[UPDATE (Oct. 2022) – The all-new Creative Cloud 2023 release has launched and is now available! See what’s new in features and all the differences compared to older versions.]
Last week at the annual MAX conference, Adobe launched the new 2022 release of Creative Cloud – and customers want to know what’s new, what’s different, and what’s changed between CC 2022 and the previous releases. In other words, what are the key new features and advancements in the 2022 upgrade versus prior versions?
With the new release, everyone is entitled to either a free update or a free trial for 7 days. Ongoing access to these tools requires a Creative Cloud membership (either for one app or for all), with discounts available for education customers. Adobe says there have been thousands of significant changes and updates from CS6 to CS 2022, meaning new and enhanced features, added capabilities, and performance improvements – to the key creative applications.
Special: Legally download dozens of free Adobe books for a limited time!
There are now 21 desktop applications included in Creative Cloud: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, InCopy, Acrobat DC, Adobe XD, Dimension, Animate, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, Premiere Rush, After Effects, Audition, Character Animator, Media Encoder, Prelude, Bridge, Camera Raw, Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Almost all of the apps received full upgrades (more below).
Adobe is also unveiling significant innovations. There’s now the real Photoshop and Illustrator actually running in a web browser, online collaboration and virtual whiteboarding using Spaces and Canvas, new content attribution capabilities via the Content Authenticity Initiative, and batch automation of repetitive imaging tasks using Project Aspen. Please see the table below for what’s new in each Creative Cloud tool.
In addition, subscribers to the All Apps and Single-App plans over $20 now receive the premium version of Creative Cloud Express at no extra cost. This new product can save some serious time and effort.
And it’s not a new app, but it’s an incredible resource that keeps getting better: the Adobe Stock Free Collection now boasts over 1 million top-notch images, vectors, illustrations, templates, 3D models, and videos available to everyone at no cost and completely royalty-free. Check it out and start downloading here!
Install now: Get all new Creative Cloud 2024 direct download links and free trials.
Other top tools and services continue to be included in Creative Cloud 2022 as well, such as Adobe Fonts with over 25,000 premium fonts for unlimited use (a $100/year value), 1,000+ creative brushes from award-winning illustrator Kyle T. Webster, your own Adobe Portfolio website, plus Behance to showcase (and even sell) your work and talents online.
If you want to try any of the CC apps out, then just sign up for a free level of Creative Cloud membership to gain access. For learning how to best use the products, there are plenty of free tutorial videos, and even dozens of completely free books that you can download for all of the most popular applications. And don’t forget that all products include ongoing upgrades at no extra cost, so you can always be running the latest and greatest versions.
Feature Comparison: Creative Cloud 2022 vs. Previous Releases
So here they are, the feature breakouts by individual product – what’s new including version comparisons and differences between Creative Cloud 2022 vs. the 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, and CS6 releases:
For more details on the essentials and differences, don’t miss our Creative Cloud 2022 Review Guide.
The System Requirements Have Evolved
You should also know that the minimum system requirements have changed meaningfully both on both Windows and Mac, in order to take advantage of the latest operating system features and technologies… On Macs, the CC 2022 release now requires macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later. If you’re not yet running a compatible version of macOS, then you can get a free upgrade directly from Apple to Catalina. Be aware, however, that in Catalina, Apple has dropped support for any older 32-bit programs that you may have. macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) and the newly-launched macOS 12.0 (Monterey) are supported by Adobe as well.
On PCs, Windows 10 (version 1909 or higher) is a fully-supported platform for all Creative Cloud applications. Windows 11 is supported with some caveats. Importantly, except for Acrobat DC, the CC 2022 apps do not support 32-bit or any Windows 7 or Windows 8 operating systems.
Adobe explains that focusing their efforts on more modern OS versions allows them to concentrate on developing the features and functionality most requested by members, while ensuring peak performance that takes advantage of modern hardware. For more details, please consult the complete CC 2022 System Requirements. If these specifications don’t work for you for some reason, then you can continue to use the older CC 2021 applications, or even CC 2019 or CC 2018.
What’s New in Creative Cloud? Plus See the Adobe MAX Highlights
See Also
- The 10 most common myths about Creative Cloud
- How to save 60% with the Student & Teacher Editions
- Download free Adobe books (choose over 30 titles)
- Don’t need full Cloud? Get PS + LR for $9.99/month
- Free Adobe Stock! Download 1,000,000+ top images
- How to join Adobe’s Creative Cloud for free
Do you have any questions about Creative Cloud? Just ask below and we’ll get you answers fast!
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Indesign Master Pages renamed as Parent Pages! Why?
“To support core Adobe values of diversity and inclusion, the term Master page has been replaced with ‘Parent page’.”
LOL. The move to Affinity is made easier every day.
Hi Peter,
Are you upset that Adobe changed the language to better reflect the page hierarchy?
Perhaps it has a significant impact on your work or your workflow?
I need the only Photoshop and Bridge. Any other program is in my interest. Now I use CS6 with the Bridge and Camera RAW. What a free trial version of CC2022 can Adobe offer? I cannot exclude continuing a subscription in a future, but now Adobe policy seems to me too complicated and MOST products are completely not needed for photographers, having not ambition to work in general desktop publishing or graphics.
All I need in the Adobe offer is PS with Camera RAW and Bridge. Even the Cloud is not interesting, as I use my own private local server. The Cloud service of different firms (as in Google, Microsoft, and others), had caused me to lose a great number of pictures. Now, my cloud is my private server (NAS) – I’m independent of the strange requirements not being controlled by myself…