Older versions of creative cloud apps are reverting to Trial [Branched]

[afriedm]

I'm having the same issue. All across our organization. We upgraded our Creative Cloud licenses from Standard to Pro, and now everything for CC 2018 and before has reverted to Trial mode. Three full days with Adobe Support and I'm still no closer to a solution.

[Nancy OShea]

Hi @afriedm,

Adobe prefers customers to use the latest release versions (2021), no more than 2 versions back (2020). Legacy pre-2019 versions are no longer offered from Creative Cloud desktop app.

[afriedm]

Unfortunately, we have projects from major publishers that were created in older versions using third-party apps that do not translate properly to newer versions without those plug-ins. Our apps were all working across our organization right up until we upgraded our licensing from Standard to Pro accounts. Now every app (except Acrobat) older than CC 2019 has reverted to Trial use, which will expire soon.

Had we known the damage the upgrade would cause, we certainly would have refrained from making this change. Believe me, Adobe has said much the same thing, without offering much more thasn that.

Would you suggest that I tell a customer that they need to completely recreate a new version of a textbook from scratch when the files already exist and only need changes made to update it? I don't think that will go over well.

[Nancy OShea]

Did you run the Adobe Cleaner tool to remove old apps from your system?

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

And then do a fresh install with latest Creative Cloud apps?

For legacy apps, you can try the direct downloads from ProDesign Tools. 

https://prodesigntools.com/adobe-cc-2018-direct-download-links.html

Be sure to follow these VERY IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS  or it won't work.  NOTE:  Adobe may remove these links at anytime.

[afriedm]

I've been online with Adobe support since last Friday, that's 4 days of Adobe's Technical support with no progress made. They've escalated the case to Tier 2 support, but they seem to be in no rush to contact me.

I'm the administrator for my Team, and know how to make installation packages as needed. They all work, and they all install as needed. The funny thing is that the Adobe Techs can log in on my computer with their own credentials, and all of the apps work. But when I use any of our credentials, the ones that were upgraded from Standard to Pro, the same apps no longer work. This is a licensing or permissions issue on Adobe's end, NOT something on my computer.

And you missed my point about installing the latest apps. They are not appropriate for the projects we're working on.

[Nancy OShea]

"I'm the administrator for my Team..."

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@afriedm,

I see.  You've posted in the wrong place.  I'm moving your question to the Teams & Enterprise forum where the concerned experts will see this.  🙂

Good luck!

[afriedm]

Well then. Thank you for your help. 

I only posted here because the post's title was such a good match to the issue we're having here.

[afriedm]

I should have mentioned, our current project used a CC2018 InDesign/InCopy workflow. So it's not like I'm trying to resurrect something that's all that old.

[afriedm]

As an update to this chain... Adobe rolled this upgrade out without actually making sure that the older versions (CC2018 and before) are supported, and it turns out that they are not. They're looking into making changes now to fix that, but in the meantime, this issue will persist.

Unfortunately, Tier 1 support has not been notified about this. They will work with you, uninstalling and reinstalling your software, thinking that the issue is in your computers when that is not the case.