# Deploying Plugins

Whenever you deploy a Designer project, Designer automatically copies all of the plugins referenced by the project into the deployment folder. When the deployed application runs, it does not search the %ProgramData%\Cognex\Designer\Plugins directory; instead, it uses the plugin files in the deployment folder. This makes it easy to manage the deployment of multiple applications that use different plugins or plugin versions.

Note:

Any non .NET dll in the plugin folder should be accompanied by an empty file next to it with the filename nativefile.dll.ignore.

Adding {filename}.ignore to the plugin folder tells Designer that its not a .NET dll and should not try to load it.

Some older versions of Designer might require the use of .ref instead of .ignore.