Adobe’s Creative Cloud App acts as the home for all the Adobe apps you’ve downloaded, and the program allows you to manage them all in one place. But uninstalling and reinstalling Creative Cloud may solve the issue if your Creative Cloud app isn’t working correctly or you’re having trouble installing other Adobe apps.
If you need to uninstall the Creative Cloud App, you can do so quite easily. But unless you’re trying to permanently get rid of Creative Cloud and your other Adobe apps, I’d advise against uninstalling Creative Cloud and only doing so as a last resort, as you could lose all of your data if you haven’t backed it up properly.
What To Know Before Uninstalling Creative Cloud
It is important to note that you should have backed up your files before running the uninstall software. Otherwise, you may lose a lot of your work from the Adobe apps, and you won’t be able to recover them once Creative Cloud is gone.
First, you’ll need to know whether the app you have downloaded is cloud-compatible. Older apps tend to save files to the computer’s drive, including Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and InDesign.
For some apps, you’ll have to go into the app and do it manually to sync files from apps that use your disk drive for storage. For example, in Lightroom Classic, this means selecting the images you’d like to save and heading to File > Export, then running through the usual Export window.
You can also access your backup settings and trigger a backup upon exiting the app. To use this process in Lightroom Classic as an example, head to your Catalog Settings, which can be found by clicking Lightroom Classic (Mac) or Edit (Win) in the top left corner.
Then, in the General tab, set the backup to When Lightroom Next Exits.
Your catalog will back up to your files once you exit Lightroom.
Otherwise, if an app is cloud compatible, your files will automatically be synced to the creative cloud while you work. You can still access Creative Cloud Storage online, even after you’ve uninstalled the app, so you’ll have all your cloud-compatible files there, and you can save them to your computer’s disk drive at any time.
How To Uninstall The Adobe Creative Cloud App On Mac
To uninstall the Creative Cloud app, you’ll need to download the correct uninstaller based on your OS. Click your OS from the table below to access the uninstaller download link.
Once you’ve downloaded the uninstaller, double-click the uninstaller folder to unzip it from either your Downloads bar at the bottom of your browser or your downloaded files.
The folder will change to the Creative Cloud Uninstaller. Double-click to open the uninstaller and start the process.
If you receive a warning message, don’t worry — the file has likely triggered something in your security settings, which is normal. Click Open to move past the warning message.
You may be prompted to enter your password before making the change. Enter it and click OK.
You’ll then be asked to confirm you’d like to uninstall Creative Cloud rather than Repair it. You can try to repair it if you haven’t already or click Uninstall when you’re ready to remove Creative Cloud.
It will take a few minutes, but when the uninstaller is finished running, it will remove Creative Cloud from your files. Click Close when it has finished.
Creative Cloud will be fully uninstalled from your computer, though you may still see some remnant Adobe-related files from any other Adobe apps you had downloaded before.
How To Uninstall The Adobe Creative Cloud App On PC
Uninstalling Creative Cloud on a PC is similar to uninstalling it on a Mac. First, you’ll need to choose the correct Uninstaller based on your PC. Click one of the links below to start downloading the uninstaller.
Once the uninstaller has finished downloading, head to your files and right-click the uninstaller, and select Extract All to open the zipped file and extract its contents.
The file folder will change to the Uninstaller. Double-click to run.
If you receive a message asking you to confirm and allow the uninstaller to proceed, click Uninstall to continue.
The uninstaller will run — it usually takes just a few minutes. When it finishes, you’ll see a confirmation message that the app has been uninstalled from your system. Click Close to exit the uninstaller.
How To Uninstall Individual Adobe Apps
If you’re looking to uninstall specific apps from within the Creative Cloud rather than the entire Creative Cloud app itself, you can do so by first heading into the Creative Cloud app. Again, make sure you back up your work to your files before deleting an app, or you might lose it.
From here, make sure you’re in the All apps tab on the sidebar.
You’ll see the apps you have downloaded under Installed.
Click the Ellipsis icon to the right of the app you’d like to uninstall.
Select Uninstall.
This will remove the app from your system. You’ll be able to download it again at any time, as long as you’re still subscribed to the app.
So, in short, if you want to remove the Adobe Creative Cloud app completely, you will need to download the proper uninstaller for your device. However, if you want to uninstall individual apps within the Creative Cloud, you can do so within the Creative Cloud app!