Adobe Licensing for Faculty and Staff

  • Faculty & Staff

Table of Contents

 

Eligibility

  • Only Permanent Full-Time or Part-Time Faculty and Staff are eligible for a free University Adobe License.
  • Students workers, temporary workers, Graduate Associates, and Temporary workers will need a license purchased for them.  Eligible staff who are paid with departmental (zero fund) accounts will have the cost of a license covered through FY2027.  Supervisors will need to order a license through the Brokered Product Request Survey.  Pleae note a budget code and RBO information is needed to fulfill the request for anyone not paid with departmental (zero fund) accounts.
  • Emeritus faculty- Licenses will need to be purchased directly from Adobe. Adobe offers a discounted rate for students and teachers, which includes emeritus faculty.
  • Students who need Adobe for instructional or personal use can purchase a license directly through Adobe.

Licensing

Full-Time Staff and Faculty

  1. Go to the Adobe Account Analysis self-service tool.
  2. Click Claim Adobe License.
  3. Once claimed:
  • You’ll receive the full Creative Cloud suite (including Acrobat).
  • Access apps via the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app.

Part-Time Staff, Contractors, and Student workers

Licenses can be purchased for non-eligible staff and others who have a demonstrable need for the software.  Supervisors should complete the Brokered Product Survey on behalf of any employee who needs a license. The survey will collect information about your role and eligibility so the Adobe Admin team can review and provision a license if appropriate.

 

Important Notes:

  • Licenses inactive for 90 days must be reclaimed.
  • Use to sign into Creative Cloud, Adobe.com, or individual applications. Do not use @sas or other subdomains (ex. @math, @english).  Using @upenn.edu will bring you to the Penn Single Sign-In page.
  • Avoid storing files in Adobe Cloud Storage (data may be lost if license is removed).

 

Installation

Personal Machine:
Log in at https://www.adobe.com with and download software.

University-Owned Machine:
Check if Creative Cloud is installed on your computer. If not:

From Creative Cloud you can download and install any of the Adobe software available under our license.

 

Log In Instructions

For eligible Faculty and Staff who are automatically eligible for a license:

To log into Creative Cloud or any of the Adobe Applications make sure you use as your email address where pennkey= your PennkeyName. This will bring you to the Single Sign In Log In site that you should already be familiar with.

  • Use as your email address (where pennkey = your PennKey name).
  • After entering your email, you’ll be redirected to the familiar Single Sign-On (SSO) page.
  • Sign in with your PennKey credentials and complete two-step authentication if prompted.

Part time Staff, student workers, and others will need to log in with the credentials created when the license was activated.

Troubleshooting 

Confirm You’re Using the Correct Login Format- this is for Permanent Faculty and Staff

  1. Make sure you’re signing in with your address — not your personal email or another format
  2. Go to adobe.com
  3. Click Sign In (top right)
  4. Enter
  5. If prompted, select “Company or School Account”
  6. You should then be redirected to the PennKey login screen

Check for Account Not Found or Access Errors

If you see “Account doesn’t exist” or “You don’t have access”, try these steps:

  1. Double-check the email address format (must be )
  2. Clear your browser cache and cookies, or try using a private/incognito window
  3. Try another browser (Chrome and Edge generally work best)

If the issue persists, go to the Adobe Account Analysis Self-Service Tool to verify your license status. If you see a button on this page that says Claim Adobe License, you will need to click on that to restore your access. 

If the analysis returns a result that indicates you are not eligible for a license but you are an active staff, faculty, or Emeritus professor in the School of Arts and Sciences, fill out the Adobe Survey to request a license. If you are eligible, one will be granted to you in 1-3 days.

Check for Dormant or Expired Licenses

If your license has been inactive for 90 days, it may have been automatically removed. You can reclaim your license using the Adobe Account Analysis Self-Service Tool.

Error: HTTP Status 400 – Bad Request 
This is an issue with the browser, try to log in via a different browser or clear your browsers cache for "all time".

  • For Google Chrome: Click the three dots in the top right corner, then go to More tools > Clear browsing data or Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data.
  • For Microsoft Edge: Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data or type edge://settings/clearbrowserdata into the address bar.
  • For Mozilla Firefox: Go to Menu > Preferences > Privacy & Security and find the "Cookies and Site Data" and "Cached Web Content" options.
  • For Safari: Go to Safari > Preferences.

Verify Internet Connection

Make sure you’re on a stable internet connection.

 

If you have any Adobe-related questions, please reach out to your LSP.