Disclaimer: This tutorial is intended only for windows users. However, if I get people that want instructions for OSX/Linux, I will edit this post to accommodate for these systems.
Many, many developers absolutely despise the UI Editor simply because it lacks a native toggle button. As a crude, but effective workaround to this, you can delete the UIEditor.rbxm file itself from studio to disable the plugin all together. In this tutorial, I’ll be covering three easy methods of doing so that range from manually deleting the files in Windows File Explorer to registering a scheduled task in the Task Scheduler.
Method 1 - Through the File Explorer
Although the most time consuming method of the three, this is the go-to, safest way to locate and delete the files manually without having to deal with the command prompt. Under normal circumstances (that is, if you downloaded Roblox Studio normally), the directory containing the UIEditor should be as follows:
C:\Users[USER HERE]\AppData\Local\Roblox\Versions[VERSION HERE]\BuiltInPlugins, with the user and version being different for your given local account and studio version, respectively.
As a quick little shortcut that works universally for all users, follow these steps:
- Press Win+R and enter the following:
%localappdata%/roblox/versions
- Navigate to the most recent version folder, open BuiltInPlugins, and then select the UIEditor.rbxm file, as well as its .sig counterpart, and press Ctrl+D to delete it.
Method 2 - Executing a Command
This next solution takes advantage of the Command Prompt. With the power of the del command, along with some recursive wildcard magic, you can delete the plugin file with just one command that works for every user:
cd “%localappdata%/roblox/versions” && del /s uieditor*
Simply pull up a CMD instance (Win+R and enter cmd), paste the above command, and hit enter. A follow-up message confirming that the correct files were removed should appear immediately after executing the command.
Note that the command will delete all files with the name UIEditor, so if you ever suspect that there may be sensitive files with that name located within that version of studio, run the following command to list all files under the name ‘UIEditor’ (will target any file extension):
cd “%localappdata%/roblox/versions” && dir /s uieditor*
Verify that only two files were found in the search, of which refer to the Built-in UIEditor plugin files.
Method 3 - Scheduling a task
This last method is the most complicated of the three and will take a bit to set-up. However, unlike method #1 & 2, scheduling a task allows for the files to be automatically deleted after a studio update. If you’ve never used the task scheduler before, it essentially allows the user to execute a command or program either on a scheduled basis or whenever a certain system event occurs. Note that the Task Scheduler is not the same as the Task Manager; they are completely different programs.
We’ll be using a combination of a batch loop and a startup script to implement our task. Be sure to download all the necessary files from GitHub before proceeding (link at top of page)
- Open the task scheduler (not task manager)
- On the right, click Create Task
- Enter a unique name
- Navigate to the Tiggers tab and hit New…
- At the top where it says Begin the task, select At log on. Specifiy the specfic user below and click OK.
- Navigate to the Actions tab and hit New…
- Copy the directory path of the downloaded Resources folder
- Type the following within the two apostrophes: ‘wscript “PASTE\init.vbs” “PASTE\Source.bat”’ (paste the path copied in step 7 wherever I put ‘PASTE’)
- Click OK, Yes, and OK
- Restart and relogin to your computer to trigger the script
NOTE #1 - To change the frequency at which the plugin files are deleted, open Source.bat and change the 15 on line 4 to the desired whole number amount (in seconds)
NOTE #2 - Do not rename, move, or delete the resources folder, along with its contents, that is referenced by the task scheduler, as this will cause the task to error and terminate itself.
For those of you out there who are fluent in the world of command line scripting and CLIs, you are likely going to cringe at the crude nature of my Batch approach. I am aware that it isn’t the most intuitive way to periodically remove a file. My ultimate goal was to come up with a solution that would work for everyone running windows, regardless of version, so I steered clear of any third party applications. After a bit of research, I found that Powershell can dynamically monitor file changes under a given directory, so if any of you have experience with that sort of thing, I would love to work with you to better automate this process. Thanks!