How to install Adobe on Mac officially via Creative Cloud

For content creators, having the Adobe suite on your Mac is essential. Most Adobe apps require a paid subscription, but you can try them before you decide to pay. In this updated guide, Lucid Gen shows you how to install Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere, Audition, Animate, After Effects, Media Encoder, and many other Adobe apps.

Install an Adobe trial on Mac

Step 1: Download the Creative Cloud application and install it. Double-click the Creative Cloud icon, click Open, then click Allow when dialogs ask for permission to access folders.

Step 2: Enter your Mac login password to allow Adobe Creative Cloud to install.

Step 3: Sign in to your Adobe account. You can create a new account if you don’t have one.

Step 4: Decide whether to install Adobe Genuine Service (AGS). Adobe Genuine Service (AGS) is a background service that helps detect non-genuine Adobe software and protect the rights of legitimate users.

• Skip it if your Mac has limited SSD storage and RAM and you want to save resources.
• Add it if you want to help protect Adobe licensing. If you always install genuine Adobe software, I don’t think AGS is really necessary.

Step 5: Install an Adobe app trial. Click Apps to browse Adobe’s apps, then click Free trial to start the installation.

List of Adobe applications that support macOS:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Express
• Adobe Acrobat
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Lightroom
• Adobe After Effects
• Adobe Audition
• Adobe Substance 3D Stager
• Adobe Substance 3D Painter
• Adobe Substance 3D Sampler
• Adobe Substance 3D Designer
• Adobe Lightroom Classic
• Adobe Dreamweaver
• Adobe Animate
• Adobe InCopy
• Adobe Firefly
• Adobe Stock
• Adobe Media Encoder
• Adobe Fonts
• Adobe Content Authenticity
• Adobe Photoshop Express
• Adobe Scan
• Adobe Character Animator
• Adobe Fresco
• Adobe Behance
• Adobe Capture
• Adobe Portfolio
• Adobe Fill & Sign
• Adobe Bridge
• Adobe Color
• Adobe Substance 3D Assets
• Adobe Substance 3D Community Assets
• Adobe Dimension
• Adobe Podcast
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Adobe Premiere Rush
• Adobe Mixamo
• Adobe Live

Step 6: Choose a plan and click Continue. If you don’t plan to buy after the trial, choose the Monthly plan, so that if you forget to cancel, you will be charged the smallest amount.

If you plan to use it long term, choose the annual plan to get a price about 33% lower. Students and teachers can get an even better price, but you need documents to prove your status.

Step 7: Skip Adobe Stock and click Continue to keep installing the Adobe trial.

Step 8: Enter your card details and click Start free trial. Don’t worry, you won’t be charged right away. Adobe only starts charging after the 7-day trial.

Wait a moment while Creative Cloud installs the app. Then just open it and start your trial.

Here is the Adobe Photoshop trial. It is fully featured.

Cancel your plan before the trial ends

If you only want to try Adobe apps, cancel your subscriptions on Adobe Plans page before your payment is due. My tip: set a reminder to cancel before the payment date so you don’t forget.

Uninstall Adobe applications on Mac

After 3 years of using Adobe on macOS, this is the cleanest way I have found to uninstall Adobe apps.

Step 1: Go to the Applications folder and run the Uninstall file that comes with each Adobe app, as explained in the article on how to remove applications on Mac.

Step 2: Use Adobe’s own cleanup tool, AdobeCreativeCloudCleanerTool, to clean everything. Click the Clean All button and you’re done. If the Fix Host File feature doesn’t work well, you can manually restore the hosts file on your Mac.

Step 3: Remove leftover Adobe sync apps with CleanMyMac. Go to Uninstaller, search for Adobe, and remove everything that is left.

Step 4: Delete empty Adobe folders. Even after using the two tools above, you may still need to manually delete anything Adobe-related you find in these folders.

• /Applications
• /Applications/Utilities
• /Documents

Step 5: Restart your computer.

Some free alternative apps

Below are some Adobe alternatives that are popular and often recommended by the Reddit community. They suit people who only need the basic features in a particular field, although the experience may not be as smooth as Adobe’s apps.

Design & Graphics

• Adobe Photoshop: GIMP, for photo editing, with layer support and a rich plugin library.
• Illustrator: Inkscape, vector design, SVG, logos, illustrations.
• Lightroom: Darktable or RawTherapee, for managing and editing RAW photos in a photography workflow.

Video & Audio

• Premiere Pro: DaVinci Resolve (free version) or Shotcut / Kdenlive, for video editing, color grading, cutting, and joining clips.
• After Effects: Natron, for visual effects and compositing (similar to AE, but the interface takes some getting used to).
• Audition: Audacity, for recording, audio processing, and multi-track editing.

Documents & Publishing

• Acrobat Pro: LibreOffice Draw (basic PDF editing) + PDFsam Basic (split/merge PDF).
• InDesign: Scribus, for page layout and catalog or magazine design.

Web & UI/UX

• Adobe XD: Figma (free basic plan), for UI/UX design and prototyping.
• Dreamweaver: Visual Studio Code, for web development, with support for many languages and powerful extensions.

Drawing & digital art

• Adobe Animate: Synfig Studio, for 2D vector animation.
• Adobe Fresco: Krita, for digital drawing, with great stylus support.

Data & 3D

• Adobe Dimension / Substance 3D: Blender, for 3D modeling, rendering, and scene building.

If you want to upgrade macOS, uninstall all Adobe apps first. Otherwise, you may run into Adobe errors that are hard to fix.

If you run into any problems during installation, go through each step in the article again, and feel free to leave a comment below. To help me help you, include details such as the Adobe app name, your Mac’s chip, and your macOS version. Good luck with the installation!