Top Ten Questions About Creative Cloud

[NightSkyGuy]

1. What happens if I have say PS CS5, get Creative Cloud and also PS CS6. Can they exist independently?
   (Apparently not per some discussions)
2. If I am "offline" (no internet accessibility) is it true that in as little as 7 days all of my Cloud licensed applications will be revoked even if my Monthly subscription is up to date?
3. Same question as #2, but what if my subscription is Annual?
4. Is it true that the licensing entity experiences "degradation" and when it does I may not be able to install software or activate my licenses?
5. If I discontinue Creative Cloud, what will happen to my fully licensed applications (see question 1).
6. Is it possible to do a "box install" and license through Creative Cloud (assuming a recent version of software?)  If so, which box installs are currently supported?  (Why would I do this? Because recent versions are available AND it saves me a heap of downloading).
7. Where is the list of flaws in Adobe Software kept?  And specifically Creative Cloud?
8. If an updated version of a Cloud product is released will I be required to update my installed copy?  Can I install and use more than one version of the same software?
9. Is it true that trying to use Creative Cloud with a previously installed Trial Version may break my licensed copy?
10. Is there a "throat to choke" when things go wrong - or is all support web based only?

[Ken G. Rice]

@ Paul (poorl678) - There are both annual and month-to-month plans. With an annual plan you pay every month whether or not you use the subscription. Same with a month-to-month plan except that you can choose to cancel at the end of a month, not pay for Creative Cloud for 2 months per your example, and then start up again. The advantage of the annual plan is that it is less expensive, but if you will not be using the service for months at a time then month-to-month may have a lower overall cost. The Creative Cloud Plans page is here https://creative.adobe.com/plans.

You can choose to store your files with the Creative Cloud but it is not required. A paid Individual subscription user receives 20 GB of storage, while a free/trial user only receives 2 GB. If you downgrade from paid to free then you have a grace period to remove any files in excess of 2 GB storage.

Finally the activation is usually silent. You just launch a program like Photoshop and you subscription is verified without any needed action on your part. At times you may need to sign in again with your Adobe ID.

For more details on the the answers to your questions there is the Creative Cloud FAQ at http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/faq.html.

[poorl678]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the quick reply, please can you comment more specifically on the 2 scenarios that I described? I'll clearify them a bit better.

1. Say I have the annual subscription as month to month is very expensive in the UK.  Imagine I'm away for 2 months without my computer so I haven't been able to check in, I come back and start up Photoshop.  What happens?

2. In the same scenario as above, imagine I had 10GB of files stored in the cloud, what will have happened to them?

I've read that there is an option in the help menu of each app to 'deactivate' it, if I deactivated it before going on a trip would that stop it trying to do the check in? if so that would solve the problems.

Thanks, Paul

[Ken G. Rice]

@ Paul (poorl678) -

1: Photoshop just launches as it already did before. You will notice no difference at all.

2: The files will still be there.

To clarify - if you sign up for an annual subscription then you will pay for the 2 months you are away. The annual subscription lasts for one year.

You are allowed two activations - so you can activate on up to two computers. Chosing to deactivate does not mean you are not charged for that month.

[poorl678]

Thanks Ken, sorry I think I'm not explaining my self clearly enough on my first question

The Adobe apps that are installed under Creative Cloud subscription need to checkin once every 30 days in order to check that the subscription is still valid.  If the user is not online there is a 7 day grace period before the apps are blocked.

I know this from reading the Adobe pages and understand it fine, what I am unsure about is what happens after the 7 day grace period, if the apps are blocked then how would I go about unblocking them?

My other point relates to the above.  If I was going travelling for 2 months without my computer should I deactivate my apps in order to stop them becoming blocked or will it not be neccessary? will I have any problems starting the apps up again after not using them for 2 months?

Thanks again, I hope I've been clear.

Paul

[Kirsten Harris]

Paul,

I understand your question, and I assure you that there shouldn't be any problems launching the Creative Cloud applications after a 2 month absence. Your credit card is charged every month when you sign up for an annual subscription, the applications will silently activate every 30 days, or whenever the next launch occurs. When you launch the apps after 2 month, that will be the time they will contact the activation server, make sure you have an Internet connection then.

Sometimes the apps lose the activation information, in which case they return to a trial state and prompt you to sign in again with your Adobe ID. We have identified the root causes for this issue and applied fixes. Such occurances shouldn't happen if the latest product updates have been installed.

[poorl678]

Thanks Kirsten!

It sounds good but I think the grace period should be 30 days instead of 7 (I don't see why Adobe doesn't just make it revert to trial mode).

Because in some places it can be quite dificult to find an internet connection.

I also think after renting the software for a year or more, if you decide to stop they should offer a reduced price to buy the standalone software.

Paul

[How_about_this_for_a_name]

Hi Ken,

Could you also please look at my question above, number 25, and advise?

I couldn't find any information on backing and/or reinstalling up on adobe.com.

[Ken G. Rice]

@How about this for a name - You can download the installer for the product page. For example to get the Photoshop installer go to the Apps page at https://creative.adobe.com/apps and click on the Learn More link for Photoshop. On the right of the Photoshop page there is a Try link. Click on this and you can dowload the installer.

[atvb]

Unfortunately after reading all of this, I'm still unclear on one thing.  As I see it, Creative Cloud MUST have an active internet connection every so often.  The company I work for has always used the Adobe programs and provides them to our customers in prison environments (correctional industries).  My concern is, though I can activate a license in office prior to shipment of the workstation to the customer's site, once there, the workstation WILL NEVER AGAIN have an internet connection. I have been on the phone 3 times now with an Adobe sales rep and customer support and have yet to receive a clear answer on how we can work around this.  I need a clear yes or no answer regarding whether or not we'll be able to use Creative Cloud without ever having an active connection again after the initial validation.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[regwh]

If you think you know the answers, why are you asking the questions?

I found all of their answers made sense and were logical based on how the product is sold.

Thank you to whoever answered the original questions since it answered my question too

Reg

[John_R_SF]

Creative Cloud's licensing system  *cannot* be trusted. Believe me, your apps could go dead at any time. I was using mine just fine yesterday, and this morning it said my subscription had "expired" even though I was just billed two days ago (and the charge went through, I checked with the bank). Tech support said to uninstall and reinstall. That did nothing but reset everything to a trial version, which won't work because I already used the trial version on my machine in the past. I was told the issue would be escalated and that I'd hear from someone in 2-3 days. Basically, I have lost a full week of productive work, and spent more than 8 hours (including hold times) trying to get the product I paid for to actually continue working on my machine.

As tempting as Creative Cloud sounds, if you are doing mission critical applications, steer clear of it. Fortunately, I had an old DVD of CS4 I was able to get up and running so I can at least do *some* work. I'm actually thinking of just sticking with this and cancelling Creative Cloud because I don't think I'll ever be able to trust it again, if Adobe can even get it working for me (which I strongly have my doubts--their support doesn't seem to be the best and brightest).

This paranoid fear of software piracy is making it so that legitimate users are being penalized, while the pirates are sitting there laughing at us. If I were unscrupulous, I'd use a cracked version and be working just fine right now. Instead, I'm trying to do the right thing, and being punished by Adobe's horrible licensing implementation.

[out-of-order]

^ this guy speaks the truth. Its not worth it if you need it to work all the time. I lost out on a weekend of work because nothing will open. Good luck with customer service, call wait time was just under 2 hours and online chat just tells me to call support.

[Kirsten Harris]

I apologize for the problems. We have now identified the root cause for the expired subscription message and are fixing it. Expect to have the sign in working by US West Coast morning hours on Tuesday, 27th.

[kiski]

Interesting posts. I've been doing a lot of research on this topic, as I'm being forced to upgrade my 3 CS4 apps - Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, OR get the perpetual license by month end. I hate both options. In the past, I only upgraded every 2-3 years. Adobe will now suck a lot more money out of their consumers with these limited choices. I expect there are many casual users who don't understand all the ramifications yet. Like me!

IF I subscribe to and cancel Creative Cloud in 1 or 2 years for whatever reason, what will I have left to use - my original CS4 or the latest version on Creative Cloud such as CS6/7?

Seems to me this is a various precarious game... What will the price be in two years?

Will there be software glitches?

Will there by payment glitches?

Renewal glitches?

If my service shuts down for any reason, how will my immediate work be affected and restricted?

Most of these discussions are on Adobe blogs and forums. Is there a best independent designer forum out there?

[John Waller]

kiski wrote:

IF I subscribe to and cancel Creative Cloud in 1 or 2 years for whatever reason, what will I have left to use - my original CS4 or the latest version on Creative Cloud such as CS6/7?

There seems to be widespread confusion on this point.

Your original CS4 is a perpetual license. You've already paid for it. It's yours to keep forever (hence "perpetual license"). It will continue working indefinitely provided you have the hardware to run it.

The Cloud is a rental model only. While you're an active member of the Cloud (paying your subscription fee every month), you will have access to all software and services available via the Cloud.

When you stop paying the monthly fee (temporarily suspend or permanently cancel your membership), you lose all access to the software but you keep whatever files you created with it and stored locally.

So, if you're on CS9 when you stop the Cloud, you will lose CS9 (and all other earlier Cloud versions) but you'll keep CS4 (the perpetual license).

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/faq.html

"If I decide to stop my membership, will I still be able to use my Creative Suite software and the ot...

When you cancel a month-to-month or annual membership purchased directly from Adobe or let a 3- or 12-month prepaid membership purchased from a retailer expire, you will no longer have access to the Creative Suite applications, other desktop software, and services that are components of Creative Cloud. However, if you saved your work to your computer, you will continue to have access to those files. You will also have access to the same benefits as a free Creative Cloud member, which include 2GB of storage space (reduced from 20GB), the ability to sync and store your files, access to a free 30-day trial of the desktop software that has not already been installed and provisioned as part of your paid membership, and access to the free level of services included with Creative Cloud."

Some people have requested a more lenient exit policy from the Cloud, rather than the current all-or-nothing. e.g. one suggestion is to pay a residual exit fee and keep whichever version you're on when you exit the Cloud. Then perhaps a 3-month or 6-month waiting period before you can re-join the Cloud again? (to prevent abuse of the policy). Don't know if Adobe is considering those suggestions or not.

[kiski]

Thanks for that explanation, John. That makes sense.

There are far too many unknowns to be locked into a subscription. I expect that conditions and terms will change as Adobe learns how it will work. There will be MANY low end users who don't understand the details. I only learned about this a few days ago and have been trying to understand all the options. There are far too many unknowns to commit to a never ending subscription.

I understand what Adobe is trying to do from their perspective. From mine, it's having options... Lease or Buy is a fair choice. BUT if I BUY, why do I have to now upgrade my vehicle (app) yearly? That has me looking for alternatives. (Photoline may be a much less expensive alternative for Photoshop. )

C'mon Adobe. Your inflexibility is turning people off!

[kiski]

So, I upgraded all 3 Adobe CS6 apps before December 31st. Cost me $750. 😞

Before I installed I thought I would see if there are any issues I should be aware of and found this discussion...

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4993035#4993035

I read over 340 comments from unhappy Adobe users. They've had an issue with Photoshop CS6 for over a month and it's not fixed yet!! Unbelievable! So much for the idea of being a loyal, perpetual Creative Cloud customer.

All very frustrating when you depend on this for your income. There has to be a better non-Adobe way.

[Ken G. Rice]

@kiski - I believe you are referring to the issue of Photoshop launching as a trial for a paid subscriber to the Creative Cloud. This issue has been fixed with the 13.1.2 update per http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/trial-screen-displays-you-open.html.

The fix came on Tuesday one day after your post.

[How_about_this_for_a_name]

If I need to re-install or migrate the OS from/on my PC, is there any way I can backup the app that I have downloaded from creative cloud beforehand? Or do I have download again and re-install that way?

What type of issues would I likely encounter?

[Arrakis]

Why cant adobe make the license check visible so we know when it happens so that we can keep track of when the next one will be?   I dont understand this.  Does it check randomly or is it on the same day every 30 days?   How are we supposed to know when this will happen so we dont get caught out?   Seems very odd. What do adobe mean by license will be revoked?   DOes this mean i will no longer be able to use my subscription??

[NightSkyGuy]

There is one element of the Creative Cloud the DEMANDS updating or it exits.  Unfortunately its the cornerstone application which is used to install and upgrade all others.

The Creative Cloud Desktop has been exhibiting failures on a regular basis since at least June, 2013 for a significant number of users whether on Mac or PC

http://forums.adobe.com/message/5431839#5431839

In short you can't install or upgrade an application if this element is broken. Not clear what happens if it remains broken for 30 or 90 days... my suspicion is your applications may no longer authorize and go into brick mode.  Yet another failure mode people should be aware of.

Oh, I forgot you asked about "what does revoked mean" - it means "dead, useless, catatonic, brick-like software".

[webcanyon]

I too am interested in an answer to the 'Every 30 Days Internet Connection'

As a DoD IT contractor we are required to have the latest patched software and because it's time to remediate security finding with Adobe and upgrade, our project managers are asking questions. The main issue is these installation will never be on the internet- they are closed Government networks that cannot be connected to a public network.
.

I am working though our CDW-G Rep but we have no answers currently after several weeks of trying. This is a high dollar (many licenses) facility and we are beginning to entertain the notion we need to move away from Adobe. The Projects we have in our facility have requirement written in the contracts that include your software. As the discussions start with the Government leads and their management chains, there is an awareness that Adobe might not be a solution going forward. Considering the projects we support, this could have dramatic domino affect within this part of the DoD and likely to jump agencies as we are forced to find a prove another solution and report that up. I have been asked to continue to find a solution because the individuals that utilize your software are adamant that it's the best solution and honestly I agree,

Is there a solution to your current licensing model to support this type of environment?

[brightmedusa]

Is there no update on this main issue of being locked out of your subscribed cloud apps once offline? The 30-day thing in question 2 of the accepted answer means 30 days from the last subscription check—which the user has no idea of, unless you remember the date you bought your license, most likely.

In my experience, I was shut out within the first 7 days of leaving internet service and being in the middle of the ocean.

I’m planning on being in the Kalahari for 4 weeks soon, and I’d really like not to be shut out again. Has Adobe not addressed this problem after more than 3 years.

[stass86670261]

If I bought my access to cc for 12 months then why should I have to check with adobe every 30 days to see if it’s valid?  Should this not be done every 12 Months with some grace period?

Adobe is not the only software that organisations have to manage, we have 10s of packages and any additional step or what if’s is an additional nightmare for businesses that cannot afford to pay for person to continually be reading Terms and conditions, checking  validity of software every 30 days etc…

This has become a nightmare for me and my users as there is this uncertainty if the product will be available if we needed.

We are now looking and run trials of alternatives and let me tell you, there are plenty and very cost effective solutions out there.

Also where is the information stored in the cloud?  I’m from Australia and in our business we have to comply with Australian privacy laws which means all information  has be stored with in Australian jurisdiction and within Australian borders. Is this the case? Or is all of our information being mined and plundered by adobe?

M2C

[MarkWeiss]

We've decided to stick with CS6 from now til eternity. Rental model is fine for vacationers needing a temporary transportation vehicle. It is not a sound idea to run a business on.