Release Notes | InDesign Server

Welcome to the December 2020 release of Adobe® InDesign® Server (version 16.0). This document contains late-breaking product information, updates, and troubleshooting tips not covered in the InDesign Server documentation.

For an updated list of system requirements, see System requirements | InDesign Server. 

License agreement

Internet connection, Adobe ID, and acceptance of license agreement required to activate and use this product. This product may integrate with or allow access to certain Adobe or third-party hosted online services. Adobe services are available only to users 13 and older and require agreement to additional terms of use and Adobe’s online privacy policy (http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/legal.html). Applications and Services may not be available in all countries or languages and may be subject to change or discontinuation without notice. Additional fees or membership charges may apply.

Additional install/uninstall scenarios

InDesign Server must be activated before it can be used. If the computer is online, activation is done automatically when you install. 

Create Connected activation InDesign Server package

Learn the steps to create Connected activation InDesign Server packages and deploy them. After deploying, you can learn how to remove the licenses, for example, machines that are no longer in use or if you must redeploy the license. 

You must have access to the Adobe Admin Console and the new FRL SKUs. If you do not have the FRL SKUs, contact your account manager for assistance.

1. Log in to the Admin Console. From the upper-right corner, search and apply the organization that has InDesign Server.
2. Navigate to Packages > Packages. The history of all packages created by all admins in your organization is displayed.

   3. Click Create a Package.

   4. In the screen that appears, select your activation method as Online, and click Next. For more information, see Feature Restricted Licensing - Online.

   5. In the Entitlements step, choose the required entitlement, and click Next. 

6.  In the System step, select the required options and click Next.

• Choose a Platform: Choose Mac OS or Windows 64-bit operating system.
  
• Language: Select the language in which you want to create the package.
• Use OS Locale: Enables you to create a package that deploys in the OS language of client machine. In which case, the OS language is the default fallback language in which the package is deployed.

7.  In the Choose Apps step, you can choose whether to build a License-only package or a package that also includes the InDesign Server application. 

Select Show older versions to display a list of previous versions of the apps. Enterprise admins can view more versions that don't receive security or feature updates by selecting Available application versions in package preferences (Admin Console > Packages > Preferences). For more information, see Packaging apps using Admin Console.

To know what versions are supported for your Creative Cloud plan, review the Creative Cloud Support policy. 

After you're done with your selections, click Next.

8.  In the Options step, select the required option and click Next. 

9.  In the Finalize step, in the Package Name box, enter the name for the package.

Review the included applications and configuration for this package before building the package.

10.  Click Build Package.

Watch the build status of the package in the Status column on the Packages pane.

If the package is built successfully, it displays the Download link in the Availability column.

A package is available in the Admin Console for up to three days. To check the time remaining to download the package, click the row item for the package to display the package details.

To download and distribute the package, click Download.

After you create the Feature Restricted Licensing - Online package, you must set up the end-user machines with the license. To learn more about deploying packages, update or remove licenses and a list of FAQs, see the FRL Deployment Guide.

Install licenses for license-only packages

After you create a license-only package in the Admin Console, follow these steps to install this license to end-user computers (for Online, Offline, Isolated, or LAN Activation packages):

1.  Download the package from the Admin Console.

2.  Extract the contents of the package.

     The license-only package contains a .json file (that contains the licensing information) and the Licensing Toolkit utility:

• For Windows: adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe
• For macOS: adobe-licensing-toolkit

3.  To install the license, run the following commands with admin privileges:

     For Windows:

     adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe --precondition --install --filePath <absolute path of the .json file>

     Short form:

     adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe -p -i -f <absolute path of the .json file>

     For macOS: 

     sudo adobe-licensing-toolkit --precondition --install --filePath <absolute path of the .json file>

     Short form:

     sudo adobe-licensing-toolkit -p -i -f <absolute path of the .json file>

The license is deployed on the computer. The user is now licensed to use the installed Adobe apps.

Helpful links

• Licensing InDesign Server
  
• Get started with InDesign Server (Download, Install, and license)
• Visit the InDesign Community to be inspired and get answers to top questions.
  
• Join the Adobe Prerelease User Community and provide early feedback on the upcoming version of InDesign Server.
• Submit a feature request or report a bug: UserVoice.

Known issues

• (macOS only) InDesign Server quits with segmentation fault after few days when run with session support on Mac 10.15.7.
• For issues pertaining to licensing, see Known Licensing Issues With Adobe InDesign Server.

Customer care

Developer support

Customers developing their own solution can purchase Developer support for further assistance on InDesign APIs, scripts and plugins. For more information, see Adobe Creative Cloud Exchange | Developer support