How to enable Apps tab in the Creative Cloud desktop app

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The admin in your organization may choose to control the apps that you can install and therefore may have disabled the Apps tab in the Creative Cloud desktop app.

For end users

If you've received your Adobe plan from a school or organization

Contact your admin if in the Creative Cloud desktop app:

The Apps tab is missing
The Apps tab displays the message: "You don't have access to manage apps."

See how to contact your organization's admin.

If required, share this article with the admin for steps on how to enable the Apps tab for you.

If you have an individual subscription plan

If you're not in an organization or school environment,

Close the Creative Cloud Desktop app.
Go to the following location on your computer and delete the ServiceConfig.xml file:
- macOS: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE/Configs/
- Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\OOBE\Configs\
Note:

You'll need administrative privileges on the computer, to delete the ServiceConfig.xml file.
Restart the Creative Cloud Desktop app.

If the issue persists, try the troubleshooting steps in Activation and deactivation troubleshooting.

For admins

Use one of the following methods to enable the Apps tab:

Use self-service policies

Recommended for Creative Cloud for enterprise and education customers.

Assign the impacted users to a (new or existing) product profile.
See how to assign users to product profiles.
Apply the User Managed self-service policy to that profile.
See how to apply self-service policies to product profiles.

Note:

A policy will be applied for users within 24 hours of the admin assigning the policy to the product profile.

To apply a policy immediately, ask your users to do one of the following:

Sign out and sign back into their Adobe account.
Quit and relaunch Creative Cloud desktop app.
Click Check for updates in Creative Cloud desktop app.

Create a Creative Cloud desktop app - only package

Use this option if:

You're an Adobe teams customer.
You choose not to use self-service policies (described above)
You inadvertantly deselected the Enable self-service install option (that disables the apps tab) when creating a package.

Create a package

Create a managed package on the Admin Console.

See how to create managed packages.
When creating the package, in the Choose apps screen, ensure that you only choose the Creative Cloud Desktop Application.
In the Options screen, ensure that the Enable self-service install option is selected.

Deploy the package

Deploy this package to the impacted user machines.

Read details on how to deploy packages.