Lost access to Adobe on old Mac.

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rickf1985 Author

Level 1

4 points

Lost access to Adobe on old Mac.

Several years ago I bought a Mac desk top at an auction of old equipment from the college I used to work at. Since I was in maintenance I got to see everything that was going on in the labs and classrooms. I retired in 2015 and I guess it was around 2021 or so they had an auction with these computers in it. I knew the computers had a lot of software for pictures and such on them so I bought one to edit and work with the thousands of old pictures I wanted to get onto digital media. All was well up until the beginning of this year when this computer signed itself onto my wifi and Adobe did an update on it's own. It disabled all of my Adobe apps unless I gave the the original password. Needless to say I did not have it and all the people that did are long gone. I did not use this computer online, it was only on the network for the printer. I did not use the Adobe for anything other than my pictures. Is there any way to get that back or do I now have a big heavy boat anchor?

Rick

Posted on Sep 3, 2025 10:37 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Servant of Cats

Level 7

30,569 points

Sep 3, 2025 11:16 AM in response to rickf1985

These days, Adobe no longer sells one-time purchase versions of most of their software. They want to get you onto a “subscription” (rental) plan.

Adobe also tends to support only the”most recent three” versions of macOS. Depending on the age of your second-hand Mac, it is possible that you can’t even get current Adobe software for it.

There are alternatives like GIMP, GraphicConverter, and Affinity Photo V2 that you may want to explore.

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Answer 2

Camelot

Level 9

57,873 points

Sep 3, 2025 11:02 AM in response to rickf1985

> Is there any way to get that back or do I now have a big heavy boat anchor?

Well, the computer still works, right? so it's not a complete anchor...

As for the Adobe apps... you're probably out of luck there.

It's been many years now since Adobe transitioned to a cloud-based software company with their 'Creative Cloud' solution. As such, software is licensed, not sold, and the terms of the license usually prohibit (or at least restrict) transfer of ownership (they'd prefer the new owner buy their own license to Adobe's software).

In any case, the software you were using was registered to someone else's account. By your own admission this wasn't your account. The only way they're going to honor the license (if at all) is via that original email address, or some kind of proof of purchase. Sounds like you have neither of them.

You might be able to get a new license to Adobe's software (assuming the system is up-to-date enough), which should let you continue using the apps.

Failing that, there may be other software applications that can read the native Adobe files and let you continue working with them, with the corresponding learning curve of a new software suite. For example, Graphic Converter can open most graphics files, edit them and (as its name implies) convert them to other formats. Or try GIMP as an open source image editing application, but there are many others.

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Answer 3

rickf1985 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 3, 2025 11:38 AM in response to Camelot

Thanks, Kind of what I expected. I know the original email address but that has changed due to the college merging with another one. I suspect Adobe will die from their stupid ways but hey, I am not a computer or software expert. Seems to be the way of the internet anymore. There is no FREE software anymore, it is either pay up front or pay a month down the road when the "trial" runs out and they just charge your card. That happened to me and I never gave them my card info or signed off on them getting it but they did, right from Google.

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Answer 4

Sep 3, 2025 04:55 PM in response to rickf1985

Re: “There is no FREE software anymore,”

FREE is not a word that I have ever associated with major image applications from Adobe, except in a few cases from the old, old days where you got a “free” Adobe application when buying a multi-hundred-dollar printer or scanner.

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Answer 5

Sep 3, 2025 12:10 PM in response to rickf1985

rickf1985 wrote:

There is no FREE software anymore,

GIMP is free.

To be fair, the people who work hard writing software deserve to be paid, too.

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