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Uninstall Creative Cloud products

Applies to enterprise & teams.

Learn how you can uninstall Creative Cloud apps from client computers and return the licenses back to the deployment pool.

This article describes multiple methods to uninstall Creative Cloud apps from client computers. However, we recommend that you use the first method (using the Adobe uninstall tool) described below. Only use one of the alternate methods, if for some reason, you are unable to use the uninstaller tool.

Note:
  • We recommend that you do not use the operating system defined uninstall procedures (like uninstalling using Add remove program on Windows or move to trash on macOS). This may remove product information, but license information will not be removed from the machine or the Admin Console.
  • The methods described in this article do not uninstall plug-ins. To uninstall plug-ins, download the Adobe Extension Manager Command-line tool from Admin Console > Packages > Tools.

Uninstall Creative Cloud apps using Adobe uninstall tool

The command-line interface for this tool allows you to trigger the uninstallation of Adobe apps on devices. It can be used to remove specific individual apps or combinations of apps with a single command.
You can use the --list option to list the apps currently available on a machine.

Note:
  • This tool requires administrative privileges on the machine running the commands.
  • If you install Adobe's UWP apps (such as Fresco, Fuse, and Aero) locally via the Creative Cloud desktop, you cannot use the Adobe uninstall tool to uninstall the app. You'll need to use the Creative Cloud Desktop app or the method provided by the specific operating system.

Download Adobe uninstall tool from Admin Console

  1. Sign into the Admin Console and navigate to Packages > Tools.

  2.  

    Click Download in the Adobe uninstall tool card, and save the executable to your computer.

    Download Adobe Uninstaller tool

List apps on a machine

Before uninstall the Creative Cloud apps from a machine, you can view the list of apps (and their versions) currently installed. You can also create an XML output of the apps on a machine, and then use that XML to selectively uninstall apps.

To list all Creative Cloud apps installed on a machine (in tabular format):

  • For macOSsudo ./AdobeUninstaller --list
  • For WindowsAdobeUninstaller.exe --list
Tabular format
-list command with tabular output for Windows

To list all Creative Cloud apps installed on a machine (in XML format):

  • For macOSsudo ./AdobeUninstaller --list --format=XML
  • For WindowsAdobeUninstaller.exe --list --format=XML
XML output
-list command with XML output for Windows

To list specific Creative Cloud apps on a machine:

  • For macOSsudo ./AdobeUninstaller --list --products=<comma separated SAP codes, with Base version numbers>
  • For WindowsAdobeUninstaller.exe --list --products=<comma separated SAP codes, with Base version numbers>

Example 1: To find and display all Illustrator and Acrobat DC versions on a machine:
AdobeUninstaller.exe --list --products=ILST,APRO

Example 2: To check if  Photoshop (base version 22.0) and Illustrator (base version 25.0) are installed on a machine:

AdobeUninstaller.exe --list --products=PHSP#22.0,ILST#25.0

Note: The above outputs will be in tabular format. To generate XML output, add --format=XML to the commands.

Uninstall apps

To uninstall all Creative Cloud apps (include Creative Cloud Desktop app) on a machine:

  • For macOSsudo ./AdobeUninstaller --all
  • For WindowsAdobeUninstaller.exe --all
Note:

The Creative Cloud Desktop app can only be uninstalled using the --all option. It cannot be uninstalled using the following --products option.

Uninstall specific Creative Cloud apps

To uninstall specific Creative Cloud apps on a machine, you can do one of the following:

  • Specify the apps (SAP codes) to uninstall in a comma-separated list with the --products option.
  • Or, you can create an XML file (using the above --list option) and then specify file with the --uninstallConfigPath option.

Using the --products option: 

  • For macOSsudo ./AdobeUninstaller --products=<comma-separated list of SAP codes with base version numbers>
  • For WindowsAdobeUninstaller.exe --products=<comma-separated list of SAP codes with base version numbers>

Example: To uninstall Photoshop 22.2.1 and Illustrator 25.1:

  • For macOSsudo ./AdobeUninstaller --products=PHSP#22.0,ILST#25.0
  • For WindowsAdobeUninstaller.exe --products=PHSP#22.0,ILST#25.0

Using the --skipNotInstalled option:

The above --products option fails if one or more of the SAP codes is either invalid or the corresponding product is not installed. Use the --skipNotInstalled option with the --products option to install the valid products and ignore invalid SAP codes or products that are not installed.
For example, if Photoshop is not installed on a machine and Illustrator is installed, the following command will uninstall Illustrator and ignore the Photoshop SAP code:

For macOSsudo ./AdobeUninstaller --products=PHSP#22.0,ILST#25.0 --skipNotInstalled
For WindowsAdobeUninstaller.exe --products=PHSP#22.0,ILST#25.0 --skipNotInstalled

Using the --uninstallConfigPath option:

  1. Create an XML file from the XML output of the --list command described above.
  2. If required, edit the XML file to only retain the apps that you need to uninstall.
  3. Run the following command:
  • For macOSsudo ./AdobeUninstaller --uninstallConfigPath=<path to the XML file>
  • For WindowsAdobeUninstaller.exe --uninstallConfigPath=<path to the XML file>

Using the --skipNotInstalled option:

The above --uninstallConfigPath option fails if, in the XML file, one or more of the SAP codes is either invalid or the corresponding product is not installed. Use the --skipNotInstalled option with the --uninstallConfigPath option to install the valid products and ignore invalid SAP codes or products that are not installed.
For example,  if the XML file contains Photoshop that is not installed on a machine and Illustrator that is installed, the following command will uninstall Illustrator and ignore the Photoshop SAP code:

For macOS: sudo ./AdobeUninstaller --uninstallConfigPath=<path to the XML file> --skipNotInstalled
For Windows: AdobeUninstaller.exe --uninstallConfigPath=<path to the XML file> --skipNotInstalled

Uninstall Adobe Genuine Service (AGS)

If you want to uninstall AGS, follow these procedures described below when:

  • You only need to uninstall AGS.
  • You are using an uninstall package that doesn't include the Creative Cloud desktop app. For example, a template package for non - Creative Cloud apps or an Acrobat - only package.

Windows

  1. Download and extract the following zip archive.

    Download

  2. Open the Command prompt with Administrator privileges and navigate to the extracted folder of the above zip archive.

  3. Execute the following command:

    AdobeGenuineCleaner.exe --UninstallUserDriven

macOS

  1. Download and extract the following zip archive.

    Download

  2. Open the terminal prompt and change directory to the extracted folder of the above zip archive.

  3. Execute the following command:

    sudo ./AdobeGenuineCleaner UserDriven


Alternate methods to uninstall Creative Cloud apps

Only use one of the following methods, if, for some reason you are unable to use the Adobe uninstall tool, described above.

1. USE INSTALLED PACKAGE

Use this method if you have the package files downloaded from the Admin Console.


2. UNINSTALL SELECTED VERSIONS

Use this method if you have the package files and you need to uninstall selected app versions.


3. USE UNINSTALL PACAKGE

Use this method if you don't have the package files downloaded from the Admin Console.


Method 1: Use installed package

The packages that you create (and deploy) to client machines, can also be used to uninstall the same Creative Cloud apps that you installed using that package. In addition, when you use the package to uninstall the apps, the licenses installed on the client machines are uninstalled and returned back to the deployment pool. So, after you've run this procedure to uninstall the apps, you can view the updated license count on the Overview tab of the Admin Console.

On your client computer, go to the folder that contains the package file that you downloaded when creating the package in the Packages tab of the Admin Console.

And use the package uninstall procedure based on the client machine operating system.

Method 2: Uninstall selected app versions

Method 3: Use Uninstall package

Use this method if you don't have the installed package.

Caution:

The uninstall package for macOS currently can't be used to uninstall apps on machines with Universal macOS achitecture.

Use uninstall package

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