Perpetual license for Acrobat 2020 switches to 7 day trial after signing in with Adobe ID

[stephanied5]

One of my Mac users had Adobe Creative Cloud installed but decided they just needed the full version of Acrobat. So we ran the Creative Cloud uninstaller (didn't work), ran each program's uninstaller (that worked) and also ran the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleanup tool. No CC files are seen anymore according to the cleanup tool. I also removed the user's name from the admin site for our Creative Cloud VIP site.

I then ran the classic Acrobat 2020 installer on the Mac. It asked for the serial number and I entered it. The installation completed successfully and we launched the program. As soon as my user signed into Acrobat, it shows "7 days left in your trial". I also had them sign out and I signed in with my own Adobe ID and got the same message.

What files need to be removed to clean up this old CC installation to allow the perpetual license to be activated? Thank you!

[stephanied5]

Issue still isn't resolved but I have to say the Adobe phone support is terrible.

They have told me that Adobe Acrobat 20202 "doesn't work with Macs, you need to purchase another version" and "It's 100% impossible to install Adobe Acrobat 2020 on an M1/M2 Mac."

Wow, both of those statements are 100% wrong but their official tech support people are telling this to their users? Unacceptable.

[stephanied5 · Accepted solution]

Update: Once I got the laptop physically I was able to resolve the issue by completely reimaging it and reinstalling it. Then it worked.

Things I tried: running the Creative Cloud Cleanup Tool again, deleting the hosts file, deleting all Adobe files on the computer, trying a different profile, trying a different Adobe ID. Nothing worked.

So only reimaging the laptop - completely erasing the laptop - and then reinstalling the standalone perpetual licensed Adobe Acrobat 2020 worked using the same Adobe IDs we'd used before. Clearly something was still lingering on the computer after the Creative Cloud was removed but we couldn't find it. The Creative Cloud cleanup tool found nothing remaining so it missed whatever was causing the problem. But once the machine was erased we could install Adobe Acrobat 2020 successfully and activate it without an error or trial notification.

Shout out to the Adobe tech reps who wrongly told us Adobe Acrobat 2020 CANNOT be installed on an M1/M2 Mac and that the version we're using (2020) is wrong and we need to get another version. Your tech support needs better training tools, Adobe.

[S. S]

Hi @stephanied5,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for your experience with using Acrobat 2020.

From the above description, it seemed like a corruption of the license files stored on your system. As you mentioned, Creative Cloud is also installed, I suggest logging in to https://account.adobe.com/products/ and getting the product registered there first. 

Once registered, you will see the download link for the installer on the same page.

If the same issue is encountered, deleting the license files can help. You can go to the below location:

~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE

and either remove the files from the folder or rename the OOBE folder.

Additional steps can be found here: Issue deleting licensing-related information.

I understand that you have resolved the issue. Just sharing the steps for future reference.

Also, you can check for system requirements of all Acrobat Products: Adobe Acrobat Pro 2020, Acrobat Standard 2020 System Requirements.

Also, our tech support team was right when they mentioned Acrobat 2020 not being directly supported on Mac machines with M1/M2. The application cannot work as Native for Silicon but on Rosetta. More Info here: Apple Silicon M1 processor support | Acrobat and Acrobat Reader

Hope you find the information helpful.

^Souvik

[jerry_5294]

Ok, I have finally been successful and want to share what worked for me on my Macbook Air with M2 chip.

Background: I purchased the educational version and used my .edu email to register the software and receive a valid code to activate on my Mac. I then went to install and tried to use the code that came in the package, not the code that was given to me in my .edu email. It didn't work, so I said do the trial. Once I did that, my 7-day timer began.

I went to my Applications and drug the software to Trash and would reinstall.  Did this several times with no success.  I then did so, deleted everything from Keychain except certificates and the OOBE info described and installed, still unsuccesful.

I finally clicked the ">" in my applications and saw there is actually an uninstall tool so ran that. Then I went to the keychain and deleted all but certificates, verified I had no OOBE, and reinstalled. It still forced me to login but this time it worked. Software is fully operational. Important, make sure your license is in your profile. I logged in with Google, so I had to import that license into the Google profile even though it was initially registered with the .edu email. Hopefully this helps anyone who is fighting to get it working.

[S. S]

@jerry_5294 Thanks for letting us know that it worked for you.

-Souvik