System administrators can add users and provision them to the free Adobe Express for K12 or Adobe Creative Cloud for K-12 named user licence using roster to sync with Clever or Classlink
Currently, roster sync is only available in the United States.
By using your district portal provides the added advantage of using Clever or Classlink as a secondary authentication IDP to enable login to Adobe Express directly from the portal.
Authentication and user synchronization are separate processes and existing SAML connections to Microsoft Azure or Google Workspace for education will continue to work even if you choose to synchronize users via your Clever/Classlink Roster. Similarly, if you are synchronizing users from Azure or Google you can request the Adobe Express SSO-only app and Clever or Classlink to enable sign-in from the portal. Note: you can only have a single auto-syncing set-up for each directory of users (such as Azure Sync, Google Sync, Clever/Classlink Sync, User Sync Tool) but can always enable multiple IDP providers for SSO into Adobe Express.
A common scenario is to assign Adobe Express to all users in the district as this is free and unlimited. Districts then create a rule in Clever or Classlink to share specific students and teachers based on their course membership for the Creative Cloud K-12 license.
Once Clever or Classlink rostering is configured, the Roster Sync will become your source of truth. To support users that do not exist in the roster system, you can add manual groups that will be ignored by the roster synchronisation (see below).
To use roster sync with Clever or Classlink, a school or district must have completed the following steps
Have access to an Adobe Admin Console with either the free K-12 Adobe Express offer or the purchased Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps licenses.
Configure a Federated directory.
Learn how to set up federation through Google and Azure here.
Request Adobe Express and or Adobe Creative Cloud roster applications in your Classlink or Clever administration portal.
Requested Adobe Express or Adobe Creative Cloud roster sync applications in its District Portal (Clever or Classlink).
For Classlink districts, roster sync requests are automatically approved at the time of the request. For Clever districts, an Adobe team member reviews the request within 72 hours and responds either in the Clever portal or by email.
There are two separate apps that need to be requested to sync both (1) Adobe Express and (2) Creative Cloud. When setting up the sharing rules, ensure that at least one user is included in the sync scope for each app.
If more users are selected for the Creative Cloud sync than the licenses available, the sync will not complete. Please reduce the number of users in the sync scope to ensure you do not exceed your license count. This license count includes users manually assigned licenses via the manual group process.
(Optional) Manually Manage Users that are not on your Classlink/Clever roster
For users that need access to Adobe Express or Creative Cloud but are not available in the roster application, you can create specific manual user groups within the Adobe Admin Console and manage their license provisioning by assigning them product profiles. Any users not in the manually managed user groups or the Clever/Classlink roster will get de-provisioned every time the Roster Sync runs.
Create the following user groups in the Adobe Admin Console.
The user group name should match exactly (case sensitive) the names provided below.
Once the groups are created you can assign licenses to group members by clicking on the Group name and selecting Assigned Product Profiles > Assign Product Profile.
Users can then be added to the console and then moved into this group to be ignored by the roster sync.
Once you have completed all the prerequisites follow these steps:
For consoles with an existing synchronization
Turn off the sync in The Azure Portal or the Google Workspace Admin.
In the Adobe Admin Console, navigate to Settings > Federated Directory > Sync, edit the sync, and select Remove Sync.
This will remove the sync but not delete any users, groups, or product license assignments.
Disable the scheduled task on the application server that is connected to your local user directory.
Set up your sharing rules for Creative Cloud and or Adobe Express and complete the checklist in Clever.
For all users requiring an Adobe license, you need to share First Name, Last Name, Email, and Role data from Clever/Classlink.
On the Adobe Admin Console, navigate to Settings > Federated Directory > Sync.
Click Add Sync.
Select Education Portal.
Select your chosen portal.
You will then be prompted to log in to your chosen portal and presented with a checkbox for Adobe Express and Creative Cloud. You can select either or both.
Determine sync frequency. You can sync daily, weekly, monthly, or manually anytime you desire.
Finish the sync setup. You can check the status of a sync within the Sync tab. All System Admins receive an email notification when a sync is complete.
All Admins will receive a weekly email summary of their Roster Sync status (how many users were added, deleted). Admins will also receive emails immediately following the nightly sync if the sync encounters any errors.
You can change the cadence of auto-syncing, stop syncing, or initiate one-off syncs anytime by visiting the Admin Console and navigating to Settings > Federated Directory > Sync. To change sync settings, click the three-dot icon on the appropriate sync tile and select Sync Settings. Follow the steps in the wizard to change the syncing frequency.
On the Product page of the Adobe Admin Console, you can select a product offer, Adobe Express or Creative Cloud and see product profiles associated with these products.
When completing the roster sync setup, new product profiles are created.
This view will also display how many users are licensed by the roster sync and by editing the profile, you can disable product notifications for new users.
Changing the name or deleting the profiles will impact the end users.
To remove a roster sync, do the following.
In the Adobe Admin Console, navigate to Settings > Federated Directory > Sync.
Click on the three-dot icon next to Queue Now, and select Sync Settings and choose Remove Sync.
Confirm you would like to remove the sync.
This will not delete any users or product assignments.
Accurate Role Information
We recommend that, when possible, an Admin load roster information into Adobe Express, to save teachers time and to support user role information accuracy. Adobe Express uses teacher and student role information from your roster to ensure that users' in-product experiences match their roles, that a student sees student features, and that a teacher sees teacher features. The process to correct inaccurate user role information in Adobe Express is a manageable process but it can be avoided entirely by rostering at the Admin level.
Auto Creation of Express Classroom
After a teacher's IT admin has set up roster sync between Adobe Express and Clever/Classlink, the next time the teacher views the Classroom tab in Express, their rostered classes will be present. Once a teacher’s rostered classes are available in Express, they can create Express project assignments with their students.
The district-level roster is always the source of truth and is controlled by the school admin (synced manually, daily or weekly). The teacher can click "Refresh roster" in each Express classroom to get the latest roster data. However, teachers cannot manually add users to their rostered classes.
If a teacher deletes a rostered class from Express, Adobe will not re-sync or re-create such class the next time the teacher logs in.
Why is my sync not working?
Admins should receive an error report indicating why their sync failed. See the Error States below for information on various error codes.
Can I pick the time at which Adobe roster daily sync runs?
At this time, we’re unable to control the time the sync runs when you have set up daily sync, although you can queue a sync at any time from within the Admin Console.
Why are some users not able to access Adobe products anymore?
Users must either (a) appear in the Roster Sync data or (b) appear in the specific “Manually Managed Users” groups to receive a license. Any users not in either of these data sets will be automatically de-provisioned. If the user is in one of these data sets and cannot access the product, please disable and re-establish the Roster Sync to clear the cache.
How is the information shared with Adobe from the roster used?
Adobe uses the First Name, Last Name, and Email from the shared roster to create Adobe accounts. Additionally, Adobe uses the class-level roster to enable the auto-creation of Express Classrooms on demand. Beginning in 2025, Adobe will use Subjects and Grade Levels for further in-product customization, like template recommendations.
How often is the sync performed?
The admin can select the sync cadence (manual, daily, and weekly) during setup and edit post-setup. Depending on the time of the school year and how often the school roster changes, the admin can select a suitable frequency for synchronization.
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Fail Email |
Permissions are incorrectly configured on the Roster server. Adobe is not authorized or is unable to pull user data from ClassLink/Clever. |
Fix permissions on the Roster server. |
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Fail Email |
You don't have enough licenses to assign. |
Add more licenses or update Roster. |
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Fail Email |
ClassLink or Clever Integration is missing for Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps. System Admins have removed the integration after the sync setup. |
Set up your roster source for syncing. |
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Fail Email |
ClassLink or Clever Integration is missing for Adobe Express. System Admins have removed the integration after the sync setup. |
Set up your roster source for syncing. |
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Fail Email |
Clever or Classlink district portal is unavailable. Check the status of the portal on their website. |
Retry after some time as Clever or ClassLink is down. |
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Fail Email |
Invalid Sync Card configuration in Adobe Admin Console. Potential causes:
|
If you get an invalid status on the sync card, delete the card and add it back. |
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Fail Email |
Edu Roster ran into an error, it should resolve upon retry. |
Retrigger the sync. |
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Fail Email |
The product has multiple active offers configured in Adobe. The roster system is not able to decide which offer is to be provisioned. |
Contact your Adobe representative or navigate to Adobe Admin Console > Support, and contact Adobe Customer Care. |
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Completion Email |
Roster Error Data Missing. One of the following fields not coming across on the roster from Clever/Classlink: First name, Last Name, Email, Role. |
Ensure that roster data contains all fields. |
|
Notification type |
Description |
Resolution |
|
Sync Completion Email |
UMAPI Error because this user was disabled from a previous sync set up with Adobe. |
Contact your Adobe representative or navigate to Adobe Admin Console > Support, and contact Adobe Customer Care. |
This setting is located in the Adobe Admin Console > Settings > Directory Settings
If you are unable to Roster sync with the Adobe Admin console, a policy option forces teachers to go through Sheer ID instant validation. This validation process uses the teacher's name and school to verify their status. Teachers are not required to upload any documentation.
https://www.sheerid.com/privacy_overview/
Self-identified teachers (via in-product survey or modal) who have not added any students to any of their classes and attempt to do so will:
See a prompt to verify their educator status.
Not be able to invite students to any of their classes until their educator status is verified.
Self-identified teachers (via in-product survey or modal) who have already added students to any of their classes will be completely blocked from taking further action in classrooms until they verify their educator status.
To be able to view classrooms in Adobe Express, your role setting needs to be either ‘Educator’ or ‘None of the above’. To change your role:
Select your profile in the upper right corner of Express to open a drop-down menu.
Scroll down and select Settings.
Scroll down to Role Settings and select your role from the available options: ‘I am an Educator,’ ‘I am a Student,’ ‘None of the above.'
