How to disable Adobe Core Sync app on OS X from being launched automatically?

Question

I have noticed a lot of Adobe processes are running in the background at start up on an OS X 10.11.4 (15E65) machine with Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) installed.

To get rid of this, I removed everything with "*adobe*" in the filename from the directories used by launchd, which are: ~/Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchDaemons, /System/Library/LaunchAgents, /System/Library/LaunchDaemons.

It's not a bad idea to browse these directories manually just to get aware of what is - or could be configured to be - launched automatically on your machine.

However, using this approach I got rid of all Adobe processes but one with the process name Core Sync Helper. The process' UID is me, not root.

Using the OS X activity monitor to get more information about this process it tells us that its parent process is launchd. The process' path is:

"/Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud/CoreSync/Core Sync.app/Contents/PlugIns/ACCFinderSync.appex/Contents/MacOS/ACCFinderSync"

How does Adobe get this process to be launched automatically?

And how to stop it from being launched automatically?

Update:

According to YoshiBotX's answer, I used launchctl list as well as the App launchControl to find the service that launches the Core Sync Helper. To do so, I search for a service with adobe, accf or core*sync in its name. Unfortunately, there is no such service with an obvious name. All services on the system are by com.apple.... or from a third-party App that hasn't any relation to Adobe.

Also, launchctl list lists the PID of each Label. But the PID of the running ACCFinderSync process is not listed there at all. However, as mentioned before, its parent process is still launchd so I wonder how this can be.

Update 2:

Using launchctl I was able to gather more information about the service using its PID (omitted lines marked as ...):

macy:~ jens$ sudo launchctl procinfo 352
...
com.adobe.accmac.ACCFinderSync = {
...
com.adobe.accmac.ACCFinderSync.apple-extension-service
...
com.adobe.accmac.explinder
...
ACCFinderSync
...

But these aren't service which I can remove using launchctl.

Update 3:

Based on chiggsy's answer I was able to find more traces of the service (omitted lines marked as ...):

$ sudo launchctl print gui
    com.apple.xpc.launchd.user.domain.501.100008.Aqua = {
    ...
        unmanaged processes = {
    ...
            com.apple.xpc.launchd.unmanaged.ACCFinderSync.352 = {
                active count = 5
                dynamic endpoints = {
                    "ACCFinderInnerExtensionHost2" = {
                        port = 0x59a8f
                        active = 1
                        managed = 0
                        reset = 0
                        hide = 0
    ...
        externally-hosted endpoints = {
             0x59a8f    U   A   ACCFinderInnerExtensionHost2
    ...

$ sudo launchctl print user
    com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.501 = {
    ...
        endpoints = {
    ...
             0x59a8f    U   A   ACCFinderInnerExtensionHost2
    ...

$ sudo launchctl print system
    com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.system = {
    ...
        subdomains = {
    ...
            com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.pid.ACCFinderSync.352
    ...

But that still did not help me to disable it.

Update 4:

kirb nailed it!

Answer 1

You can disable this Finder Sync extension from the System Preferences → Extensions pane (grey puzzle piece icon) – just untick Finder under the app name in question.

Then log out and back in (or restart if you have more than one user logged in to your Mac)

In OS X, the Finder Sync extension point lets you cleanly and safely modify the Finder’s user interface to express file synchronization status and control. Unlike most extension points, Finder Sync does not add features to a host app. Instead, it lets you modify the behavior of the Finder itself.

Extensions are parts of an app that are able to integrate with certain core components of the OS. Finder Sync extensions in particular enable tighter integration with Finder by way of sync status badges, and allowing buttons to be added to the toolbar, sidebar, and right click menus.

OS X keeps a database of all known apps on your computer, and this also includes any extensions (.appex bundles). When Finder launches, it queries this database for Finder Sync extensions and launches them. For security reasons, each extension lives in its own process.

Answer 2

launchctl has changed for the better in 10.11.4

Type the command without arguments to get the help. You'll see new domains to search and new commands.

• Printing the system root

  launchctl print system
  

• Printing details about a particular service within the root domain

  launchctl print system/<com.example.service>
  

For your processes: if it's not in the system domain it's probably in the domain of that particular user.

• Checking the domain of a particular user

  launchctl print user/<uid>/
  launchctl print user/<uid>/<com.example.useragent>
  

However, since you'll be logged into the GUI, you might want to check the domain of the GUI, which is kept separate.

• Checking the domain of the GUI

  launchctl print gui/<uid>
  launchctl print gui/<uid>/<com.example.service>
  

• GUI domains are for processes that apply to a user interface.

• User domains are for processes that invoke daemons that only apply to a particular logged-in user.

• System domains are for system daemon processes, and apply to all users within that system.

To learn more, read man launchctl or read Apple's article about Creating Launch Daemons and Agents

Answer 3

Another guess would be to check in /Library/StartupItems.

But launchctl does not require your service.plist to be located in one of those directories.
In fact, you do not even need to have a file (as seen in the launchctl submit).
So as long as you register it with launchctl load|submit, it will be kept running/starting.

I think your best way is to disable the tool with launchctl directly or by using an Application like LaunchControl.

Answer 4

The problem is that over the last years Apple has introduced other ways to auto-start items than having plists in specific folders like it works with launch agents and daemons. xpc services, smloginitems are not located in these places but are registered in the launchctl database (can be seen by launchctl list) but this specific adobe plugin obviously gets loaded at start but is NOT listed by launchctl at all. you can see some info by using launchchtl print user/501 but not by launchctl list. so what exactly is ACCFinderSync and why does it not show up? the hole launch system is kind of splintered up atm and it is very complicated to observe all forms of startup items. the big question here is: what are application extensions (appex) and how can they get detected (and disabled) at command line level if not by launchctl.

Answer 5

I did what the accepted solution described. It worked but after some time, the procedure is back (maybe because I installed another Adobe software? Who knows).

Anyway, I've a bazuka ready just in case it's back. Just name a tex file with something like: Autokill-coresync.command and place the following code inside:

#!/bin/bash


PROCESS_NAME="Core Sync.app" 
PROCESS_NAME_2="Core Sync.app" 
PROCESS_NAME_3="Core Sync.app" 
SECONDS_TILL_KILL_PROCESS_AGAIN=20

echo "----------------------"
echo
echo "Each $SECONDS_TO_DELAY_OPEN_APP seconds, kill: $PROCESS_NAME, $PROCESS_NAME_2 and $PROCESS_NAME_3" 
echo
echo "----------------------"
echo 


osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to set visible of front window to false'


while true
do
    sleep SECONDS_TILL_KILL_PROCESS_AGAIN
    pkill -x "$PROCESS_NAME"
    pkill -x "$PROCESS_NAME_2"
    pkill -x "$PROCESS_NAME_3"
done