For content creators, having the Adobe suite on your Mac is essential. Most Adobe apps require a subscription, but you can try them out for free before you buy. In this update, Lucid Gen will show you how to install Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere, Audition, Animate, After Effects, Media Encoder, and many other Adobe apps.
Install Adobe for Mac free trial
Step 1: Download the Creative Cloud application and install it. Double-click the Creative Cloud icon, click the Open button, and allow when the confirmation dialog box asking for permission to access the folder appears.
Step 2: Enter the password to allow installation of Adobe Creative Cloud.
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.
- You want to save resources if your machine has low SSD and RAM capacity.
- Add it if you want to protect your Adobe copyright. If you always install genuine Adobe, Hieu thinks AGS is unnecessary.
Step 5: Install a free trial of an Adobe application. Click Apps to view the Adobe application store, and 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 subscription package and click Continue. If you do not plan to buy after the trial, choose the Monthly package, so that if you forget to cancel the subscription, you will be charged the least amount.
If you plan on using it for a long time, you should choose the annual payment plan to get a price about 33% lower. The cost can be even better if you are a student or lecturer, but you need to prove it.
Step 7: Skip Adobe Stock, click the Continue button to continue installing the free trial Adobe application.
Step 8: Enter your payment card information and click the Start free trial button. Rest assured that you will not be charged immediately. They will only start charging after 7 days of trial.
Wait a moment for Creative Cloud to install the Adobe application for you. Then just open it to use the free Adobe trial.
Adobe Photoshop’s free trial interface is still fully featured.
Cancel plan before trial ends
If you just want to try out Adobe apps, you can try to cancel your subscriptions on the Adobe Plans page before your payment is due. Hieu’s experience is to set a reminder to cancel your subscription before your payment due date to avoid forgetting.
Uninstall Adobe applications on Mac
According to Hieu’s 3 years of experience using Adobe on MacOS, this is the cleanest way to uninstall Adobe applications that Hieu has come up with.
Step 1: Go to the Applications folder and use the Uninstall file with each Adobe application to remove it, as in the article on how to remove applications on Mac.
Step 2: Use the Adobe cleaning tool provided by Adobe, 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 remaining Adobe sync applications using CleanMyMac. Go to Uninstaller and find Adobe to remove all remaining applications.
Step 4: Delete empty folders related to the old Adobe. Although you have used the two tools above, you must manually delete anything associated with Adobe in the folders below if you find it.
- /Applications
- /Applications/Utilities
- /Documents
Step 5: Restart your computer.
Some free alternative apps
Below are some free Adobe alternatives I see being popular and mentioned by the Reddit community. Suitable for those who only need basic functions in a particular field. However, the experience may not be as smooth as Adobe applications.
Design & Graphics
- Adobe Photoshop: GIMP has photo editing functions, supports layers, and rich plugins.
- Illustrator: Inkscape, vector design, SVG, logos, illustrations.
- Lightroom: Darktable or RawTherapee, RAW photo management and editing, workflow for photography.
Video & Audio
- Premiere Pro: DaVinci Resolve (free version) or Shotcut / Kdenlive, video editing, color correction, video cutting, and splicing.
- After Effects: Natron, visual effects, compositing (similar to AE, but the interface is complex to get used to).
- Audition: Audacity, recording, audio processing, multi-track editing.
Documentation & Publishing
- Acrobat Pro: LibreOffice Draw (basic PDF editing) + PDFsam Basic (split/merge PDF).
- InDesign: Scribus, layout, catalog, and magazine design.
Web & UI/UX
- Adobe XD: Figma (free basic version), UI/UX design, prototyping.
- Dreamweaver: Visual Studio Code, web programming, multi-language support, powerful plugins.
Hand drawing & digital creation
- Adobe Animate: Synfig Studio, 2D vector animation.
- Adobe Fresco: Krita, digital hand drawing, great stylus support.
Data & 3D
- Adobe Dimension / Substance 3D: Blender, 3D modeling, rendering, scene building.
If you want to upgrade macOS, uninstall all Adobe first; otherwise, you may encounter errors that you can’t resolve with Adobe applications.
If you encounter any problems during the installation process, please read each step carefully in the article, and do not hesitate to leave a comment below the article. To better support you, please provide specific information such as the name of the Adobe application, the chip, and the macOS. Wish you a successful installation!
