DocumentationCreative Cloud for enterprise

Understanding Creative Cloud for enterprise and Acrobat serial number expiration

Last update: Fri Sep 15 2023 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

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Historically, Adobe issued serial numbers with our apps (i.e. Creative Suite, Creative Cloud for enterprise, Acrobat XI, Acrobat DC) to customers on Enterprise Term License Agreements (ETLAs). These serial numbers do have an expiration date. Once the expiration date has passed, the product will no longer work so it is important to plan your migration before your serial numbers expire. This page outlines the steps necessary to ensure your end users have continued access to their Adobe apps and services.

Checking your serial numbers for their expiration date

Find your serial number(s)

The serial number licenses associated with your ETLA agreement are available via the Adobe Licensing Website (LWS). Follow these instructions to display and download:

  1. Sign in to Adobe Licensing Website (LWS) with your Adobe ID and password.
  2. Choose Licenses > Retrieve Serial Numbers.
  3. Enter your End User ID or Deploy-to ID.
  4. (Optional) Select a Product Name, Product Version, or Platform to filter results.
  5. Click Search.
  6. The product name and serial numbers are displayed.
  7. (Optional) Select “EXPORT TO CSV” to download the list of serial numbers.

Find your serial numbers

Check the expiration date

The AdobeExpiryCheck is a command-line utility for IT Admins to check whether Adobe products on a computer are using serial numbers that have expired or are expiring. The tool will display information such as the product licensing identifier (LEID), the encrypted serial number, and the expiration date. This page contains instructions on downloading & using the tool on either Mac or Windows computers.

Understanding the end user experience before and after serial number expires

Both Acrobat and Creative Cloud for enterprise apps will begin to display messages (in the apps) starting 60 days before expiration. Once the serial number expires, the products stop working, and prompt the user to take action.

Creative Cloud for enterprise experience

The following information outlines the end user experience. There’s a short video below followed by review of the end user experience.

video poster

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/331746?hidetitle=true

Transcript
There are two ways to license Adobe Creative Cloud for use in your organization. The older method is to use serial numbers, a way of licensing the software to a particular machine. The other method, widely considered easier to manage and deploy, is named user licensing, which assigns the software not to a specific computer, but to a particular user. This allows the user to access Adobe software on multiple devices and makes it easier for the IT team to manage licenses. If your organization has deployed Creative Cloud software using serial numbers, those serial numbers will eventually expire. When they do, it will be necessary for your organization to transition to named user licensing in order to extend your software license. Here’s what the end user will experience when the serial number expiration date is approaching. In this example, I’m using Adobe Illustrator, but the experience will be the same for all Creative Cloud apps. Beginning 60 days from the date of expiration, end users will begin seeing messages when they launch one of their Creative Cloud apps, telling them that their license is expiring soon. At first, the user will see the message once a week, and as the date gets closer, the user will see it every day. If no action is taken to migrate the organization’s license to named user licensing before the serial number expires, the user will no longer be able to access Creative Cloud apps on her computer after the expiration date. Instead, when she launches an app, she’ll see a pop-up asking her to enter a new serial number in order to continue. If she quits the app and tries to launch it a second time, a new pop-up will appear asking her to sign in. As part of the sign-in experience, she will be asked to create an Adobe ID. However, this Adobe ID will not have your organization’s license assigned, and Creative Cloud will operate only in trial mode. To avoid this confusion, Adobe recommends moving to named user licensing as soon as possible. For more information, please review the information on this page, and contact us at serialexatadobe.com.

Before expiration

Beginning 60 days before the serial number expires, all Creative Cloud for enterprise apps display an in product dialog box to the end user. This message will appear weekly, until 30 days before expiration, it will then appear daily until the expiration date stating Your license is expiring. This Adobe product is using a license that is due to expire on November 29, 2020. Please contact your admin to ensure continued access.

CCE before expiration message

After expiration

Once the serial number expires, the users will no longer have access to the Creative Cloud for enterprise apps. On the first launch after expiration, the user will be prompted with a dialog box stating The serial number you entered has expired. This product cannot be licensed. Please contact Customer Support.

CCE after expiration message

For all subsequent attempts to launch the apps, the end user will be prompted to Sign In Now followed by the option to create their own Adobe ID and enter trial mode. However, any new Adobe ID created by the end user will not be associated with your organization’s licenses and will cause additional confusion to your users. To avoid business disruption and/or unnecessary confusion, migrate your users to named user licensing before your serial number(s) expire.

CCE Sign in dialog 1

CCE Sign in dialog 2

Acrobat experience

The following information outlines the end user experience. There’s a short video below followed by review of the end user experience.

video poster

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/331749?hidetitle=true

Transcript
There are two ways to license Adobe Acrobat DC for use in your organization. The older method is to use serial numbers, a way of licensing the software to a particular machine. The other method, widely considered easier to manage and deploy, is named user licensing, which assigns the software not to a particular machine, but to a particular user. This allows the user to access Adobe software on multiple devices, and makes it easier for the IT team to manage licenses. If your organization has deployed Adobe Acrobat DC using serial numbers, those serial numbers will eventually expire. When they do, it will be necessary for your organization to transition to named user licensing in order to extend your software license. Here’s what the end user will experience when the serial number expiration date is approaching. Beginning 60 days from the date of expiration, end users will begin seeing messages when they launch Acrobat telling them that their license is expiring soon. At first, the user will see the message once a week, and as the date gets closer, the user will see it every day. If no action is taken to migrate the organization’s license to named user licensing before the serial number expires, the user will no longer be able to access Adobe Acrobat on her computer after the expiration date. Instead, when she launches Acrobat, she’ll see a pop-up asking her to enter a new serial number in order to continue. If she quits Acrobat and tries to launch it a second time, a new pop-up will appear asking her to sign in. As part of the sign-in experience, she will be asked to create an Adobe ID. However, this Adobe ID will not have your organization’s license assigned, and Acrobat will operate in trial mode. To avoid any possible confusion, Adobe recommends moving to named user licensing as soon as possible. For more information, please review the information on this page and contact us at serialexatadobe.com.

Before expiration

Beginning 60 days before the serial number expires, Acrobat displays an in product pop-up message to the end user. This will appear once a week until 7 days before expiration. It will then begin to appear daily stating Your Adobe Acrobat license expires on 30/11/2020. Please contact your administrator to continue using Acrobat without disruption.

Acrobat expiring message

After expiration

Once the serial number expires, the users will no longer have access to Acrobat. On the first launch after expiration, the user will be prompted with a dialog box stating The serial number you entered has expired. This product cannot be licensed. Please contact Customer Support.

Acrobat after expiration message

For all subsequent attempts to launch Acrobat, the end user will be prompted to Sign In Now followed by the option to create their own Adobe ID and enter trial mode. However, any new Adobe ID created by the end user will not be associated with your organization’s licenses and will cause additional confusion to your users.

Acrobat Sign in dialog 1

Acrobat Sign in dialog 2

Contact us if you need help

If you have questions about using the AdobeExpiryCheck tool or need help migrating from serial number deployment to named user, you have a few options:

  • Send an email to the Adobe Enterprise Onboarding team – entonb@adobe.com
  • Open a support ticket in Admin Console
  • Reach out to your Adobe Account Team
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