Adobe Acrobat Pro DC

Owned by Barb Yantha, created
Last updated: Mar 28, 2023 by Gwendolyn Shaver
7 min read

With Adobe you can create, edit, share, and sign PDF files. You can also convert Microsoft 365 documents (i.e. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), pictures and more into PDF files. To learn more about these tools and features see https://www.adobe.com/ca/acrobat/features.html. All full-time employees can install Adobe Acrobat Pro on two different devices.

Acrobat for permanent full-time-time employees

  • Permanent full-time employees are automatically given the license.

  • available at no cost

Acrobat for temporary full-time employees (i.e. contract employees, co-op students)

  • Temporary full-time employees can request an Adobe Acrobat Pro license by submitting a request. Please select ‘Adobe Acrobat Request’ for the topic you require assistance with.

  • Please note that temporary full-time employees can request a license for a maximum of 1 year

  • Approval/awareness of supervisor or departmental IT rep is required (included at the time of submitting the request)

  • available at no cost

Acrobat for students

Acrobat for non-full-time employees (i.e. part-time employees)

In this article:

System Requirements

For information on Adobe Acrobat Pro system requirements for Windows and MacOS please refer to https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/acrobat/system-requirements.html

How to install Acrobat Pro DC

Note: you will need administrative privileges on the computer to be able to install the software. If you don’t have administrative privileges, contact your IST account representative or Faculty account representative for help.

IST-managed Windows computers  

Adobe Acrobat Pro will be automatically deployed to IST-managed Windows machines so no installation is required. To use the software, you need to sign in. Please see for Sign in instructions.

If you aren’t sure if your computer is managed or unmanaged, contact your IST account representative or your IST Faculty account representative.

Faculty-managed Windows computers

Employees working in a faculty should check with their Faculty IT group regarding deployment to faculty-managed computers.

Unmanaged Windows computers

  1. Ensure that you are logged into your computer as an administrator.

  2. Uninstall any previous version of Adobe Acrobat (e.g., Adobe Acrobat Reader). For instructions on how to do this see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uninstall-or-remove-apps-and-programs-in-windows-4b55f974-2cc6-2d2b-d092-5905080eaf98  

  3. Visit and download the appropriate installer for your version of Windows  

  4. Follow the instructions for Windows found on  

    1. Download the zip file and save it to any folder on your computer  

    2. Extract the zip file  (For instructions on how to do this, please refer to )

    3. Navigate to the Setup.exe file and double-click to begin the installation.
      NOTE: Do not run the Setup.exe file from within the installer zip file as you might encounter errors during installation. 

       

    4. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

 

 

 

MacOS Machines 

  1. Ensure that you are logged into your computer as an administrator.

  2. Uninstall any previous version of Adobe Acrobat (e.g., Adobe Acrobat Reader). For instructions on how to do this see  

  3. Visit and download the appropriate installer for your version of MacOS 

  4.  Follow the instructions for MacOS found on  

    1. Double-click the DMG file to mount the Acrobat installer volume  

    2. Double-click to open the mounted Acrobat installer volume  

    3. Navigate to Acrobat installer.pkg in the volume and double-click to run it

    4. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation

How to sign-in

Note: After installation you may be prompted to log in to confirm that your license is still active. Computers need to connect to the Adobe server at least once every 99 days. You may be asked to sign in when it’s the first time launching the app, after 99 days since your last log in, or if you have logged onto more than two devices.

Sign in for:

  1. Launch the Adobe Acrobat app 

  2. Click Sign in in the upper right and enter your 8-character UWaterloo username @uwaterloo.ca (e.g., myuserna@uwaterloo.ca) 

  3. Enter your 8-character UWaterloo username @uwaterloo.ca (e.g. myuserna@uwaterloo.ca) and click Continue

  4. Select Company or School Account

  5. You may be brought to UWaterloo sign-in page. Enter your password, click Sign in, and authenticate with DUO 2 Factor Authentication

     

  6. If prompted to make Adobe Acrobat your default PDF application, select Yes.

 

 

These instructions are only for accessing Adobe applications excluding Acrobat Pro. For Acrobat Pro follow the above steps for Adobe Acrobat Pro only.

  1. Launch the desired Adobe application

  2. Click Sign In in upper right hand

  3. Enter email address you’ve used to access Adobe products in the past. Click Continue

  4. Select Personal Account

     

  5. Enter your password and click Continue

     

  6. Click Join team (this is prompted only the first time you log in)

     

  7. You will be presented with a few options, select University of Waterloo -department name (e.g. University of Waterloo - Housing and Residences)

     

Have a Creative Cloud license?

  1. Launch the desired Adobe application

  2. Click Sign In in upper right hand

  3. Enter email address you’ve used to access Adobe products in the past. Click Continue

  4. Select Personal Account

     

  5. Enter your password and click Continue

     

  6. Click Join team (this is prompted only the first time you log in)

     

  7. You will be presented with a few options, select University of Waterloo -department name (e.g. University of Waterloo - Housing and Residences)

  1. Launch the desired Adobe application

  2. Click Sign In in the upper right hand

  3. Enter the email address you’ve used to access Adobe products in the past. Click Continue

  4. Select Personal Account

     

  5. Enter your password and click Continue

     

  6. Click Join team (this is prompted only the first time you log in)

     

  7. You will be presented with a few options, select UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO



  1. Launch the Adobe app 

  2. Click Sign in in the upper right and enter your 8-character UWaterloo username @uwaterloo.ca (e.g., myuserna@uwaterloo.ca) 

  3. Enter your 8-character UWaterloo username @uwaterloo.ca (e.g. myuserna@uwaterloo.ca) and click Continue

  4. Select Company or School Account

  5. You may be brought to UWaterloo sign-in page. Enter your password, click Sign in, and authenticate with DUO 2 Factor Authentication

     

 

Signing into multiple devices

All full-time employees can install Adobe Acrobat Pro on two different devices. If you attempt to sign in on a third device, you will be prompted to sign out of one of the other devices.

Troubleshooting

If you get the error shown below, indicating the license has either expired or not been activated:

  • Ensure that you are signed into the application. See the How to sign-in section above.

  • If you are signed in and still have received the error, try the steps outlined here

  •  If the problem persists, uninstall and reinstall Adobe Acrobat