Why you see three different Sidekick version numbers

Sometimes your AI assistant mentions something like this in the middle of otherwise normal work:

Sidekick update available: v1.0.23 is installed; v1.0.25 is recommended.

And if you then go looking, the numbers only get more confusing: our website might say the latest version is 1.0.30, while Adobe Exchange shows the plugin at 1.0.22. Three different numbers, none of them matching — it’s natural to conclude something is out of date or broken.

Nothing is. Here’s what each number means.

First: this message is not an error

The update note is informational. It only appears when Sidekick has just successfully completed something, it shows at most once a day, and nothing stops working while it’s there. Your AI assistant keeps responding, and Sidekick keeps doing its job. It’s a nudge, not a warning.

Why the message comes through your AI assistant

It might seem like an odd place for an update note — mixed into your assistant’s answers rather than sent to you directly. The reason is simple: it’s the only channel we have. Sidekick is purchased through Adobe Exchange, and Adobe doesn’t share contact details with us — we don’t know who our customers are, and we can’t email you when a manual update is worth doing.

Most updates don’t need anything from you, so this rarely comes up. But for the one part that can’t update itself, the small note in your assistant’s output is our only way of letting you know. That’s also why it’s designed to stay out of the way: once a day at most, only after successful work, and never blocking anything.

The three version numbers

Sidekick has three parts, and they update in three different ways:

1. The part that updates itself. Most of Sidekick arrives automatically — when we release an improvement, it reaches you the next time your AI assistant starts, with nothing to do on your side. This is the version our website shows as “latest”, and it’s usually the highest number of the three.

2. The part installed on your computer. This is what the installer (or the extension file) put next to your AI assistant when you first set Sidekick up. It cannot update itself — that’s the one thing a fresh download can fix. The “update available” message is always about this part, and the version it names is the minimum we recommend — anything equal or newer is fine, so the installer you download will typically be newer than the number in the message.

3. The InDesign plugin on Adobe Exchange. The plugin only needs a new release when something changes in how it talks to the rest of Sidekick — which is rare on purpose, because plugin updates ask something of every user. It’s normal for the Exchange listing to sit several versions behind the website, and that doesn’t mean it’s stale: if Exchange offered a newer plugin, the Sidekick panel in InDesign would tell you it’s required.

So “website says 1.0.30, message says 1.0.25, Exchange says 1.0.22” is a healthy, up-to-date installation — apart from the one part the message is actually about.

What “sidekick health” shows — and what it doesn’t

If you ask your AI assistant to run “sidekick health”, the report mentions versions too, and they map onto the parts above:

• The Sidekick version in the health report is part 1 — the self-updating part. It’s usually the newest number, even on a machine that’s seeing the update message.
• The plugin version is part 3 — the InDesign plugin from Adobe Exchange.
• The version of part 2 — the part installed on your computer, the one the update message is about — currently doesn’t appear in the health report at all.

That means a health report can look completely up to date while the update message still shows. That’s not a contradiction: the message is about the one part the health check doesn’t list. The message itself tells you the installed version, so between the two you have the full picture.

What to do

Download the latest version from the install page and run it. That’s the whole fix:

• Your settings stay as they are.
• Your Adobe Exchange plugin stays as it is — there’s nothing to update there.
• The version you get will be newer than the one named in the message; that’s expected and satisfies the recommendation.

One thing to watch on Windows: after installing, make sure your AI assistant fully quits before you reopen it. Closing the window usually leaves it running in the system tray, so it keeps using the old version. Quit it from the tray icon (or Task Manager), then open it again.

Still seeing the message after updating?

If the update note keeps appearing a day after you’ve reinstalled, email us at [email protected] — mention whether you’re on Mac or Windows, and we’ll help you track it down.