Adobe recently released a newly updated Creative Cloud app (CC App) that replaces the previous one. This coincided with the February 2024 Lightroom updates.
Since everything’s moved around, let’s take a look at the different options and how it works. To access it, click on the Creative Cloud icon in the System Tray (Windows) / Menubar (Mac). Click on the Apps tab and you’ll see the following screen:
The main differences to the previous are in the layout, and as you’ll see from the above screen, the options are laid out and accessed slightly differently.
The apps are divided into sections. At the top of the Apps page, Essential in your plan lists the programs available as a part of your plan. They have a button either to Open the app or Install (if not currently installed). You can click the next tab Photo to just show the photography-related apps.
Underneath each app, click the More button (…) to access other versions or to Uninstall. To learn how to roll back to a previous version of Lightroom Classic, see this blog post.
To check which apps have updates available, click View updates in the top right corner. This opens the Updates page, where you can click the Update button to install individual app updates.
In the top right corner, click on your avatar icon to access and update your CC App Preferences, such as the install location. This also allows you to sign in or sign out, deactivating or reactivating all of your subscribed apps.
Originally posted in October 2019, updated in March 2022, and again February 2024.
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
If you have the Photography Plan, then as well as Classic you have access to the Lightroom cloud ecosystem including the mobile apps and web interface. For more information on these apps, see Adobe Lightroom – Edit on the Go.
Note: purchase of these books includes the first year’s Classic or cloud-based Premium Membership (depending on the book purchased), giving access to download the latest eBook (each time Adobe updates the software), email assistance for the applicable Lightroom version if you hit a problem, and other bonuses.
We also have a special bundle offer for the two books. This includes Premium Membership for the first year as described above for the whole Lightroom family!
I am fine with the new interface. At first I had to search for items but now it’s ok.
I am having some difficulty with this new CC App. It is too cluttered and confusing. When I ran it a version 20.0.6 was offered and when I clicked on the UPDATE button it did nothing except show that the update was “waiting….”. I waited – but nothing happened. I don’t follow the logic of this. The Photoshop App was the only one offering an update, yet the word “waiting….” appeared below all versions of the apps included in the Photography plan. One could wait until hell freezes over.
It could be high demand on the Adobe servers. However, if you still have the issue try logging out of your Adobe account (in the CC App) then back in again, this has helped quite a few with issues.
How does it work for me? Poorly. It is lit up with a “New update” for Acrobat DC, which I do *not* have on my MB Pro. So instead of “Update Now” it says “Try.” I can’t get rid of this message.
Post a screenshot on the forum (link in the menubar) and we’ll help you figure out what’s going on. Try is offering you a trial, you can ignore that if you don’t want to try it.