iMac (Big Sur): Creative Cloud icon has disappeared from desktop menu bar

[ChappsInLA]

I know this issue has occurred in years past, so the solutions from five or six years ago aren't really relevant, I think. The Creative Cloud icon has disappeared from my iMac's desktop menu bar. I upgraded to Big Sur when it first came out, with no issues, and it updated to 11.1 back before the new year. However, it was just this week when the Creative Cloud icon disappeared. All of that functionality is now unavailable to me. Adobe's instructions for restoring it are unintelligible (no, you can't find anything about Creative Cloud in System Preferences in Big Sur).

Any idea how I can get this back? My whole system has recently become very unstable - Finder, in particular - after an install of Epson's drivers for the V600 scanner (supposedly compatible with Big Sur). This might have caused a CC issue? Eitehr way, I'm out of ideas.

[kglad]

Something Disappeared From Your Mac? How to Restore 7 Common Items (makeuseof.com)

[ChappsInLA]

Thanks. I tried that, but no option for restoring Creative Cloud exists. An absolute mystery. At this point, given the system instability, I may just have to reformat my hard drive and reinstall a clean copy of Big Sur. Bit nervous about doing it, but I've backed up all critical files, so ... why not.

[kglad]

if you're having problems in addition to adobe cc, that might be reasonable.  otherwise, it is not.

[ChappsInLA]

Yes, loads of problems with the operating system. I've attempted all kinds of repair, etc., but nothing works. I can't reinstall CC - any installations fail partway through. Reinstalling the OS was also a failure, so it seems that reformatting the disk and starting from scratch is my only option. Frustrating.

[kglad]

good luck.  make sure you have your production/personal files backed-up to a drive that's not going to be reformatted.