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My Trial is limited to 7 days, Why?

Community Beginner ,
Apr 10, 2016 Apr 10, 2016

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Just loaded the photography trial and it says 7 days only? I am pretty sure I am going to purchase, but would like to take advantage of the full trial,

Thanks

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Adobe Employee , Apr 13, 2016 Apr 13, 2016

Hi all,

From time to time we run tests on Adobe.com to help us ensure we are providing the best experience possible for our customers. These tests cover a range of items, including the duration of app trials, and may or may not be presented to all visitors to Adobe.com. We are currently running a number of tests in select countries that are testing for shorter and longer trial duration periods.


Regards

Pete

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LEGEND ,
Feb 10, 2018 Feb 10, 2018

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The idea of a trial now is more to find out if the program runs on your computer smoothly and without problems-it is not intended to be long enough for you to learn how to use it in any real detail as that would take months. What you can do in 7 days is find your way around the interface, do a few basic tutorials and get a feel of whether the program is for you. In the past people were using the trial for completing paid courses of study and even commercial work and that eventually led to the trial going from 1 month to 14 days and now to 7. You can't blame Adobe for putting a stop to that.

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New Here ,
Feb 10, 2018 Feb 10, 2018

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Terri that is great, all good points.  It is more the mis-marketing of the "30 day free trial".  I can assure you I was given that impression of  30 days worth of trial from the Adobe website.

Lets say I currently don't have 7 days to "find my way around the interface, do a few basic tutorials and get a feel of whether the program is for you."  But I downloaded the software thinking--ok, let me download it now because there could be some hiccups with downloading that may take time, or restarting etc, maybe I will have a chance to play with it this weekend, but if not, well, I will have the software downloaded and ready to go for next weekend or the following week when I have more time.  So, that is my concern, perhaps I would have not downloaded until next weekend when I know I will have more time to "find my way around the interface."

Lastly, even more concerning for me it is not about getting 7 days versus 30 days because your points are valid, and I suppose some people could take advantage of it. For me it is more the misrepresentation from a company I intend on doing business with.  In all reality I would prefer Adobe telling me there is no trial but you can cancel before 30 days.  I'd gladly whip out my credit card.  What any company is telling there potential customer to expect is what the company should deliver.  Adobe should eradicate any signs of "30 day free trial" or make it explicitly clear it is 7 days, or 30 day money back---such as "click download to start your 7 day free trial".  I can assure you nobody likes to feel mislead it just leaves a bad, yucky corporate taste in the mouth (so to speak).  I can hear a roomful of accountants and lawyers chuckling already.

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LEGEND ,
Feb 10, 2018 Feb 10, 2018

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There is a sort of workaround you could try that fits with your idea of a money back mechanism. Adobe offer a 14 day money back guarantee on all their products, so if you subscribe to say the Photographic Plan at $10 /month you can use it for 14 consecutive days and then cancel as Adobe has a no quibble refund policy if you cancel and you will get a complete refund. The returns policy used to be for 30 days but again it was taken advantage of by people who needed the programs just for a one off project. I know it's a hassle to give out your credit card details to sign up, but for $10 you will get a 14 day trial effectively and Adobe will give you your money back without hesitation . I do agree though, they should make the length of the trial very prominent on the website-but being cynical that would put people off trying the products

Do remember it's '14 consecutive days' and you absolutely must cancel within that period or you will be charged and also will be charged a penalty. In the contract you are legally required to pay 50% of any outstanding subscription period if you cancel early.

For example if you have an standard contract for 12 months and cancel after 1 month then you have 11 months of your contract outstanding. In the case of the Photo plan this is 11x10=$110 The penalty clause will mean you pay 50% of the outstanding contract or in this case $55. So you can see if you failed to cancel within 14 days, which is free, then you would have a very expensive trial on your hands for $55. I tend to advise people to cancel on day 13 if they don't want the product just to be safe.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 10, 2018 Feb 10, 2018

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Little_Smiles  wrote

I will say it is almost 2 years since this thread started, I just downloaded the free trial thinking I was getting 30 days, and it is actually 7.  There is clearly still misleading marketing from Adobe. ...

Terri that is great, all good points.  It is more the mis-marketing of the "30 day free trial".  I can assure you I was given that impression of  30 days worth of trial from the Adobe website.

...I can assure you nobody likes to feel mislead it just leaves a bad, yucky corporate taste in the mouth (so to speak).  I can hear a roomful of accountants and lawyers chuckling already.

Rather than vague accusations, can you please explain exactly how and where you believe Adobe is misleading people? Please be specific with details and site URLs that support your claim.

Certainly if there is any place left on Adobe's website that has been overlooked and still states that the Creative Cloud trial is 30 days long, then we can get it fixed. (Note that some other Adobe products continue to have longer 30-day trials.)

Thanks.

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New Here ,
Feb 20, 2018 Feb 20, 2018

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On hold with Adobe customer service right now, but I have same situation. Thought i was getting at 30 day trial during which I could cancel for free. Now trying to cancel and it turns out it was actually a 7 day trial, and they want to charge me half the amount of annual subscription!

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Community Expert ,
Feb 20, 2018 Feb 20, 2018

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Curious, what led you to believe it was a 30-day trial?

It hasn't been that way for almost two years, and there is no current Adobe messaging that indicates that, AFAIK.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 10, 2018 Feb 10, 2018

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Agreed, Terri. The only real purpose of a trial is to check it against your hardware. You can do that in two hours, you don't even need 7 days. And, well...let's be honest: if you need 30 days to figure out what Photoshop is and what it can do, you haven't paid attention.

I've made a lot of software purchases post-trial. I don't think I have ever held off for more than a day before pulling the trigger. That's how it usually goes, because I've already made up my mind which one to go for. Just a basic functionality check first.

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New Here ,
Nov 18, 2016 Nov 18, 2016

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Yeah but its always been 30 days, why is it now going to 7?

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LEGEND ,
Apr 14, 2016 Apr 14, 2016

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I can see advantages in a longer trial, but a shorter one of 7 days is plain idiotic. For a start business people will generally have weekends off, so its five days for them. Hobbyists will probably get the full 7 days, but they generally start from ground zero and if anything require more time than the existing professionals to evaluate the software. I bet if you publicize the trial in some territories is 7 days there will be a sharp decline in uptake as most people know before starting to use Photoshop that it has a steep learning curve and what is 7 days good for, other than the absolute basics. Most newbies struggle for the first few days as they don't understand configuration, color management or have hardware issues with things like graphics cards . You only need to look at this forum to see evidence of that, so many won't even start using the software properly until day 2 or 3. People aren't stupid and will take advantage of the no quibble money back guarantee and get a three week trial that way. There must be an administrative cost to Adobe for that? I imagine less than 5% of trial users know about doing that so the cost is probably modest, but what if 90% of trial users did it? I really can't see the rationale behind this at all, but can see that it may make some people look at the cracks that exist and drive potential customers in the direction of the pirates. I would suggest Adobe thinks again on this one

Terri

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New Here ,
Jun 01, 2016 Jun 01, 2016

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Pete,

When Adobe realizes the 7 day trial doesn't work, will you allow all those customers to use the software for the additional 20+

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Community Expert ,
Jun 01, 2016 Jun 01, 2016

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If they do change it back to 30 days, ii is likely to happen when a new version is released.

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New Here ,
Jun 22, 2016 Jun 22, 2016

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Hi, so does the trial actually start the day you download CC or after you download and press "Start Trial" in the apps panel??

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LEGEND ,
Jun 22, 2016 Jun 22, 2016

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It starts as soon as you hit "start trial"

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New Here ,
Sep 15, 2016 Sep 15, 2016

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I also was promised 30 days and instead recieved 7 on my trial.  This is a dealbreaker for me.  Adobe, there are a lot of free yet competitive programs out there that are easy to access, so why are you pissing off potential clients like this?

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Community Expert ,
Sep 15, 2016 Sep 15, 2016

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I don't work for Adobe so I cannot say why your promised 30 days is now 7.

Just letting you  know that if you sign up for a Cloud plan, you can cancel after 14 days and get a full refund.

Cancel your Creative Cloud membership

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New Here ,
Sep 21, 2016 Sep 21, 2016

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I signed up for a 30 day trial and now only have 7.  Why?  I've scanned this thread and there is still no answer.

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New Here ,
Sep 21, 2016 Sep 21, 2016

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BTW I downloaded it and started it today.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 21, 2016 Sep 21, 2016

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All the Adobe trials are now 7 days only Susan. It is completely inadequate for apps that can take years to learn but in their wisdom Adobe have deemed it enough. If you want 3 weeks its quite possible though. When your trial expires after seven days, subscribe to Creative Cloud at $10 a month and then cancel within 14 days. Adobe has a no quibble money back guarantee and will refund the $10 to your credit card without any questions and that way you get a 21 day trial. There is nothing to stop you from  subscribing for real afterwards if you choose. If everybody knew about this I bet the trial would soon revert to 30 days as it does cost Adobe money the other way.

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LEGEND ,
Nov 19, 2016 Nov 19, 2016

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Adobe perhaps feel that 7 days is long enough to make a purchasing decision. And perhaps they were fed up of people using trials to complete projects.

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Community Expert ,
Nov 19, 2016 Nov 19, 2016

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Agreed. That's been my theory since the day the change was implemented.

Too many people using 30 day trials to complete short term projects.

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LEGEND ,
Nov 20, 2016 Nov 20, 2016

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Don't you think it's a question of getting a balance between those who want to get a one off project done and encouraging the millions of photographers , amateur and professional to try the products? If you look at the huge growth in the use of Photoshop since the introduction of the inexpensive Photographic Plan, it is fairly obvious Adobe have tapped into a completely new market of hobbyists and educational users who now can afford the product. The snag is Photoshop has always been perceived as software that is hard to learn and by shortening the trial period Adobe will inevitable enforce that belief. I have never heard of anyone opening Photoshop for the first time and saying 'wow this looks easy' and a short trial will just make some say it's too complicated for them.

Adobe must already know from their market statisticians how many trials at 30 days translated into closed sales and I suspect it will be a question of how the figures on the seven day trial compare with closed sales that will finally decide things. There is something to be said for not having a trial at all as it makes it easy for pirates to reverse engineer the trial mechanism and turn it into the real thing. It's a guess but I would suspect there are far more business' around the world using cracks than getting a trial to complete a short term project, but that's a whole different can of worms.

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Community Expert ,
Nov 20, 2016 Nov 20, 2016

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Perhaps Terri but Adobe changed the trial from 30 days to 7 days for all Cloud apps. Not sure how anyone can evaluate Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro etc in 7 days.

Plus many educators encouraged students to get the 30 day trial for short courses knowing many would later subscribe once they finished the course. Now they must subscribe after 7 days or not complete the course. That disappointed many educators.

After so many years of 30 day trials. I'm surprised by Adobe's switch to 7 days with very little comment.  We're left to speculate why. Seems to benefit shareholders more than consumers.

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Community Expert ,
Nov 20, 2016 Nov 20, 2016

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Terri Stevens wrote:

I have never heard of anyone opening Photoshop for the first time and saying 'wow this looks easy'

I have - me... 

I can still remember the where have you been all my life-feeling. At the time I was a freelance photographer/artist shooting mainly black and white, doing my own darkroom work. When a friend showed me Photoshop for the first time, I thought, "this is just like a darkroom, only in color. Perfect. Where can I get one?"

Of course, I spent the next ten years learning the basics.

Anyway. I have made a number of software purchase decisions based on trials. But I can't think of a single instance where I didn't make up my mind inside three hours. You're not supposed to learn the software in the trial period, you never will, 7 or 30 days. But you quickly get a sense of what it can do.

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LEGEND ,
Nov 21, 2016 Nov 21, 2016

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oops I didn't take into consideration the Norwegian factor I know what you mean though. If today I opened Photoshop for the first time, now with a bit of a background in graphics and photography, I think I would naturally know how to use some of it but not that much-but I don't have your IQ Dag

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Community Expert ,
Nov 21, 2016 Nov 21, 2016

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There wasn't any IQ involved, Terri It was just love at first sight.

It took me a long time to understand what it did, but I knew immediately that whatever it did was something I wanted. Just like my wife, no trial required

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