VCU Adobe Data Backup & Migration Guide
When you leave the university, you will no longer be able to sign-in to your VCU Adobe account (a Managed Enterprise Account), and you will no longer be able to access any data, files, or projects saved in Adobe's cloud storage platform.
Before you leave the university, you need to move your assets (data, documents, files, and projects) from Adobe's cloud storage platform to another location. This guide was designed to help you navigate the process of manually backing up and migrating your assets to a personally-owned device. Below are some frequently asked questions as well as a general guide for downloading any assets stored within your VCU Adobe account.
Some information may differ for students and employees, especially if you are both a full-time employee and you take classes at VCU as a student. You may or may not have access to Adobe's cloud storage platform if you work for a "restricted" academic/business unit.
Disclaimers: VCU Technology Services is not responsible for data backup/migration from Adobe's cloud storage platform. Please take time to read through this guide carefully and understand that you are responsible for your data and that you account is subject to permanent deletion after you have left the university.
First, you need to determine if you are allowed to store assets using Adobe's cloud storage platform. Depending on your affiliation and how you were granted access to Adobe Creative Cloud software, there are a few different scenarios, however the easiest way to to check is by visiting https://assets.adobe.com/files using your VCU Adobe account (a Managed Enterprise Account or "Federated ID)". If you see a message that states “Error 401: Unauthorized” then you don’t have access to Adobe Creative Cloud storage but that doesn't necessarily mean you don't have any data stored within Adobe's cloud storage platform. To be certain, you can submit a ticket at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/help or email us at adobe@vcu.edu.
Students and employees preparing to leave VCU should manually backup their data and refer to the links below for specialized cloud platforms such Adobe Portfolio and Adobe Lightroom. Please refer to the link below for a general overview of backing up/transferring/migrating data from your VCU Adobe Federated ID account to a personal Adobe ID account.
Adobe HelpX Article - Transferring Files to another account
https://helpx.adobe.com/enterprise/kb/transfer-assets.html
Table 2 - Adobe Data Migration Links for Individual Cloud Services
|
Adobe Platform/Tool |
Backup/Migration Article |
|
Adobe Portfolio |
https://help.myportfolio.com/hc/en-us/articles/10872890414235-Migrating-Adobe-Portfolio-accounts-Overview |
|
Lightroom (lightroom.adobe.com) |
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/kb/download-lightroom-photos.html |
No. VCU end-users, including students, are not eligible to use Adobe's Automated Asset Migration program, the Adobe Graduation portal (https://graduation.adobe.com), or any other Asset Migration tools/features. These tools/features have been disabled in VCU's environment due to security concerns.
No. Only YOU are responsible for YOUR data stored within Adobe's cloud storage platform. Please review the guidance provided here and ensure you've taken the necessary steps to backup/migrate your data from your Creative Cloud Folder on your device(s) to your local computer's storage, a USB storage device, and/or Google Drive.
On October 1st, 2024 ALL synced files stored in Adobe’s cloud storage platform WILL be permanently deleted by Adobe. Please take the appropriate action as outlined in this page to backup/migrate your data from Adobe’s cloud storage platform. If you do not download/backup/migrate your data before October 1st, 2024 it WILL be permanently deleted by Adobe. We've made additional details about Adobe's File Sync Discontinuation available here.
If you are an actively enrolled VCU student for Fall 2024 classes, please be aware that you have until October 1st, 2024 to download/backup/migrate all of your files, assets, and other data before Adobe discontinues the file sync portion of their Adobe Creative Cloud enterprise storage platform. This service discontinuation impacts ALL VCU Adobe Creative Cloud end-users, is NOT a change VCU is involved in making, and we have NO ability to opt-out of this change at any level for any end-user at any time.
How long can I keep my Adobe Creative Cloud license as an inactive student?
Generally, you will have at least 15 and up to 60 days from the time you complete classes for your most recent actively enrolled academic term (semester) to continue using your Adobe Creative Cloud license. Whether or not students leave active enrollment status by graduating or simply withdrawing from classes or not enrolling in classes again by add/drop of the immediately following academic term, the grace period will begin on the last day of classes for their most recent actively enrolled academic term (semester). See the table below for a breakdown of when access expires by academic term.
Recently Graduated Students: If you recently graduated and lost access to your VCU Adobe Creative Cloud license, you will need to submit a ticket at https://go.vcu.edu/adobe/help to request temporary access. We will only grant access to recent students who graduated in Summer 2024 for up to 24 hours.
Graduating Students: If you will be graduating in the 2024-2025 Academic Year, please see the table below to determine how long your access will remain active before being removed. Re-enrollment requirements apply to ALL students, both non-employee students as well as students are employed by VCU regardless of job code/class.
Adobe Software License Removal and Account Deletion Deadlines for VCU Students
|
Academic Term (Semester) |
License Removal After |
Deadline for Re-enrollment |
Account Deletion After |
|
Fall |
At least 15 days |
By January 1st for Spring Semester |
No re-enrollment for 2 full semesters. |
|
J-Term/Intersession |
Not automatically licensed. Manually request if needed. |
Not automatically licensed. Manually request if needed. |
No re-enrollment for 1 full semester. |
|
Spring |
Must re-enroll by August 1st to avoid lapse in license coverage; up to 60 days. |
By August 1st for Fall Semester |
No re-enrollment for 2 full semesters. |
|
Summer |
At least 15 days |
By Add/Drop deadline Fall Semester |
No re-enrollment for 1 full semester. |
Inactive and former VCU employees who are not considered an “active” Affiliate with privileges are not entitled to retain access to ANY Adobe software license once they’ve separated from VCU as an employee. Removal of licensing is generally handled within 30 days of leaving employment with the university. Keep in mind that as an employee you are subject to the university policy VCU Data Classification Standard. Transferring ANY data, documents, files, and/or other assets to a personal Adobe ID account and/or a non-VCU managed computer may be a violation of this policy depending on the category of data.