Complete Reference Guides and eBook Manuals for All Adobe Tools
Even years after it went up, a lot of people still don’t know about it.
We’re talking about the free online documentation for all Adobe software – a set of user manuals that can answer quite a few customer questions, and also be a great resource if you don’t use a product yet but want to find out more about it…
This exists in searchable and downloadable form for all major Adobe applications, including the Creative Cloud, Creative Suite, Lightroom, Acrobat, Photoshop Elements, etc. – for all recent releases on both Windows and macOS.
For example, every so often we receive a question on how to save back to earlier versions from InDesign CC or CS6… Fortunately, this is answered in the “Saving Documents” section in InDesign’s online manual. (And for all the cases like these, we also put together a special roadmap for CC file compatibility.)
Related: Do you believe any of these? The 10 Most Common Myths About Creative Cloud
Each Adobe reference below can be downloaded as a complete offline ebook if you want (more about this below)… These books are substantial – the latest “Photoshop Help & Tutorials” handbook is almost 1,000 pages alone!
So here below are the direct links to all the PDF guides to bookmark for your future reference:
- Creative Cloud (CC) or Creative Suite (CS6, CS5, CS4, or CS3):
Product CC 2019 Release Older Versions Photoshop Download Download Lightroom Download — Lightroom Classic Download Download Illustrator Download Download InDesign Download Download InCopy — Download Adobe XD Download — Dreamweaver Download Download Animate / Flash Pro Download An / Fl Adobe Muse — Download Premiere Pro Download Download After Effects Download Download Audition Download Download Prelude Download Download Premiere Rush Download — Media Encoder Download Download Adobe Bridge Download Download - Other Adobe CC/CS applications:
- Adobe Acrobat:
- Acrobat DC Pro/Standard and Reader
- Acrobat XI, X, 9, 8, 7 Pro/Standard and Reader
- Elements line:
- Photoshop Lightroom 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
- Captivate 2019 and 9, 8, 7, 6, 5.5, 5
- Presenter 11 and Presenter Video Express 11
- FrameMaker 2019 and 2017, 2015, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8
- RoboHelp 2019 and 2017, 2015, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7
- ColdFusion 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, MX 6.1
- Adobe Connect 9.5, 9, 8, 7
- LiveCycle ES4, ES3, ES2, ES
- Digital Publishing Suite
- All other products
We’re past the point where books and manuals come in a box – it’s all live and living online, updated regularly by the Adobe documentation team…
Important! If you’re going to be offline for a while or just prefer to read it all in an ebook format, there are full PDF versions available for download for each application – just grab that and poof, you have a full up-to-date manual in digital book form, for free. This is great for sending to a Kindle, or for reading on an iPad where it can be opened and stored in iBooks.
To download any of these software user manuals in PDF form:
- For Creative Cloud/Suite pages above – just click on “PDF manuals” or “Previous versions.”
- For all other tools above – look for the “Help PDFs” near the top or left side of the screen.
If for some reason you don’t find your answer there, it’s an easy jump over to Adobe’s User-to-User Forums or Customer Support.
And to continue learning, don’t miss dozens more free books for many Adobe products, covering recent versions of all major applications.
See Also
- What are the differences between Adobe CC vs. CS6?
- Free download: Get 10 high-quality Adobe Stock images
- How to save 60% with the Adobe education editions
- Free! Watch 132 hours of training from Adobe MAX
- Don’t need full Cloud? Get PS + LR for $9.99/month
- How to join Adobe’s Creative Cloud for free
Do you have any questions about these manuals? Just ask them below and we’ll get you answers fast!
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I have a key for Photoshop Elements 5, I need to download a copy to this computer that was wiped clean. Where and how?
Sorry Dale, that’s way too long ago (2006?) and before we started tracking the Adobe software direct download links…
You might try on Adobe’s FTP site where you’ll sometimes find links to old or outdated products/trials, but it’s pretty hit-or-miss and recommended for experts only.
Hello,
I have purchased a new computer and would like to transfer the Photoshop I purchased and downloaded onto this new computer. Is there a way to do this?
Russ
Yes, sure Russ – here’s a complete guide on how to do that:
How to Move Adobe Software Between Two Computers, or PC to Mac
Awesome post.
This is the 2nd day I have tried to download your ebooks and as before, clicking on the download link takes me to a completely blank page (and I mean completely blank). The only difference is that today the blank screen is black whereas previously it was white. Today I tried something new. While on the blank page at the top where the address bar is there are some control links. One of these is to “Display the progress of ongoing downloads (Ctrl + J)” When I click on this it displays the message “No downloads for this session”.
So its easy to claim there is nothing wrong with your site but from my point of view it doesn’t work.
Please Douglas, have you tried any of the solutions we offered in our previous reply? You didn’t mention anything about them, but those are the first steps if you’re having any difficulties.
Hi — I’m looking for the After Effects CC ebook manual, but when I click on AE link, it takes me to tutorials. I detest watching videos which is why I am looking for a book. Please — which link is the actual manual that I can download?
Thank you.
Hi — Disregard the earlier inquiry. I found the ebook for AE. Thank you!
God knows why you want to use Photoshop Elements 5, but that’s none of my business. What is my business, is that you can continue to work and earn your living using genuine software.
Since I’ve being keeping tabs of Adobe’s share price, amongst other Adobe activities, since Emperor Nero initiated the Great Fire of Rome back in 64 CE, I know where you can download the direct legitimate 30-day trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.
Download Link: PSE_5.0_WIN_TRYBUY_ENG.exe
File Date: 4 Oct 2006
File Size: 467 MB (489,830,041 bytes)
You will need to log-in with your Adobe ID, else the download will fail.
Also, it is advised to download the v5.02 update patcher for Adobe Photoshop Elements 5, which provides compatibility with the x86 version of Vista (I believe it’s therefore not compatible with 64-bit architecture).
Download Link: PSE_502_patcher.zip
File Date: 25 Jan 2007
File Size: 33 MB (34,193,839 bytes)
More info at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3569
If you’re using a Mac, well Apple products stink, and I highly suggest you destroy your Mac and purchase a Windows PC. Anyone using CS6 / CC on a Mac must be a crazy lunatic and needs to see a psychiatrist.
May Microsoft live long and prosper.
May iPads, iPhones, and Macs suffer the same fate as Rome did in 64 CE.
Terrific, thanks for your assistance Julius!
@Julius Caesar
See? That’s why I like the Mac. The users are so much nicer.
Very great Blog!
Thanks Frank! Appreciate the kind words.
why in colorizing of a black-and-white photo, hue and saturation are set on 20 and 25 Respectively?
Where are the pdf user manuals for the CC 2017 products?
Hi James, Adobe says the new CC 2017 PDF manuals have not been published yet and will be available in early 2017… So watch this space!
Hi.
Any update on when the CC 2017 PDF manuals will be available for Photoshop?
Many thanks.
John.
Thanks for your inquiry John. We have reached out to Adobe on this question, and are awaiting a response.
Hi,
I have the CC Photoshop and Lightroom package and wanting to purchase a book (for dummies) on photoshop and lightroom but not sure if there is one available out there.
Yes, definitely. Check out all our free Adobe books here; in particular look for “Adobe CC Design Basics” (covering Photoshop for beginners) and “The Lightroom CC Quick Start Guide”… There’s a lot more there too, as we have now collected over 30 books you can download at no cost.
If you want to purchase physical books, then there are plenty of good ones on Amazon for both Photoshop and for Lightroom.
If you’d like to supplement those books with some excellent free online tutorials, then here are a few you can choose from:
Learn Photoshop Absolutely Free with This New 5½-Hour Intro Class
Free! Get Premium 13-Hour Adobe Photoshop CC Training Course
Adobe Lightroom CC Overview – Free Preview Course
Hope that helps!
I have attempted to download both the Photoshop and Illustrator CC 2017 User Guides without success. I don’t see any download link associated with these online guides. What am I missing? Every link I’ve tried, directs me to an html file.
Sorry, it looks like Adobe has changed many of the URLs so that the links we had above stopped working…
We just did a comprehensive review and update of all the PDF manual and help documentation links given above, and they should now work again for you.
Thanks for the heads-up! Please let us know if you have any further difficulties.
PS – Note: It is possible the offline help PDFs do not yet reflect the most up-to-date CC 2018 versions, which were released last month…
The online product Help available on the Adobe website is the most up-to-date and is frequently refreshed to include information even after the product has been released.
For additional hardcopy documentation and offline product training, check out our large collection of free Adobe books that you can download.
Update:
New versions of many Adobe manuals are now available – the user guides for most of the latest CC 2018 releases of Creative Cloud tools, plus other applications…
This updated documentation is now linked in the article above for the following products:
– Photoshop
– Illustrator
– InDesign
– Dreamweaver
– Premiere Pro
– After Effects
– Prelude
– Media Encoder
– Adobe Bridge
– Photoshop Elements
– Premiere Elements
– Elements Organizer
– Captivate
(Note that the published/version dates indicated on Adobe’s help pages may be inaccurate.)
Great post! Thank you!
Hi.
Any update on when the CC 2017 PDF manuals will be available for Photoshop?
Many thanks.
Naeem safi
Most of the manuals linked above are already for the latest CC 2018 versions, including Photoshop…
Adobe may not indicate that on their pages, but nevertheless, most of the actual PDF documentation has been recently updated and now reflects the current releases.
(But because these reference guides previously had not been updated since June 2015, the CC 2017 versions were effectively skipped, unfortunately.)
Great news – all the new PDF documentation for Adobe CC 2019 is now available for download above!
I am not able to download the books, specifically anything to do with Photoshop CC 2019 and Bridge 2019. I keep getting the following message: This site can’t be reached.
Please help me.
Not sure, but we suspect it may be something with your Internet connection or firewall… If you continue to have difficulties, we would suggest trying with a different browser, or with another computer and/or Internet connection.
Also, make sure you’re not blocking or filtering anything with your browser(s) – like cookies, downloads, or any sites or URLs – or running utilities like Ghostery, AdBlock, or Disconnect. Or it could be your firewall, antivirus program (esp. Kaspersky), or other third-party security software. Adobe recommends turning those things off temporarily for downloads.
Hello,
Can we share these manuals on our intranet (download local versions) for our users ?
No problems with copyright ?
Thank you.
Yes Yves, you should be able to do that. Generally they are protected by copyright law, but because they are Adobe’s official product documentation intended for both online & offline use by customers, you can download & keep them wherever you may need them.
Thank you.
It will help our users a lot.