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svunited
svunited
Participant
June 22, 2017
Answered

Lost serial number after computer reset- not in adobe account

  • June 22, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 8711 views

When my Dell computer was originally ordered, it came with a card with an activation key for Adobe Acrobat. My computer recently crashed and had to be reset and I lost all of my programs. I never registered Acrobat with my adobe account, so my serial number is not located in my adobe account under products and I lost the original activation card. How do I recover my serial number to reinstall Acrobat? I called Dell and they do not keep records of the activation keys they send out.

    Correct answer Dov Isaacs

    Simply stated, if you never registered the software with Adobe (something we continually have encouraged our customers to do for many years now), don't have the original serial number information from Dell (and assuming that Dell doesn't keep that information), and you have no other system from which you can “scrape” the serial number from (i.e., installed with that serial number on a system you still have access to), unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing that we at Adobe can do to assist you since we were not involved with your acquisition of an Acrobat license and you didn't register.

    May I suggest that you contact Dell Customer Support. Since you originally purchased the system from them with an Acrobat license, even if they don't have a record of the serial number, they certainly have records showing that you did purchase an option for Acrobat. They might be willing to provide a new serial number to you based on that information.

    Other than that, unfortunately, you are regrettably out of luck.

              - Dov

    2 replies

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
    Legend
    June 22, 2017

    Simply stated, if you never registered the software with Adobe (something we continually have encouraged our customers to do for many years now), don't have the original serial number information from Dell (and assuming that Dell doesn't keep that information), and you have no other system from which you can “scrape” the serial number from (i.e., installed with that serial number on a system you still have access to), unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing that we at Adobe can do to assist you since we were not involved with your acquisition of an Acrobat license and you didn't register.

    May I suggest that you contact Dell Customer Support. Since you originally purchased the system from them with an Acrobat license, even if they don't have a record of the serial number, they certainly have records showing that you did purchase an option for Acrobat. They might be willing to provide a new serial number to you based on that information.

    Other than that, unfortunately, you are regrettably out of luck.

              - Dov

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
      kglad
      Community Expert
      kgladCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 22, 2017

      you're probably out of options but here they all are:

      there are several possible ways to find/recover an adobe serial number.

      1. search purchased materials: http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/find-serial-number.html

      2. you can check your account (if you purchased from or registered with adobe AND you remember the adobe id used to purchase/register), https://accounts.adobe.com

      3.  if your adobe program is installed on another computer you can recover its serial number from that computer,

          (win:) http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

          (mac:)  https://mac-product-key-finder.com/

        svunited
        svunitedAuthor
        Participant
        June 22, 2017

        Unfortunately none of these options will work for me. I must have either originally registered acrobat with an old school email address that I no longer have access to, or never registered it at all. It was never installed on another computer, and I have lost the original card with the serial number/activation key that was in the same box as my computer.

        I'm wondering if adobe has the ability to access the account that it could have been registered under? Anyone know?

        kglad
        Community Expert
        kgladCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        June 22, 2017

        adobe support would need the adobe id (ie, email) used to register it.

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