Quickstart Guide for Students
All currently-enrolled VCU students (at least one credit-bearing course) receive access to the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of tools including as part of the VCU Student Software Bundle as part of the Student Technology Fee. Adobe software licensing for newly-enrolled VCU students is automatically assigned at the start of each academic term / semester within 10 calendar days of the first day of classes.
This includes most student employees such as student workers, graduate assistants, and work study employees, but does NOT include full-time VCU employees who are taking classes at VCU. If you are a full-time VCU employee who is taking at least one credit-bearing course, please review the Quickstart Guide for Employees.
To get started using your VCU Adobe software license, follow the steps download and install the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app on your device(s). Once installed, you'll need to sign-in to your VCU Adobe account using your vcu.edu email address, and learn more about what tools and features are available. We've also included a short list of frequently asked questions which we update each semester to include new content.
All eligible VCU students who are enrolled in at least one credit-bearing course are provided access to the Adobe Creative Cloud license and suite of tools automatically (within 10 calendar days of the start of each academic term / semester).
If you are a full-time VCU employee who is taking at least one credit-bearing course, please review the Quickstart Guide for Employees to request a free student license for Adobe Creative Cloud.
| Desktop Apps | Unrestricted Accounts | Semi-Restricted Accounts | Restricted Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acrobat DC Pro | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| After Effects | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Animate | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Audition | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Bridge | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Character Animator | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Dimension | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Dreamweaver | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Fresco | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Illustrator | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| InCopy | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| InDesign | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Lightroom | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Lightroom Classic | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Media Encoder | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Muse | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Photoshop | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Prelude | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Premiere Pro | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SpeedGrade | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
|
Substance 3D Designer |
✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Substance 3D Modeler | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Substance 3D Painter | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Substance 3D Sampler | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Substance 3D Stager | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| XD | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Mobile Apps | Unrestricted Accounts | Semi-Restricted Accounts | Restricted Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acrobat Mobile | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Acrobat Fill & Sign | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Acrobat Scan | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Behance | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Express | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Lightroom | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Photoshop Express | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Portfolio | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Web Apps & Services | Unrestricted Accounts | Semi-Restricted Accounts | Restricted Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| acrobat.adobe.com | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Behance | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Express | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Fonts Pro | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Portfolio | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Spark Page | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Spark Video | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| XD Web Publishing | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Signing-in (on your laptop)
The first thing you'll need to do as a newly enrolled VCU student is sign-in to your VCU Adobe account on your laptop (NOT your phone/tablet) with your VCU eID by visiting https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/sign-in. Below is a quick video of what you should experience signing-in with your VCU eID using the VCU CAS (Central Authentication Service) portal on a laptop.
Download & Install Adobe Creative Cloud on a Personal macOS Computer
To download and install Adobe Creative Cloud on your personally-owned macOS laptop or desktop, please see the video below. Mobile devices follow a different process and are not covered in this video. For installing Adobe Creative Cloud on a VCU-managed computer, see the video below or contact your departmental IT support team.
Download & Install Adobe Creative Cloud on a Personal Windows Computer
To download and install Adobe Creative Cloud on your personally-owned Windows laptop or desktop, please see the video below. Mobile devices follow a different process and are not covered in this video. For installing Adobe Creative Cloud on a VCU-managed computer, see the video below or contact your departmental IT support team.