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Licensing overview

  1. Adobe Enterprise & Teams: Administration guide
  2. Plan your deployment
    1. Basic concepts
      1. Licensing
      2. Identity
      3. User management
      4. App deployment
      5. Admin Console overview
      6. Admin roles
    2. Deployment Guides
      1. Named User deployment guide
      2. SDL deployment guide
      3. Deploy Adobe Acrobat 
    3. Deploy Creative Cloud for education
      1. Deployment home
      2. K-12 Onboarding Wizard
      3. Simple setup
      4. Syncing Users
      5. Roster Sync K-12 (US)
      6. Key licensing concepts
      7. Deployment options
      8. Quick tips
      9. Approve Adobe apps in Google Admin Console
      10. Enable Adobe Express in Google Classroom
      11. Integration with Canvas LMS
      12. Integration with Blackboard Learn
      13. Configuring SSO for District Portals and LMSs
      14. Add users through Roster Sync
      15. Kivuto FAQ
      16. Primary and Secondary institution eligibility guidelines
  3. Set up your organization
    1. Identity types | Overview
    2. Set up identity | Overview
    3. Set up organization with Enterprise ID
    4. Setup Azure AD federation and sync
      1. Set up SSO with Microsoft via Azure OIDC
      2. Add Azure Sync to your directory
      3. Role sync for Education
      4. Azure Connector FAQ
    5. Set up Google Federation and sync
      1. Set up SSO with Google Federation
      2. Add Google Sync to your directory
      3. Google federation FAQ
    6. Set up organization with Microsoft ADFS
    7. Set up organization for District Portals and LMS
    8. Set up organization with other Identity providers
      1. Create a directory
      2. Verify ownership of a domain
      3. Add domains to directories
    9. SSO common questions and troubleshooting
      1. SSO Common questions
      2. SSO Troubleshooting
      3. Education common questions
  4. Manage your organization setup
    1. Manage existing domains and directories
    2. Enable automatic account creation
    3. Set up organization via directory trust
    4. Migrate to a new authentication provider 
    5. Asset settings
    6. Authentication settings
    7. Privacy and security contacts
    8. Console settings
    9. Manage encryption  
  5. Manage users
    1. Overview
    2. Administrative roles
    3. User management strategies
      1. Manage users individually   
      2. Manage multiple users (Bulk CSV)
      3. User Sync tool (UST)
      4. Microsoft Azure Sync
      5. Google Federation Sync
    4. Assign licenses to a Teams user
    5. Add users with matching email domains
    6. Change user's identity type
    7. Manage user groups
    8. Manage directory users
    9. Manage developers
    10. Migrate existing users to the Adobe Admin Console
    11. Migrate user management to the Adobe Admin Console
  6. Manage products and entitlements
    1. Manage products and product profiles
      1. Manage products
      2. Buy products and licenses
      3. Manage product profiles for enterprise users
      4. Manage automatic assignment rules
      5. Entitle users to train Firefly custom models
      6. Review product requests
      7. Manage self-service policies
      8. Manage app integrations
      9. Manage product permissions in the Admin Console  
      10. Enable/disable services for a product profile
      11. Single App | Creative Cloud for enterprise
      12. Optional services
    2. Manage Shared Device licenses
      1. What's new
      2. Deployment guide
      3. Create packages
      4. Recover licenses
      5. Manage profiles
      6. Licensing toolkit
      7. Shared Device Licensing FAQ
  7. Get started with Global Admin Console
    1. Adopt global administration
    2. Select your organization
    3. Manage organization hierarchy
    4. Manage product profiles
    5. Manage administrators
    6. Manage user groups
    7. Update organization policies
    8. Manage policy templates
    9. Allocate products to child organizations
    10. Execute pending jobs
    11. Explore insights
    12. Export or import organization structure
  8. Manage storage and assets
    1. Storage
      1. Manage enterprise storage
      2. Adobe Creative Cloud: Update to storage
      3. Manage Adobe storage
    2. Asset migration
      1. Automated Asset Migration
      2. Automated Asset Migration FAQ  
      3. Manage transferred assets
    3. Reclaim assets from a user
    4. Student asset migration | EDU only
      1. Automatic student asset migration
      2. Migrate your assets
  9. Manage services
    1. Adobe Stock
      1. Adobe Stock credit packs for teams
      2. Adobe Stock for enterprise
      3. Use Adobe Stock for enterprise
      4. Adobe Stock License Approval
    2. Custom fonts
    3. Adobe Asset Link
      1. Overview
      2. Create user group
      3. Configure Adobe Experience Manager Assets
      4. Configure and install Adobe Asset Link
      5. Manage assets
      6. Adobe Asset Link for XD
    4. Adobe Acrobat Sign
      1. Set up Adobe Acrobat Sign for enterprise or teams
      2. Adobe Acrobat Sign - Team feature Administrator
      3. Manage Adobe Acrobat Sign on the Admin Console
    5. Creative Cloud for enterprise - free membership
      1. Overview
  10. Deploy apps and updates
    1. Overview
      1. Deploy and deliver apps and updates
      2. Plan to deploy
      3. Prepare to deploy
    2. Create packages
      1. Package apps via the Admin Console
      2. Create Named User Licensing Packages
      3. Adobe templates for packages
      4. Manage packages
      5. Manage device licenses
      6. Serial number licensing
    3. Customize packages
      1. Customize the Creative Cloud desktop app
      2. Include extensions in your package
    4. Deploy Packages 
      1. Deploy packages
      2. Deploy Adobe packages using Microsoft Intune
      3. Deploy Adobe packages with SCCM
      4. Deploy Adobe packages with ARD
      5. Install products in the Exceptions folder
      6. Uninstall Creative Cloud products
      7. Use Adobe provisioning toolkit enterprise edition
      8. Adobe Creative Cloud licensing identifiers
    5. Manage updates
      1. Change management for Adobe enterprise and teams customers
      2. Deploy updates
    6. Adobe Update Server Setup Tool (AUSST)
      1. AUSST Overview
      2. Set up the internal update server
      3. Maintain the internal update server
      4. Common use cases of AUSST   
      5. Troubleshoot the internal update server
    7. Adobe Remote Update Manager (RUM)
      1. Use Adobe Remote Update Manager
      2. Resolve RUM errors
    8. Troubleshoot
      1. Troubleshoot Creative Cloud apps installation and uninstallation errors
      2. Query client machines to check if a package is deployed
      3. Creative Cloud package "Installation Failed" error message
  11. Manage your Teams account
    1. Overview
    2. Update payment details
    3. Manage invoices
    4. Change contract owner
    5. Change your plan
    6. Change reseller
    7. Cancel your plan
    8. Purchase Request compliance
    9. Manage your team in Adobe Express
  12. Renewals
    1. Teams membership: Renewals
    2. Enterprise in VIP: Renewals and compliance
  13. Manage contracts
    1. Automated expiration stages for ETLA contracts
    2. Switching contract types within an existing Adobe Admin Console
    3. Value Incentive Plan (VIP) in China
    4. VIP Select help
  14. Reports & logs
    1. Audit Log
    2. Assignment reports
    3. Content Logs
  15. Get help
    1. Contact Adobe Customer Care
    2. Support options for teams accounts
    3. Support options for enterprise accounts
    4. Support options for Experience Cloud

Get an overview of Adobe's licensing methods to deploy licenses to activate and authenticate Adobe products

Note:

If the license type of your organization changes, to continue working your end users will need to sign out of any Adobe product or service and then sign back in with the same credentials.

For desktop products such as Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, use the Sign out and Sign in options in the Help menu. On Adobe.com, use the icon in the upper-right corner to sign out and then sign back.

When you purchase a product from Adobe, a license represents your right to use Adobe software and services. Licenses are used to authenticate and activate the products on the end user's computers.

Named User licensing

Named user licensing is the default and most popular licensing method to deploy and use Adobe Creative Cloud and Document Cloud products. Designed for the network-connected scenario where app licenses are managed based on individual user need for use of the app. Using named user licensing, you can provide your end users with the full functionality of the software and services. Giving your end-users access to all the available apps and services based on your organization's entitlements.

Named User Licensing ties the usage of Adobe apps and services to an individual user. It works well if the product and service requirements are closely associated with a user or a role. Named User Licensing provides IT admins complete control to add and remove product licenses for a user at any time. It also facilitates better compliance tracking as IT admins don't need to track machines, and can manage licenses centrally.

Named licenses require periodic Internet connectivity. Computers must connect to Adobe servers for initial activation, and then at least once every 30 days. End users cannot use mobile apps unless the company deploys named licenses.

End users can sign in with their credentials to access the apps and services. You can also configure SSO to enable seamless access and experience as the rest of your enterprise apps.

Named User Licensing, provides:

For end-users:

  • Access to World-class creative & productivity apps: Including the latest cloud-first applications such as Adobe XDLightroom CC, and Adobe Dimension. These applications are not available with any other licensing method.
  • Access to Adobe Cloud services: Jump-start projects with anywhere, any-device access to assets in Creative Cloud Libraries, cloud collaboration using Team Projects, and font collections from Adobe Fonts. Automate signature-driven workflows and deliver a faster return on signed documents with Adobe Acrobat Sign.

For Admins:

Deploying apps using Named User licensing

There is no requirement to pre-configure computers for Named User Licensing. Creative Cloud apps will only need to be installed or deployed on the end-user computers. Each of the computers to be licensed must have access to the Internet. However, access to the Internet can be controlled by a firewall device that intercepts and unpacks all network traffic to verify its content and ensure that:

  • no unauthorized data is sent outside the internal network
  • all transmitted data is sealed inside an encrypted tunnel between the firewall device and the Adobe servers
  • the endpoint of every transmission is an authorized Adobe server with a known network address and a publicly signed, non-revoked SSL certificate

End-user sign-in workflow

Authentication means verifying the user’s identity and connecting that identity with the user’s Creative Cloud membership. Authorization includes checking a user’s membership to determine its overall status, determining which applications and services the user’s membership allows the user to access, and discovering any restrictions or special permissions granted to the user. Most of the licensing services run on Adobe servers. A few of them, however, run locally. For example, Creative Cloud desktop app, is considered by Adobe a licensing service that runs locally. (It is also a deployment service, because you can download and install apps.) The local licensing services depend on Adobe-hosted licensing services for all their functions. The licensing services are visible to users in activities such as logging in, accepting terms of use, and accepting end-user license agreements.

 Apps can be downloaded and installed on client machines using various methods. For information, see App delivery strategies. Users need to sign in to license the apps. To license the apps, users can use one of the following:

Creative Cloud desktop app

The Creative Cloud desktop app facilitates self-service workflows for users to download and install applications and updates. For users with the cloud services, signing in also enables access to Creative Cloud services, such as activate fonts from Adobe Fonts, get personal storage, and share and gather feedback on Behance.

 

 If you've included the Creative Cloud desktop app in your deployment packages, users can launch the Creative Cloud desktop app. Once users have signed in with their credentials, all eligible apps installed on the computer are activated. Users also need to accept the Terms of Use to activate the apps.

Directly from apps

On launching an app, a sign-in screen displays. End users can sign in with their credentials to license the app. If a user is not entitled to that particular app it will run as a trial, but will stop working once the trial period expires.

Proxy and firewall settings

To ensure that users are able to sign in, you'll need to configure your firewall and proxy servers to enable connections to the web service endpoints on the Adobe website.

For a detailed list of licensing and other service endpoints, see Creative Cloud for enterprise  - Network Endpoints.

Shared Device Licensing

Shared Device License is a licensing method targeted at educational institutions where software is assigned to a device instead of an individual. A shared device license does not directly entitle a user to access any services such as storage, libraries, fonts, or Adobe Stock, among others. However, if the user account has these entitlements separately, these services are available. If you're new to Shared Device Licensing, we recommend getting started with the deployment guide. If you've been using Shared device licenses, see what's new.

Shared Device Licensing is ideal for desktop computer labs and classrooms. For example, you can install Creative Cloud apps in your computer labs to allow students and teachers with access to these computers to use the apps and services that are available as part of your license agreement with Adobe.

Shared device licenses allow institutions enrolled in the Value Incentive Plan (VIP) to license software to a specific computer.

The Admin Console lets IT admins seamlessly migrate from Device Licensing to Shared Device Licensing. After your users are migrated, they will have access to your purchased Adobe products and services.

Device licensing ( Legacy)

Device licenses allow institutions enrolled in the Value Incentive Plan (VIP) to license software to a specific computer. Also, users never have to sign in or enter a serial number to access apps.

Caution:

App versions CC 2019 or later do not support device licensing. For more information, see this document.

Creative Cloud for education device licenses provide the ability to license software to a specific machine instead of a named user or with a serial number. Users never have to sign in or enter a serial number to use the software. Licenses are tied to machine deployment pools, which are created automatically when you order products.

Institutions can purchase Creative Cloud for education device licenses by joining Value Incentive Plan (VIP) via an Adobe Authorized Education Reseller or through Adobe Business Direct.

If your institution has purchased device licenses, learn how to manage device licenses in the Admin Console.

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