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yujin!
Participating Frequently
July 24, 2025
Question

Adobe Creative Cloud apps are saying my license has expired while I still do have a CC subscription.

  • July 24, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 1428 views

Hi, I'm a student who's using Adobe Creative Cloud since Febuary 24, 2025 for my university education. I have recently noticed that Adobe has taken quite a lot space on my MacBook so I have deleted some of the Caches through ~/library > Caches > Adobe and then checked if Adobe apps work fine (I followed the instructions from a YouTuber and Adobe worked fine on his).

Unlike my expectation, when I open Photoshop, Illustator, or any other Adobe CC apps, a pop-up began to show up saying, "Your Photoshop license has expired, but you can still use this application for 6 more days." In a panic, I tried to solve the problem by signing out and logging back in, uninstalling apps and Adobe CC and reinstalling them, and restarting my computer while troubleshooting, which none of them were working. I am using my Adobe CC from two different computers; one is MacBook Air and the other is Windows. I have checked my account from Windows by signing out of my Adobe CC and logging back in and opening several different apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.), which the pop-up didn't show up but worked just fine.

I am very confused with getting the pop-up saying 'license expired' on MacBook but not on my Windows computer. Adobe CC apps seems fine on my Windows, but I'm scared if my account suddenly gets disabled after six days of grace period despite I still do pay for the monthly payment. Is there way I can fix this? Or is it okay to ignore the pop-up on MacBook since Windows doesn't get one and works fine? Will my account be still alive after six days with my subscription on my MacBook?

I didn't stop the subscription yet just incase if I could find a way to solve this problem from the current step.

2 replies

kglad
Community Expert
kgladCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 24, 2025

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.



<"moved from download & install">
Shivangi_Gupta
Community Manager
Shivangi_GuptaCommunity Manager
Community Manager
July 24, 2025

Hi @yujin! 

We appreciate you reaching out. You can refer to this article and see if it helps: https://adobe.ly/45hHgDT

Let us know the outcome.
^Shivangi

    Y
    yujin!Author
    Participating Frequently
    July 24, 2025

    Hi Shivangi_Gupta,

    Thank you for your suggestions to troubleshoot the problem. Unfortunately, none of them worked on my MacBook to solve the issue. I even tried to fix it through using Limited Access Repair Tool and it said 0 hosts files were fixed.

    As I mentioned on my initial post, when I open Adobe apps on my Windows computer, it works fine.

    If I ignore the pop-up on my MacBook (and delete Adobe CC from my MacBook) and continue using Adobe CC from my Windows computer, will it cause the same problem or something similar to now? Also, if I make a new account and move my subscription to the new account, will it still cause the problem?

     

    kglad
    Community Expert
    kgladCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 24, 2025

    start here - https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/kb/stop-creative-cloud-trial-mode-after-purchase.html

     

    IF your account shows an active subscription and the above fails to help:

     

     

    proceed to these steps - https://helpx.adobe.com/enterprise/kb/resolve-trial-and-license-expired-errors.html

     

    if that fails, https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/adobe-license-issues-keychain-credential-mgr.html

     

    below are solutions some users reported:

     

    if those all fail, change your cc language. eg, try international english - https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/creative-cloud-trial-mode.html

     

    if that fails, change the install location

      Y
      yujin!Author
      Participating Frequently
      July 24, 2025

      Hi, kglad,

      Thank you for your suggestions to troubleshoot the problem. Unfortunately, none of them worked on my Mac to solve the issue. I am thinking of 1. Ignore pop-up on my Mac (delete Adobe CC from Mac) and continue using Adobe CC from my Windows computer (since Adobe CC worked fine on Windows) or 2. Create a new Adobe account and move my subscription to the new account. I haven't tried yet because I'm not 100% confident about whether to do it or not. I'm also quite worried about if my account would suddenly get deleted/disabled or have the same problem when I transfer my subscription from the current account to a new account. How other people fixed their stuff weren't working on mine, so...those two were what I thought for plans B and C.

      Jeffrey_A_Wright
      Community Manager
      Jeffrey_A_WrightCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      July 25, 2025

      Energetic_daydream, thank you for the update. I am happy that your subscription is working successfully on the Windows computer. I can confirm that your subscription is active and valid.

       

      Did you try the troubleshooting steps shared by Kglad and Shivangi under the section titled, "Troubleshooting steps for teams and enterprise administrators," in https://adobe.ly/4m5xPNE?  Solution four, which discusses the software firewall, could explain why the MacBook is still unable to see the active subscription, on the same network that the Windows computer can contact our servers. ^JW

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