With over 22 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 2021 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 apps present a vast array of options 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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Time-lapse photography videos never go out of style…  Here is one of our all-time favorites from Norwegian landscape photographer Terje Sorgjerd – incredibly beautiful and perfect for the clear, dark nights of the season (watch full-screen):

Prior to the extensive video editing tools first introduced in CS6, Photoshop wasn’t normally known for its video capabilities – but in fact it’s always been possible to take a series of still photo­graphs (manipulated as desired) and then quickly create your own timelapse video using Photoshop Extended…

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Having initially launched nine years ago, by now you’ve heard about Adobe’s fast-growing Creative Cloud, you’ve dispelled the common myths about it, and perhaps are considering sub­scribing to CC now that over 22 million of your colleagues already have…

You may also know that since Adobe stopped development of the older “CS” releases back in 2012, there have been thousands of new product features, enhancements, and perform­ance improve­ments added to CC since Creative Suite ended, as well as integral new online services.

But did you know that no matter what you do, you can sign up right now for a zero-cost class of membership that never expires and provides free benefits for life?  Anyone can have this free level currently in 83 countries worldwide, even if you still use the older tools instead, or even if you use no other Adobe products or services at all.

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Several years ago, Adobe added a brand new product to the Lightroom ecosystem, surprisingly called “Lightroom.” 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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Here’s the new and updated edition of a very handy resource from James Wamser – a complete reference to all versions of Adobe InDesign ever released… Similar to his Photoshop and Illustrator handbooks, it’s called called the Adobe InDesign New Features Guide, 1.0 to CC (2021), and this 128-page ebook is available for free download now:

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Last month, Adobe shipped the new 2021 collection of tools and services – a milestone marking the ninth major release of the Creative Cloud product line. This latest CC version contains hundreds of new features and advancements compared to the previous release (across all creative applica­tions), as well as the appearance of familiar apps on entirely new platforms. The new tools and services are available only via Creative Cloud membership – a community which now surpasses 22 million paid subscribers.

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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 the 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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Here’s a very handy resource from Jamie Spencer – the complete set of essential keyboard shortcut cheat sheets for every major Adobe CC application… These comprehensive sheets can save you loads of time every day by speeding up your work and allowing you to bypass the need for mouse clicks and movements, getting you to the function you need in the fastest possible way. They are extremely helpful assets to have in your arsenal – and can easily be consulted anytime as an instant reference, or printed out in high resolution and posted, or even used as desktop wall­paper. They are completely free and available for download here:

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Well, MAX just wrapped up its first-ever all-virtual conference and Adobe broke all records with over half a million attendees tuning in from all over the world for three full days! But the best part is the majority of the sessions were captured on video and are being offered online – for free! In other words, pick your favorite Adobe tools and you can learn the latest tips, tricks, and techniques from the top instructors in the field from the comfort of your laptop, tablet, or phone.

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Every year, Adobe’s creative product launches seem to get bigger – and this year is no exception… This morning, with over 500,000 people attending the first-ever all-virtual (and completely free!) MAX conference, Adobe rolled out the new CC 2021 Release, which has to be the largest product rollout since they first introduced Creative Cloud over eight years ago.

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