Many users at MCAD have access to a free Adobe Creative Cloud subscription through their MCAD user accounts. This includes all degree seeking students (including graduate students), all faculty, and full-time benefits eligible staff. If you're not sure if you have institutional access to Adobe CC, contact us at helpdesk@mcad.edu. If you're a Continuing Education student, please see this article.
This article contains instructions for installing, licensing and managing the Adobe Creative Cloud applications on a personal computer. The apps can be licensed on up to two computers and are compatible with both Windows and MacOS. If you received a computer from MCAD, the programs should already be installed. If you're trying to update or uninstall/reinstall Adobe CC programs on an MCAD computer, please see this section of our Software Self Service article.
You'll need your MCAD login username and password for this process.
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, enter your @mcad.edu email address (first initial last name @ mcad.edu). Click Continue. If prompted to choose, please select "Company/School ID."
• 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 or other campus services - 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. You can access it at any time by clicking the CC icon in your top menu bar (looks like a little sideways figure 8) or in your Applications folder > the red folder name Creative Cloud > the Creative Cloud application with the rainbow icon.
• 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 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.