibility architecture that provides commonly used APIs across different Creative Cloud applications. 

What is the need for UXP WebView installer? 

In a UXP plug-in, a plug-in developer can load HTML content in a WebView element. This WebView feature is used by many inbuilt panels, including the commenting panel (Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator), capture panel (Photoshop), Adobe Stock panel, and so on. Many third-party plug-ins can also use this WebView feature.  

Microsoft recommends that any application which uses Microsoft Edge WebView2 should include the redistribution of the WebView2 runtime. 

Is WebView2 runtime included in the default installation of Windows operating systems?

Although some versions of Windows may have WebView2 runtime pre-installed, it isn't a default feature in all Windows operating systems. Additionally, you can choose to uninstall WebView2 runtime from your systems. As a result, Adobe applications that depend on WebView would require WebView2 runtime to be installed on a device that all Adobe applications can access.

UXP WebView installer aims to redistribute this Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime. It's a standard installer used across all Adobe applications that require WebView2 runtime. 

UXP WebView installer is an STI (shared technology installer) that gets installed along with any product which integrates it. Currently, Photoshop and Illustrator are integrating UXP WebView as a dependency.

WebView2 files are located in the C:/Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Microsoft/EdgeWebView/ folder.

How can UXP WebView be uninstalled? 

To uninstall UXP WebView, you'd need to first uninstall all the dependent apps, including Photoshop and Illustrator. 

If the user uninstalls or deletes UXP WebView from a given folder location, it will break sharing and comments panel on Adobe apps. 

What are the future plans for UXP WebView? 

Microsoft Edge WebView2 is installed by default on Windows systems and should replace the legacy WebView. Once this happens, Adobe will remove the UXP WebView installer dependency from its products.