Stop Adobe Creative Cloud from opening in trial mode after purchase

Learn how to stop error messages indicating that you’re still in trial mode (or that your trial has expired) even though you’ve already purchased a Creative Cloud subscription.

Note:

It can take up to one hour for your purchase to process. Until it is processed, the apps continue to show the options for a free membership. You may need to wait a little longer if you completed your purchase within the past hour.

Make sure your subscription is active

On Adobe.com, sign in to your Adobe account with your Adobe ID (usually your email) and password.

If you’re already signed in, click your profile image in the top navigation bar.

Note:

If you have more than one Adobe ID, check that you are logged into your account with the correct ID.

In the navigation bar at the top, click Plans.

Under My plans, click Manage plan.

In the Plan & payment section, check to make sure that your subscription is active. If it’s expired, that’s likely why you’re seeing messaging that indicates you are in trial mode or that your trial has expired.

If your subscription is showing as active, then an out-of-date payment method may be the issue.

To see if your payment information is current, in the Plans & payment section, select Manage payment.

If your payment method isn’t current, update your credit card information in the pop-up window and click Save.

Your new payment method will take effect in the next billing cycle.

Sign out and then sign in to Creative Cloud desktop app

Click the Creative Cloud icon, located in the taskbar (Windows) or Apple menu bar (macOS), to open the Creative Cloud desktop app.

Note:

You can also open the Creative Cloud desktop app from the following location:

Windows: Start > Programs > Adobe Creative Cloud
macOS: Go > Applications > Adobe Creative Cloud > Adobe Creative Cloud

In your profile menu, click Sign out.

Sign out screen

In the confirmation dialog box, click Sign Out. The Creative Cloud apps and services associated with your Adobe ID are deactivated on the computer.

To sign in again, enter your Adobe ID (usually your email) and password, and click Sign in.

Launch any Creative Cloud app included in your membership, such as Photoshop or Illustrator. If prompted, sign in on the next screen.

Check for Creative Cloud desktop app updates

Click the Creative Cloud icon, located in the taskbar (Windows) or Apple menu bar (macOS), to open the Creative Cloud desktop app.

Note:

You can also open the Creative Cloud desktop app from the following location:

Windows: Start > Programs > Adobe Creative Cloud
macOS: Go > Applications > Adobe Creative Cloud > Adobe Creative Cloud

Click the three vertical dots icon in the upper-right corner.

Choose Check for App Updates from the pop-up menu. You can also press Ctrl+Alt+R (Windows) or Command+Option+R (Mac OS) to refresh the Creative Cloud desktop app and check for updates.

Check for App Updates

If you aren’t using the latest version of the Creative Cloud desktop app, a prompt to update appears. Click Update.

Remove Adobe-related entries in the hosts file

If the previous solutions do not work, your computer could have trouble connecting to Adobe's activation servers. This could be because of an incorrectly configured Operating System hosts file (Operating system hosts files map host names to IP addresses).

To solve this issue, try removing Adobe-related entries from the hosts file. You can remove the Adobe-related entries from the hosts file in two ways:

Automatically repair the hosts file using the Limited Access Repair tool: Repair the hosts file using the Limited Access Repair tool. With this method, you do not have to manually edit the hosts file -- the tool automatically repairs the file.

Reset the hosts file manually: If the issue is not fixed even after you run the Limited Access Repair tool, reset the hosts file manually.

If the solutions above are not working, try the steps in Resolve connection errors or contact us.

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Purchased Creative Cloud apps appear as trial

Make sure your subscription is active

Sign out and then sign in to Creative Cloud desktop app

Check for Creative Cloud desktop app updates

Remove Adobe-related entries in the hosts file

Still having Problems?

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Make sure your subscription is active

Sign out and then sign in to Creative Cloud desktop app

Check for Creative Cloud desktop app updates

Remove Adobe-related entries in the hosts file

Still having Problems?

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