“Creativity for All” is the key theme of the all-new CC 2020 release, which was just announced by Adobe this week at their annual MAX conference. This next generation of Creative Cloud includes hundreds of new features and advancements across their product line, focusing on three core goals: faster, more powerful & more reliable tools, creating anywhere & anytime with anyone, and exploring new frontiers…  CC 2020 is the next major release following the CC 2019, CC 2018, CC 2017, CC 2015, CC 2014, and CC 2013 versions, which in turn replaced CS6 from 2012.

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For decades now, Adobe has provided industry-standard standalone installers for their creative products, for many valid reasons… Recent examples include the company publicly posting the direct download links for virtually the entire CC 2019 and CC 2018 releases. In our view, the need is strong and they should continue to do the same going forward.

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Last week at the annual MAX conference, Adobe launched the new 2020 release of Creative Cloud – and everyone wants to know what’s new, what’s different, and what’s changed between CC 2020 and the previous CC 2019, CC 2018, CC 2017, CC 2015, CC 2014, CC 2013, or 2012’s Creative Suite 6?  Or more to the point, what are the key new features and advancements in the 2020 upgrade versus prior versions?

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Every year, Adobe’s creative product launches seem to get bigger – and this year is no exception… This morning, in front of a record 15,000 attendees at the annual MAX conference, Adobe unveiled the new CC 2020 Release, which feels like their biggest product launch since they first introduced Creative Cloud over seven years ago.

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Let’s face it, Adobe’s traditional product prices seemed expensive over the years, espe­cially if you’re on a student’s budget. The last perpetual version available, Creative Suite 6 from 2012, historically had full prices ranging from $399 for Dream­weaver through $999 for Photoshop Extended and on up to $2,599 upfront for the Master Collection suite, which contained all CS6 applications. As cool and powerful as this software was, it’s hard to afford when you’re in school – even after the student/teacher discount.

Adobe stopped selling CS6 several years ago, as the version reached EOL and end of support – but fortunately the company still offers deep discounts for education customers on the latest CC release. A few years ago, in fact, they increased the discount on Creative Cloud to up to 70% off the regular prices. And while there are a lot of misconceptions about CC, the main products like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, etc., still download and run on your desktop as normal.

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With over 18 million paid members for Creative Cloud and growing, we often get this question from readers: “What’s a good book to get started with the most popular Adobe tools?” While there are a lot of great CC books for sale on Amazon, why not begin with an excellent title that’s available to everyone for free, and that you can download instantly?

Over the years, we’ve compiled a collection of over 30 free books that you can download and use for learning all of Adobe’s different creative tools… But there’s one volume that always stands out as a favorite – and even better, it has just been republished in a brand new expanded edition for the CC 2020 tools.

So if you’re just getting going with (or would like a solid primer covering) the core Creative Cloud design tools, then what better than a step-by-step guide that will teach you the essentials of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Adobe XD from the ground up?

So here it is: the very helpful “Adobe Design Basics” that will give you all of this for free, courtesy of author Professor Thomas Payne… The book works by intro­ducing and explain­ing the tools in a logical way that builds upon what is previ­ously learned. These applica­tions present a vast array of buttons and gadgets that can be over­whelming to the new user. This book makes sense of it all, not showing how every­thing works, but instead giving a found­ation and a path to learn about all those controls and what they can do for you.

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In November, Adobe shipped the new 2020 collection of tools and services – a milestone marking the eighth major release of the Creative Cloud product line, which replaced CS6 from 2012. This latest CC version contains thousands of new features and advancements compared to CS6 (across all creative applica­tions), and it is available only via Creative Cloud membership – a community which now surpasses 18 million paid subscribers.

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Seven years ago, Adobe acquired Behance – the leading online community and social media plat­form for creative professionals, which is often referred to as “The LinkedIn for Creatives.” Back then, Behance had about 1 million members. Since that time, with Behance’s inclusion into Creative Cloud (even with the free level), growth and participation have exploded – and the Behance community now boasts over 18 million members receiving 70 million project views per month.

With Behance, you can easily upload your photo­graphs, projects, or portfolios and gain a fantastic way to showcase, share, and get exposure for your work as well as receive feedback from your creative peers, and get inspired for future work. You can publish many types of media such as images, text, illustrations, video and audio, and follow statistics on how many views your projects are getting, and potentially make money. There’s even a helpful job list for creatives and freelancers, with hundreds of employment opportunities.

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With one year wrapped up and a new one just beginning, it seemed a perfect time to put together a review of the best and most-shared posts published here since our site launched in 2009 (over 10 years ago now!), including some very popular free books.

These are the top posts that consistently have the highest readership on our site, month after month, covering all major Adobe software products…  They’re broken out by topic below in case you’ve missed any, or are new here – so bookmark, share, and enjoy!

Free Adobe Books

• Download Adobe CC Design Basics, Free! New 243-Page Book
• Two Free Books! Get the Lightroom Quick Start Guides (134 Pgs)
• Learn Animate Free – Download 59-Page Guidebook + Assets
• Download Now: The InDesign New Features Guidebook
• Learn Adobe Dreamweaver CC + CS6 – Download 79-Page Book
• Free! Download 30 Adobe Books at No Cost, Learn All Products

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Not long ago, Adobe added a brand new product to the Lightroom ecosystem, surprisingly called “Lightroom CC.” This cloud-based photo service was different from the longstanding version of Lightroom that we know and love, the desktop-focused application which was simultaneously renamed to be “Lightroom Classic.”

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