Moving Adobe software…
It’s something we all do… moving our Adobe software licenses around from one computer to another, and if you’re lucky enough the reason for the move would be the arrival of a faster, shinier, new computer. This post will hopefully provide you with some tips and tricks on “what to do” when you want to move your software from one computer to another…
Moving?
If you’ve ever moved house, you might have experienced that moving involves a little more than just repositioning your belongings from one location to another… In fact you might even go through the contents of your pantry or cupboards and decide there are things you would rather not move. Over the period of time that you’ve worked with your Adobe applications on your soon to be ‘old’ computer you have likely collected “additionals”, some of which you might want to keep.
The Additionals…
There’s no better time then right now to do some house-cleaning. As a self-confessed digital hoarder I can relate to finding more than just the files that my Adobe software installs in my Adobe application/program folders 
Third-party plug-ins
Third party plug-ins generally come with original installers and most importantly their own licensing keys. Where to start?
- Determine which plug-ins you would like to ‘move across’
- Check on the plug-in developer’s web-site if you have the latest version of this plug-in currently. If not download the latest installer version available for your version of the Adobe software
- Locate your original licensing key. Sometimes this might be retained in an email that was send out to you when you purchased the plug-in online. In other cases there might be a licensing key on a printed card that shipped with the software when you bought it. The key might even be on the CD/DVD case itself.
- One additional thing to check is whether the Plug-in requires activation. It would be likely that you’ll need to de-activate the plug-in license before you can activate the license on another computer. In fact, we’ll cover Activation / Deactivation a little later on when we get to the actual Adobe software.
Scripts
Adobe applications can be expanded through the use of scripts and you might have obtained some scripts for the various Adobe applications that help you improve productivity or even add additional functionality to your application.
- As with plug-ins I would suggest you first of all determine which scripts you want to keep
- Then check with the script-developer if you’ve got the latest version, and obtain the original scripts, some even come with installers, although many will come with drag-and-drop instructions only.
- Scripts could be licensed as well. In that case locate the original licenses keys as you’d do for Plug-Ins.
Colour Settings
Your printer or photo lab might have given you .icc profiles or colour settings to install at some stage. Grab a copy of the settings you want to move across.
PDF settings
As with colour settings, our printer, service bureau or photo lab might have provided you with .joboptions (PDF Settings) files to use when you are creating PDF iles. Grab a copy of the settings you want to move across for these as well.
Other
The story continues here. Depending on which Adobe application you’re looking at you might have added new Swatches sets, Brush strokes, Filters, Patterns and other gadgets that add to your creativity.
With all the previous preparations complete you’re just about ready for the move.
On to moving your Adobe Software
Most likely there are additional housekeeping tasks to perform, such as reviewing the settings and additions you made to your Adobe software. Identify them… locate them… where possible take a copy of them to load on the new computer.
I’m thinking of things such as:
- libraries added to Illustrator’s Brushes, Symbol or Graphic Styles panel for instance, it might be sufficient to just grab a copy of the .ai files that you’ve added to the Adobe Illustrator CS4 / Presets / en_GB (or US) / etc… folders
- Actions added to Photoshop, you’d need to choose “Save Actions” from the Actions panel menu and generate a .atn file… so that you can choose “Load Actions” on your new computer and have access again.
- Printer and Document presets you might have added to InDesign.
- Preferences settings you’ve altered. Note that it’s not recommended you copy preferences files across, instead recreate the settings after the new install.
- etc.
Activation / Deactivation
Before you install your Adobe software on the new computer, you must deactivate the software on the old computer. Choose Help > Deactivate.
The deactivation dialog for your Adobe Creative Suite bundle appears. I’d recommend enabling the Erase my serial number from this computer after deactivation completes option, to ensure that your license can no longer be used on this workstation.
Click the Deactivate button to commence the deactivation of your software. The dialog box informs you once the process has been completed.
You are now ready to move over to your new computer and start installing the Adobe software. After you’ve installed the software, first of all ensure that you’re also installing all the updates Adobe’s made available. Then test your software before adding the plug-ins, scripts etc. again.
Good Luck!
Have I missed something vital in my write-up? Add a comment below and I’ll ensure I add it in, so this post is as complete as possible. Thanks heaps.
- Cari
Topics: Adobe | 6 Comments »
October 22nd, 2010 at 12:02 am
How do I locate the serial number before I deactivate? I downloaded InDesign so I don’t have the installation CD anymore – which causes another issue: how do I reinstall on the new computer without the installation CD?
October 22nd, 2010 at 7:00 am
@John If you purchased your software online with Adobe, there will be a purchasing record. Contact Adobe Customer Service in your country http://www.adobe.com/elicensing/licensemanagement/alm/contact.html with your purchasing details and they can most likely help you out.
November 5th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I work for an insurance company within the IT Dept. We have numerous issues with de-installing software, sometimes as the machine has died and needs replacing, other times needs reinstalling.. however.. we have spoken to Adobe and they tell us once installed that is it, you can’t re-install. This seems ridiculous, their software is costly and to re buy seems mad.
If the machine has died, you can’t follow the process above as you can’t get onto the machine. Any ideas?
We purchase mainly on a TLP agreement but occasionally box product. Even if we have the software and product key and have uninstalled from the old machine, it still won’t let us re-install.
Help!!
Jo
November 8th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
@Jo
If the issue you are describing is related to having exceeded the number of software activations, then you’d need to contact Adobe support.
You can reinstall Adobe software, I’ve done it many times myself each time I do a system rebuild. However it is important you deactivate the license first.
If you are working in a combined box-product and TLP licensed environment, be aware that you install with the correct installers, e.g. box-products have a different installer then TLP licenses. It could be that is what you are encountering, E.g. there’s not ‘one-installer-for-all’.
See also this FAQ page for more info. I hope that helps out. http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/100/1003400.html
January 22nd, 2011 at 6:34 am
You missed the “I don’t have the CD or the Dowload (iso). Calling Adobe Support is a waste of time and the chat sessions with folks in Bangladesh don’t help either.
My solution is to buy FLAIR.
January 22nd, 2011 at 4:46 pm
@Al
As long as you can provide Adobe with proof of purchase, Adobe should be able to help you with that, as far as I am aware you can purchase new installer media if you’ve lost yours.
If you are on Twitter, try posting a question to @Adobe_Care … there’s team of people there that are part of Adobe Customer Care, ready to help you with any questions. http://www.twitter.com/adobe_care/
Good Luck,
Cari