This article gives instructions on installing Adobe Acrobat Pro on:

• Personal devices owned by staff and Postgraduate Research Students (PGRs)
• University-owned computers.

Undergraduate (UGs) and Postgraduate (PGTs) students are not licensed to use Adobe Acrobat. 
For this reason Adobe Acrobat is being removed from Common Learning Space (CLS) and the Student AVD Pool.

Alternative PDF readers or editors are:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader: you can use to sign and comment on PDF files. Adobe Acrobat Reader will be available on CLS machines shortly
• Microsoft Edge (or any other browser): PDF files can be opened and read using MS Edge or any other browser like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari
• Microsoft Office: PDF documents can be created by saving the as a PDF file
• Adobe's online PDF editor: Adobe PDF editor is free only if you want to highlight text, add annotations, and drawings. If you need to make other changes (such as edit the content or adding bulleted lists) you might need to set up a subscription

Installing Adobe Acrobat Pro

Installing Adobe Acrobat Pro on your personal device

1. Open the Adobe website and then click the Sign In button on the top-right corner of the screen

 
2. Sign in with the short version of your university email in the form of username@soton.ac.uk (for example: abc12u12@soton.ac.uk, not A.Surname@soton.ac.uk) and university password

3. You will then be redirected from Adobe to the University's external authentication portal. This may involve a second redirection:

4. Once logged in, select the App switcher icon

5. Select the Acrobat icon

6. To use Acrobat on your desktop, select the Get your apps button

7. Select the Adobe Acrobat Pro button (or the Open button). The installer download will automatically start

8.  Launch the installer to install Acrobat Creative Cloud and Acrobat

9. Follow the instructions 

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Installing Adobe Acrobat Pro on a university-owned computer

Windows users

To download the software off campus, you will need to connect to a Virtual Private Network VPN (GlobalProtect). To set up a VPN on your laptop, read the article How to set up the Virtual Private Network (VPN) via GlobalProtect.

1. Go to your Desktop and select the Software Center icon. You can find it is also available in the Start menu.

2. A new window will appear. Once the Software Center has fired up, enter "Adobe Acrobat" or "Adobe Acrobat Pro" into the search field.

Choose between personal and Company or School account

If you have both a personal account (Adobe ID) and a Company / School account (Enterprise ID or Federated ID) associated with the same email address, you will choose the account you want to use. Even if the two accounts share the same email address, they are distinct accounts. No data is shared or transferred automatically.

What to do:

1. Enter the short version of your university email address (for example: abc12u12@soton.ac.uk, not A.Surname@soton.ac.uk) and select Continue.

2. You can now select a profile to sign in. Please select the option Company or School account

3. Sign in as usual

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Common issues and troubleshooting

All Adobe's applications are not appearing

Overview of the problem

If you are not seeing that you have the Adobe applications you expect available, you might have logged in with the wrong account.

This happens because your Adobe Acrobat is linked to the short form of your email account (for example abc123@soton.ac.uk), not the long form (for example A.Surname@soton.ac.uk). If you log in with the long email account, you are using the wrong account.

How to resolve this issue

1. Select the circular icon at the top-right corner of and check the account you are logged on with. 
   
   
2. If you are using the wrong account:
   1. Logout 
   2. Log in with the correct account.
      
      
3. If this logon offers you a choice of profile during this logon, select the option School or company

You cannot use Acrobat on more than 2 computers

You are only allowed to be logged onto your Adobe account on two computers simultaneously.

On logging onto the third, you will receive a message detailing the computers you are already logged onto and the option to log out remotely from Adobe on one of these computers.

This limit is set by Adobe and the university is not able to change or increase it.

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Related content

How to set up Adobe Acrobat Pro to be your default PDF viewer using Microsoft Edge

Managing Adobe profiles

How to download software

How do I set up VPN on my device

Microsoft 365 License Comparisons (A5 & A1)