Installing the Export to Harmony Extension for Adobe Flash / Animate

To be able to import your rig into Harmony, you must first export it to an intermediary format from Adobe Flash / Animate. To be able to do this, you must install the Export to Harmony extension for Adobe Flash / Animate. This extension is packaged with Harmony inside the archive flashexport.zip, which can be found at the following location:

  • On Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony 15.0 Essentials\resources\flash
  • On macOS: /Applications/Toon Boom Harmony 15.0 Essentials/tba/resources/flash

Since Adobe’s extension system underwent significant changes in 2016, The way to install the extension depends on your version of Adobe Flash / Animate:

  • If you have any version of Adobe Flash from Adobe Flash CS5 to Abode Flash Professional CC 2015, you can use the Adobe Extension Manager application that is bundled with your Adobe software, and which is easy to use.
  • If you are using Adobe Animate CC 2015.1 or later, you must use the command line utility ExManCmd provided by Adobe to install legacy extensions on recent versions of Adobe software.
NOTES

If you already have the extension installed for an older version of Adobe Flash / Animate, and you just upgraded to a new version, you must uninstall the extension then reinstall it in order to be able to use it in the new version of Adobe Flash / Animate.

Likewise, if you install Adobe Flash / Animate in a different language, the extension will not work in that language until you uninstall and reinstall it.

This is due to two limitations of the Adobe extension system:

  • Adobe extensions are always installed on a per-version and per-language basis, and the Adobe Extension Manager only installs extensions for versions and languages of Adobe software that are currently installed on your system.
  • The Adobe Extension Manager does not allow reinstalling an installed extension without removing it first, hence the need to uninstall it prior.

If you were using Adobe Flash Professional CC 2015 or earlier before, and are now upgrading to Adobe Animate CC 2015.1 or later, you will have to uninstall the extension using the Adobe Extension Manager, then install the extension using the ExManCmd command line utility.

Installing the Export to Harmony Extension on Adobe Flash Professional CC 2015 and Earlier

  1. If open, close Adobe Flash.
  1. Launch Adobe Extension Manager.
  1. From the Products list, select Flash.

If you have a previous version of the Export to Harmony extension installed, it will be listed in the right pane.

  1. Select the extension and click Remove.

A message opens asking you to confirm the removal of the extension.

  1. Click Yes.

  1. In Explorer or Finder, navigate to the location of the archive containing the Export to Harmony extension:

    • On Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony 15.0 Essentials\resources\flash
    • On macOS: /Applications/Toon Boom Harmony 15.0 Essentials/tba/resources/flash
  2. Right-click on the archive flashexport.zip and select Copy.
  3. Browse to your Documents folder.
  4. Right-click inside the directory and select Paste (Windows) or Paste Item (macOS).
  5. Extract the archive’s contents by doing one of the following:
    • On Windows: Right-click on flashexport.zip and select Extract All.... In the dialog that appears, click Extract to extract the content of the archive to the current directory.

    • On macOS: Double-click flashexport.zip to instantly extract its content to the current directory.

    A directory named flashexport is created in the current directory. It contains another directory named flashexport, which in turns contains the files Export to Harmony.zxp and README.txt.

  1. Launch Adobe Extension Manager.

  2. In the top-right corner of the Adobe Extension Manager, click Install.

    An Open dialog appears.

  3. In the Open dialog, browse to and select the Export to Harmony.zxp file that you just extracted, then click Open.

A message appears asking you to confirm that you want to install the Export to Harmony extension.

  1. Click on Accept.

You may see the following message confirming that you want to install the extension. Click Install.

The extension will be added to the list of installed extensions for Flash. You can now launch Adobe Flash and use the extension.

Installing the Export to Harmony Extension on Adobe Animate CC 2015.1 or Later

  1. If Adobe Flash / Animate is running, close it.

  2. Ensure the following software is installed:

    • Adobe Creative Cloud
    • Animate CC and Mobile Device Packaging

  3. Download the ExManCmd utility for Windows from Adobe’s website.

    https://docs.toonboom.com/go/download/ExManCmd

  1. Open an Explorer windows and navigate to your Downloads folder.

  2. Right-click on ExManCmd_win.zip and select Extract All....

  3. In the dialog that appears, click Extract to extract the content of the archive in the current directory.

    A directory named ExManCmd_win is created. It contains the content of the archive, including the ExManCmd.exe utility.

  1. Navigate to the directory inside the Harmony installation folder where the Export to Harmony plug-in is located.

    C:\Program Files (x86)\Toon Boom Animation\Toon Boom Harmony 15.0 Essentials\resources\flash
  2. Right-click on flashexport.zip and select Copy.
  3. Browse back to the ExManCmd_win directory in your Downloads folder.

  4. Right-click inside the directory and select Paste.

    The flashexport.zip archive is copied to the current directory.

  5. Right-click on flashexport.zip and select Extract All....

    In the dialog that appears, click Extract to extract the content of the archive in the current directory.

    A directory named flashexport is created in the current directory. It contains another directory named flashexport, which in turns contains the files Export to Harmony.zxp and README.txt.

  6. Open a Windows command prompt:

    • On Windows 7: Open the Start menu and select Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.
    • On Windows 8.1 or Windows 10: Open the Start menu and select Windows System > Command Prompt.

  7. Enter the following command and press Enter/Return:

    > cd Downloads\ExManCmd_win

    You are now in the folder where the Extension Manager utility is.

  8. If you have installed a previous version of the Export to Harmony extension for Adobe Animate / Flash before, you must first uninstall it. You can do this by entering the following command:

    > ExManCmd.exe /remove "Export to Harmony"

    If the utility returns “Removal Successful”, the extension was indeed installed and has been successfully removed. If the utility returns “Failed to get extension handle by name, status = -406!”, then the Export to Harmony extension was not installed.

    TIP

    You can verify which extensions are installed by running the following command:

    > ExManCmd.exe /list all

  9. To install the Export to Harmony extension, enter the following command:

    > ExManCmd.exe /install "flashexport\flashexport\Export to Harmony.zxp"

    If the installation succeeds, you will get the following output:

    Installation Successful for extension with file path = flashexport\flashexport\Export to Harmony.

  10. Launch Adobe Flash / Animate.

  11. In the top menu, open the Commands menu.

    If the Export to Harmony option appears in the Top Menu > Commands list, your installation was successful.

NOTEYou will have to repeat this procedure, including uninstalling the extension before re-installing it, if you install a new version of Adobe Flash / Animate, or if you install Adobe Flash / Animate in a different language.
  1. If Adobe Flash / Animate is running, close it.

  2. Ensure the following software is installed:

    • Adobe Creative Cloud
    • Animate CC and Mobile Device Packaging

  3. Download the ExManCmd utility for Windows from Adobe’s website.

    https://docs.toonboom.com/go/download/ExManCmd

  1. Open a Finder windows and navigate to your Downloads folder.
  2. Right-click and select New Folder.
  3. Name the new folder “ExManCmd_mac”.

  4. In the same folder (Downloads), double-click on the disk image file ExManCmd_mac.dmg to open it.

    A new Finder window with a folder named Contents and a file named README will appear.

  5. Drag and drop the Contents folder over the ExManCmd_mac folder you created in your Downloads directory.

  1. Navigate to the directory inside the Harmony installation folder where the Export to Harmony plug-in is located.

    /Applications/Toon Boom Harmony 15.0 Essentials/tba/resources/flash
  2. Right-click on flashexport.zip and select Copy.
  3. Browse back to the ExManCmd_mac directory in your Downloads folder.

  4. Right-click inside the directory and select Paste Item.

    The flashexport.zip archive is copied to the current directory.

  5. Double-click on flashexport.zip to extract its content.

    A directory named flashexport is created in the current directory. It contains the files Export to Harmony.zxp and README.txt.

  6. Open a terminal by opening Launchpad, then selecting Other > Terminal.

  7. Enter the following command and press Enter/Return:

    $ cd Downloads/ExManCmd_mac/Contents/MacOS

    You are now in the folder where the Extension Manager utility is.

  8. If you have installed a previous version of the Export to Harmony extension for Adobe Animate / Flash before, you must first uninstall it. You can do this by entering the following command:

    $ ./ExManCmd --remove "Export to Harmony"

    If the utility returns “Removal Successful”, the extension was indeed installed and has been successfully removed. If the utility returns “Failed to get extension handle by name, status = -406!”, then the Export to Harmony extension was not installed.

    TIP

    You can verify which extensions are installed by running the following command:

    $ ./ExManCmd --list all

  9. To install the Export to Harmony extension, enter the following command:

    $ ExManCmd --install "~/Downloads/ExManCmd_mac/flashexport/Export to Harmony.zxp"

    If the installation succeeds, you will get the following output:

    Installation Successful for extension with file path = ~/Downloads/ExManCmd_mac/flashexport/Export to Harmony.zxp

  10. Launch Adobe Flash / Animate.

  11. In the top menu, open the Commands menu.

    If the Export to Harmony option appears in the Top Menu > Commands list, your installation was successful.

NOTEYou will have to repeat this procedure, including uninstalling the extension before re-installing it, if you install a new version of Adobe Flash / Animate, or if you install Adobe Flash / Animate in a different language.