Licensing overview

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 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 XD, Lightroom 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:

• Enhanced security and control: Get enterprise-level security with advanced user identity management, including Single Sign-On (SSO), and protect assets with at-rest and in-transit encryption.
• License management: Easily manage users and deploy apps throughout your organization.

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.

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.