Members of the Cornell community can take advantage of several different licensing programs for Adobe products. Some of these programs are available at no cost; others have a fee associated with the license. Some extend usage rights to personally-owned equipment while other programs are only available to Cornell staff and faculty. Please see the particular program for details.

• More information about Adobe Creative Cloud licensing
• More information about Adobe Acrobat Pro licensing

Licensing Overview

Please see our Adobe Licensing FAQ page.

Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro: Enterprise Licensing Available

Cornell staff and faculty with a Cornell business need can request a license for either Acrobat Pro or the full Creative Cloud All Apps Plan. Both of these licenses are available at no cost to eligible Cornell employees. When determining if you need either Acrobat Pro or the full Creative Cloud All Apps Plan please consult our decision chart.

Students at Cornell who are taking a course that requires use of Creative Cloud software are eligible for a free Creative Cloud license for that semester. Please ask your instructor or academic department to send in a request on your behalf.

See also our Working with PDFs Comparison Table.

For a listing of applications available through Creative Cloud, see the product list below.

Faculty, Staff, and Students: Individual Named-User licensing for Creative Cloud is available. Please see our Adobe Creative Cloud Enterprise Licensing article for more information.

Technical Support Providers: Please see CU Software's Adobe Creative Cloud for Technical Support Providers article for information about installing Creative Cloud in a Managed Desktop environment, or for computers that are not assigned to individual employees, such as lab computers.

More information about our Creative Cloud Enterprise License can be found on our Creative Cloud Enterprise Licensing page.

Creative Cloud Enterprise License Product List

Cornell University has signed an agreement to provide Adobe Creative Cloud at no cost to Cornell staff and faculty who have a business need for the software. The Creative Cloud All Apps Plan includes the following Adobe desktop products:

The Creative Cloud All Apps Plan also includes the following Creative Cloud online services: 

For more information about Creative Cloud, please see our Creative Cloud Enterprise Licensing article.

Acrobat Pro Licensing

Cornell staff and faculty with a business need only for Acrobat Pro can receive a Named-User license. For more information, please see our Acrobat Pro Standalone Licensing article.

Adobe Sign

Adobe Sign is a separate product used to digitally sign electronic documents. Adobe Sign is not part of Creative Cloud, and is managed independently. For more information about Adobe Sign, please see the Electronic Signature article. 

Other Adobe Products

New licenses for Adobe products that are not included with the Creative Cloud Enterprise License can be purchased individually through our existing Adobe Cumulative Licensing Program (CLP). To purchase Adobe products that are not part of Creative Cloud, please go to The Cornell Store's online store.

If you need to buy an Adobe product that is not included with Creative Cloud and that is not currently listed on our online store, please send your request via email to The Technology Connection. Include the following in your email:

• Name
• Department
• Shipping Address
• Product Name & Number
• Quantity
• Platform (specify quantities for each platform)
• Department Account Number (Ex: 123-4567-890-999)

You will receive a confirmation of your order that provides the product key and installation instructions. Please retain your order confirmation email as your proof of license. Be advised that it can take up to four weeks before we can provide you with an installer for an Adobe product that we have never offered before.

Previously Purchased Creative Suite Licensing

Cornell personnel who purchased an Adobe Creative Suite or Acrobat Professional perpetual license in 2014 or earlier should transition to Creative Cloud or Acrobat Pro, under our current licensing agreement. Adobe no longer provides support or security updates to any Creative software from that period. Consequently, such software is considered insecure, and should no longer be used in the Cornell environment.  

Download Adobe Software

Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro DC

Cornell-owned computers: Please work with your local IT support team to install Creative Cloud software onto your Cornell-provided computer. Most Cornell personnel do not have sufficient access rights to install the software without the assistance of local IT support. 

Personally-owned computers: Your Named-User license does permit you to install the software onto your personally-owned devices. For more information, please see our Creative Cloud Enterprise Licensing Details article. 

Other Adobe Products

Many Adobe products other than Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro DC may be purchased via the CU Software Online Store. These products are only authorized for installation onto Cornell-owned devices. After you have purchased your product, you will need to retrieve your Adobe Serial Number from your order summary on the CU Software Online Store. For instructions to retrieve your Serial Number, please see our online guide, How to Look Up Your Software License Codes. 

Once you have made your purchase, please contact CU Software Licensing for your download links. Please include your order number with your request. NOTE: You will very likely need the assistance of your local department's IT support team to complete installation of Adobe software. Most Cornell personnel do not have sufficient access rights to install software onto Cornell-owned computers.