This article is for Continuing Education students who are given free access to the Adobe Creative Cloud software for use AT HOME/on a personal computer for the duration of their enrollment in an eligible class.
Other Continuing Education students will use the Adobe programs on lab computers during in-person classes only:
Please find instructions for logging into Adobe on campus lab computers here.
If you are in a class that qualifies for use at home on a personal computer, this information will be in the course description and you will also be notified in an email from Continuing Education. If you are not sure if your class qualifies, check with your instructor.
To install and license Adobe CC programs on your computer, you need to know your MCAD login username and password. These are the same credentials you use to log into Canvas. Your username is your first initial and your last name. Occasionally, users may have 3 numbers appended to their username. If you are not sure of your MCAD login password, please visit our student password reset page. If you are not sure of your Student ID number, please look for this in the email you received from Continuing Education when you enrolled. If you still can't find it, contact records@mcad.edu.
How to Install and License Adobe Creative Cloud
• In a web browser, visit https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/desktop-app.html. Click the blue "Download" button. Right away, you'll be prompted to sign in.
• On the Sign in page, do not enter your personal email in the email address field. Instead, you're going to pretend you have an @mcad.edu email address, even though you don't have an actual MCAD email account. Enter the username you use to log into Canvas (described above) and add "@mcad.edu" to the end of it. For example, someone named Anna Smith might enter "asmith @ mcad.edu." Click Continue.
• Next, you should see a page with the MCAD logo and a username and password field. Please enter your MCAD username and password exactly as you would when logging into Canvas - don't add @mcad.edu to the end of your username this time. Click Login.
• If you've signed in successfully, the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App installer will start downloading right away. This app is used to manage, install and update individual Creative Cloud apps such as Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.
• When the installer is finished downloading, open it. You'll likely be prompted to enter your computer password to approve the installation. Next, Adobe will open a browser window to authenticate your account once more. It will likely remember this from when you logged in just a moment ago, but if it asks for your email address once again, please follow the same steps described above.
• When the installation is finished, you should see a window with a list of Adobe applications. Choose the ones you would like to install.
If you have any issues with this process, please reach out to helpdesk@mcad.edu or 612-874-3666.