I know the announcement about the discontinuation of Adobe Creative Cloud sync'd files has been fairly well dissected by now, but I've got a slightly different take I wanted to offer about the announcement email.
The email announcing the change to users was unhelpful and confusing. It was heavy with esoteric references and assumes users' familiarity with certain terms and functions, which is fine if you're deeply knowledgeable about Adobe's ecosystem but not great for the majority of users. Ultimately it makes us feel like we're being misled - even when we're not.
Good communication with us as users goes a long way to improving our experience and opinion of Adobe, so it's unfortunate this announcment missed the mark. In the hope it might help anyone coming here for answers (and because I have nothing better to do 🤓), I actually took the liberty of rewriting the email...
== The actual email from Adobe ==
Dear Creative Cloud User,
We want to let you know about an upcoming change to your personal Creative Cloud account. Adobe is modernising the Creative Cloud storage experience and will begin discontinuing Creative Cloud Synced files on 1 February 2024.
How this may impact you:
• Files saved to Creative Cloud Files folder on your computer will no longer automatically sync with assets.adobe.com.
• Files that are uploaded directly to assets.adobe.com or the Creative Cloud Mobile App will not be automatically copied to your computer.
Recommended actions:
• If you do not save assets to the Creative Cloud Synced files, no action is needed.
• Ensure your assets are properly backed up locally or to third-party cloud storage.
It is important to emphasise that there will be no change to Creative Cloud Documents functionality. You can still save files as Creative Cloud Documents via applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator; these files will remain in sync across devices.
Regards,
Adobe Creative Cloud Team
== My rewrite ==
[ To be clear: I am not an Adobe employee nor do I claim to be. This is not an actual email sent by Adobe but is written to demonstrate what I and my team felt we'd have found more helpful]
Hi Name,
We're making some changes to how Adobe Creative Cloud files sync with the cloud, and we wanted to let you know in case you need to take action. After 1 February 2024:
- The "Creative Cloud Files" folder on your computer will no longer synchronise your files with assets.adobe.com or your other devices.
- Files you upload directly to assets.adobe.com or the Adobe Creative Cloud mobile app will stop syncing with your devices.
What Should You Do?
- If you don't use the "Creative Cloud Files" folder or don't know what it is, you probably won't notice this change. To be safe, you can see if you have any synced files at assets.adobe.com/files.
- If you do use the "Creative Cloud Files" folder, you may wish to backup those files to a new location as they will stop synchronising on 1 February 2024.
Stay Sync'd
Creative Cloud Documents are the modern way of sharing your creations across devices. You can save your files to the cloud directly through apps like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator and access them anywhere. This user guide has all the details.
===
I'm sure I sound like a real bore, but having witnessed a couple of colleagues panic over this email because they didn't understand it, I thought someone ought to speak up in favour of some simple adjustments: a user-friendly tone, helpful email content (links to user guides and resources for instance), and clear explanations go a long way.
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