Technology
Which Adobe License do I need?
For many members of the University, Adobe Express free edition Adobe and Acrobat Reader will provide the functionality needed for daily work. Those products are available to everyone. This article will explain the differences between the Adobe Express free edition, Adobe Acrobat Pro, and Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise to help you determine which license best meets your needs.
Adobe Acrobat Pro and Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise licenses are limited University resources. Please request these licenses only if your job responsibilities or coursework require the advanced PDF features or Creative Cloud applications they provide. All Illinois State University faculty, staff, and students automatically receive access to Adobe Express free edition + Acrobat Reader, which meets the needs of many common creative and PDF tasks.
Which Adobe License Do I Need?
All Illinois State University faculty, staff, and students will automatically receive access to Adobe Express free edition with Acrobat Reader. If your work requires advanced PDF editing or Adobe Creative Cloud applications, you may request an Adobe Acrobat Pro license or an Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise license.
Students who require Adobe Creative Cloud applications for academic coursework should request an Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise license.
If you are a Graduate Assistant (GA) or student employee using Adobe to perform University job responsibilities, review the information below to determine whether an Adobe Acrobat Pro license or an Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise license best meets your work-related needs.
Faculty and staff should also review the information below to determine which Adobe license best meets their needs.
- You likely only need an Adobe Express License if you need to:
- Open and view PDF files
- Print PDF files
- Search PDF documents
- Add comments, highlights, sticky notes, or free-text annotations
- Fill out and save PDF forms
- Electronically sign PDF documents
for more information regarding Adobe Express, see Adobe Express.
- You may need an Adobe Acrobat Pro License if your work requires you to:
- Edit text or images within an existing PDF
- Convert PDFs to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or image formats
- Organize, reorder, or combine multiple PDF files
- Perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to make scanned PDFs searchable.
- Redact sensitive information from PDF files
- Password protect PDF files
- Compare two versions of a PDF document
for more information regarding Adobe Acrobat Pro, see Adobe Acrobat Pro
If your work only requires advanced PDF features and you do not need other Adobe Creative Cloud applications, an Adobe Acrobat Pro license is likely the appropriate choice.
- You may need an Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise License if your work requires:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Audition
- Other Creative Cloud desktop applications required for your course work or job responsibilities
for more information regarding Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise, see Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise.
If you are unsure which license is needed, review the feature comparison below or contact the Technology Support Center.
Feature Comparison
| I need to... | Adobe Express with Acrobat Reader | Adobe Acrobat Pro | Creative Cloud for Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open and view PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Print PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Search PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Comment and annotate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Fill Forms | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Electronically sign PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Edit PDF text and images | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Convert PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Organize or combine PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Perform OCR on scanned PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Redact sensitive information on PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Password protect PDF files | ✓ | ✓ | |
Compare two versions of a PDF | ✓ | ✓ | |
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, etc. | ✓ | ||
*Create PDFs from Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or image files | *See note below | ✓ | ✓ |
* Note: The ability to create PDF files from Office products by saving/exporting into PDF format is built into Microsoft Office products, and does not require a paid version of Adobe. See: Create PDF files from Microsoft Office Applications
Requesting a License
All Illinois State University faculty, staff, and students automatically receive access to Adobe Express free edition, including Acrobat Reader.
Adobe Acrobat Pro and Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise license requests are temporarily unavailable while the licensing process is being updated. Please check back on or after August 4 for updated request instructions
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I request an Adobe License?
All Illinois State University faculty, staff, and students automatically receive access to Adobe Express free edition with Acrobat Reader.
If you require an Adobe Acrobat Pro license or an Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise license, license requests are temporarily unavailable while the licensing process is being updated. Please check back on or after August 4 for updated request instructions
- What happens to my Adobe files if I no longer have an Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise license?
If you no longer have an Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise license, you will continue to have access to Adobe cloud storage through Creative Cloud Shared Device Access for Higher Education as long as your Illinois State University account remains active.
This entitlement includes 2 GB of Adobe cloud storage. If your stored files exceed this limit, you can still access your files to migrate or delete them, but you will not be able to add new files or edit existing cloud files until your storage usage is below 2 GB.
If you are leaving the University or would like to keep your Adobe files in a personal Adobe account, Adobe provides a file transfer service that allows you to migrate your content to a personal Adobe ID. Personal Adobe accounts include 5 GB of free cloud storage.
You can transfer your files using Adobe File Transfer:
- Can I still open PDF files?
Yes. Everyone receives access to Adobe Express free edition with Acrobat Reader by default. Adobe Express free edition with Acrobat Reader allows you to:
- Open and view PDF files
- Print PDF files
- Search PDF documents
- Add comments, highlights, sticky notes, or free-text annotations
- Fill out and save PDF forms
- Electronically sign PDF documents
- How do I know if I need a different Adobe License?
If your work requires advanced PDF features such as editing PDFs, converting files, combining PDFs, or password protection, you may need an Adobe Acrobat Pro license. If you also require Adobe applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, or Premiere Pro, you may need an Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise license.
How to Get Help
Technical assistance is available through the Illinois State University Technology Support Center at:
- Phone: (309) 438-4357
- Email: SupportCenter@IllinoisState.edu
- Submit a Request via Web Form: Get IT Help Form
- Live Chat: IT Help Live Chat