Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline is a secure, scalable license activation method offered by Adobe to users who work on machines that are not connected to the Internet. In Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline, the licenses are directly installed on user machines along with the application package.
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Acrobat Classic version can now be included in Feature Restricted Licensing packages. This will provide customers with a stable release Acrobat version for an improved deployment and license management experience in secure environments. For more, see Document Cloud Product Tracks. |
As an admin, create a Feature Restricted Licensing-Offline package in the Admin Console and deploy it on a user machine. The licensing package is not bound to any machine. You can reimage it onto other machines.
The Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline option appears in your Admin Console only when Adobe entitles your organization to use this type of licensing. The option does not appear by default.
Launch an application on your computer. The license activates automatically.
Due to being deployed in offline environments, Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline applications are unable to check in with Adobe servers during the license activation process. Therefore, apps licensed using Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline do not report anything to the Admin Console. In summary, Adobe receives no data or information from client machines using this license activation method.
The license expiration date is the organization's contract end date.
Starting December 2023, only packages aligned with Adobe's Enterprise & Teams support policy will be available on the Packages tab of the Admin Console.
This will help optimize the performance and load time of the Packages tab.
On the Packages tab, click Create a Package.
Choose Feature Restricted Licensing, and click Next.
Choose Offline activation, and click Next.
On the Entitlements screen, select the required entitlements, and click Next.
On the Configure screen, select the required options and then click Next.
A package made for one operating system and architecture type, cannot be deployed on another.
On the Choose Apps screen, you can choose to create one of the following types of packages:
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Create this package if the client machines already have Creative Cloud apps installed. Later, you can simply license the installed apps. For example, apps were previously installed using another licensing method. And you want to now license those apps with a Feature Restricted Licensing - Isolated license. |
From Available Applications, add only the License File to Selected Applications. |
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How to... |
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Create this package if the client machine is already licensed with a Feature Restricted Licensing - Isolated license. Then, install apps on the machine. |
From Available Applications, add only the License File to Selected Applications. |
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How to... |
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Create a package containing apps and license. |
From Available Applications, add applications and the License File to Selected Applications. |
Click the plus icons next to the corresponding applications to include them in the package.
Optionally, you can filter down the list of Available Applications to choose from.
Latest versions: Display the latest version of all available applications.
Long-term supported versions: Display Adobe's long-term supported versions.
Beta apps: Display available beta apps. Learn more.
Older versions: Display a list of previous versions of the apps. View versions that don't receive security or feature updates.
App Add-ons: Certain Adobe apps come with Add-ons. So, when you add an app that includes one or more Add-ons, you have the option to include the add-ons in the package you're creating. By default, Add-ons are not included in the package.
After you're done with your selections, click Next.
(Not currently available for Windows ARM devices) On the Choose Plugins screen, search and select plug-ins to include in the package, and click Next.
You can select the Show Compatible Plugins Only check box to display the plug-ins that are compatible with the apps in the package. This filter doesn't appear if you only have the Creative Cloud desktop app in your package.
To view the list of selected plug-ins, click Selected Plugins.
The plug-ins that you include in the package do not necessarily need the supporting application to be part of the same package. You can include plug-ins and extensions for apps that are previously installed on your users' computers. Also, if a computer does not have the targeted application for a plug-in, the plug-in is not installed on the computer.
On the Options screen, select the required options and then click Next.
On the Finalize screen, specify the following:
Package name: Enter the name of the package.
Create flat package: If you have chosen a macOS platform, you have the option to create flat packages. This option is selected by default. For more details, see Creating flat packages.
Review the included applications and configuration for this package before building the package.
Click Create package.
If you are creating macOS packages, the Adobe Package Downloader is downloaded to your computer. Open and run to complete download process. For further details, see Adobe Package Downloader.
You are returned to the package list when the package creation process begins.
If the package is built successfully, you are prompted to download the package.
Also, the Download link is available in the Actions column of the corresponding package row. So you can download the package later.
A package is available in the Admin Console for up to three days. To check the time remaining to download a package, click 
to the right of the package name.
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Caution |
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If the package that you've created, contains one or more apps that have been rolled back owing to a bug or issue which needs to be fixed, this package displays as Revoked. You will be unable to download this package. Also, if you have previously downloaded a package that contains a revoked app, you should not deploy it. You should create and deploy a new package with a non-revoked version of the app. 
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The downloaded package file is a .zip file format. If you double-click to unzip the package file, you may encounter the following, Unable to expand error on macOS 10.14 and prior versions. This is because the macOS Archive Utility does not support the unzipping of large files that are zipped using the Zip64 mode. 
To unzip the file, open the terminal in the folder where you've downloaded the file and run the unzip command: unzip <file name>.zip |
The package that you download, contains a Packageinfo.txt file. This file has the information such as the following about that package:
The PackageInfo.txt file is for informational purposes only.
After you create the feature restricted license package, set up the end-user machines with the license:
For details on troubleshooting Creative Cloud apps installation and uninstallation errors, see this document.
If your organization renews the contract, and you require to relicense your users. Deploy a license-only package that contains the updated license expiration date once the contract renewal process has completed.
To get the latest apps, deploy a new package that includes the apps. Also deploy a new package to update the apps following a contract renewal. You can either create a package or update a previous package, by performing the following steps:
Log in to the Admin Console and navigate to Packages > Packages.
The history of all packages created by all admins in your organization is displayed.
Click the expired package you want to update.
In the package details pane, click Update Package.
Download the updated package and deploy to user machines.
You can remove a license from a computer in the following scenarios:
Use Adobe's Licensing Toolkit to remove a license. Adobe Licensing Toolkit is a command-line utility that is used to activate or uninstall licenses. It is available in the licensing package that you download from the Admin Console. Alternatively, you can download it directly from the Admin Console under Packages > Tools.
To remove a license, run the following commands with admin privileges:
Windows:
adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe --precondition --uninstall --filePath <absolute path of the .json file>
macOS:
sudo ./adobe-licensing-toolkit --precondition --uninstall --filePath <absolute path of the .json file>
For more information, see these steps.
The .json file can be found within the package that was downloaded from the Admin Console and deployed to the user machine. The file contains the licensing information.
In the scenario where multiple licenses have been installed on a single machine, run the following commands with admin privileges to remove the licenses:
Windows:
adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe --precondition --uninstall --all
macOS:
sudo ./adobe-licensing-toolkit --precondition --uninstall --all
For more information, see these steps.
Instead of removing licenses from a user's computer, you can uninstall the license and the products. By using the Feature Restricted Licensing packages, themselves.
Read the details on how to uninstall packages from a user's computer.
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Every package is bundled with a license file. To create a license-only package, skip adding any applications to the package.
Create license-only packages to deploy on client computers where applications are already deployed but without licenses or with trial licenses.
To deploy a package using Microsoft's System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), you need to create an install / uninstall program from the SCCM console. The steps to create the install / uninstall program are given in this section of the Deploy Adobe packages with SCCM article.
Use the above procedure to create and deploy the package using SCCM, with the following exception:
In Step 2 of the procedure:
If required, to download the Adobe licensing toolkit (adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe) file for Windows:
Feature Restricted Licensing – Offline licenses expire on the date the contract ends.
Following a contract renewal, the admin can choose to relicense their users by:
Users will retain access to available Adobe apps for 99-days beginning with the Post-Grace Period, but no new packages can be created during that time. Learn more about contract expiration phases.
Adobe provides this 99-day grace at its sole discretion to facilitate the deployment of renewed licenses, and it is liable to change.
The use of Creative Cloud applications in virtualized environments is not supported.
Acrobat versions that support activation via Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline will work in supported virtualized environments (Citrix XenApp, WTS, App-V, VMWare Horizon) across persistent and non-persistent environments.
Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline is deployed in offline environments. Therefore, applications are unable to access any Adobe servers during the license activation process. As Adobe does not receive any data or information from end-user machines, the license count is not updated in the Admin Console.
Adobe receives no data or information from client machines using Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline applications. However, if an app is used in an online environment (Internet-connected), the following DNS request is logged with the adobe.io DNS server:
<NPDID>-<timestamp>.frl.adobe.io. (where NPDID stands for NGL Preconditioning Data ID).
The request does not include any information. The DNS lookup only contains the NPDID and timestamps. The application will continue to work. However, Adobe will be informed that the corresponding package was used in an online environment.
NPDID is a unique entitlement identifier corresponding to an Adobe license that is unique to Adobe. It is not a device ID, IP Address, domain, host name, or machine name.
Here's a sample NPDID:
NPDID: YjAwMGY3YTUtMDdlNS00MDBhLTlhYTktMzI4YzQwODA0Zjkz
Base 64 decode value = b000f7a5-07e5-400a-9aa9-328c40804f93
To update, simply deploy a Feature Restricted Licensing – Offline package that includes both the apps and licenses.
To update, simply deploy a Feature Restricted Licensing – Offline package that includes both the apps and licenses. If you deploy only a license file, you must ensure the apps on the end-user machine are versions that support Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline.
To update, you must ensure the version of Acrobat you are running supports Feature Restricted Licensing – Offline (Version 20.009.20063.381938 or later). If you are running a supported version, it is sufficient to deploy out a license-only package. If you are running an unsupported version, deploy a Feature Restricted Licensing – Offline package that includes both the latest version of Acrobat and the license.
Deploying a Feature Restricted Licensing - Offline license-only package on a machine running an unsupported version of Acrobat will prevent the application from working correctly.
On the client machine, go to the following folder (based on the client machine OS):
And open the log file with the following format:
In the first lines of the document you will see the below:
SessionID=5c2ed1ea-93f6-4fdd-82c7-5d3e285d4ba4.1586152387727 Timestamp=2020-04-06T05:53:07:729-0000 ThreadID=10424 Component=ngl-lib_NglAppLib Description="SetConfig: NGLLibVersion=1.14.0.16, Environment=2, Runtimemode=NAMED_USER_ONLINE, NpdID="
If the NGLLibVersion is 1.14 or a number greater than 1.14, you are running a supported version of the app for Feature Restricted Licensing – Offline. If it is lower (for example, NGLLibVersion=1.13.0.18) deploy a package which includes both the applications and license file.
Currently, TechComm products support three methods of licensing - NUD (Named User Deployment); FRL - Online; and in exceptional scenarios, an offline deployment for which you should reach out to your Adobe Account Manager.
For the two server products – FrameMaker Publishing Server and RoboHelp Server, we highly recommend using Admin Console only to create the licensing package for FRL. You should not select the option of using both – deployment and licensing package.
For both these server products, there are many pre-requisites that need to be fulfilled alongside the scaling requirements, which makes it hard to deploy them out-of-the-box. In such as case, do review the system requirements for these server products:
Additionally, you can also watch this YouTube video demonstrating the FrameMaker Publishing Server installation process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2deelyM5VA8
To download the server products, use the following links (instead of downloading from Admin Console):
The Adobe License Decoder is a command-line tool that tells you about all the feature restricted licenses on a computer. This tool examines globally-installed license files and provides the following information:
Use the Github repository to download the tool and for detailed documentation.
To identify the activated packages on a client computer, follow these steps.
This command displays the licensing information for all the apps installed on a computer.
SAMPLE OUTPUT:
Adobe Licensing Toolkit (0.1.5.57) License Details NpdId : MWVjZGNlMzMtZGU2Yi00ZmNlLTkzZTktY2MxMjBhZmFiZjg1 AppId : Photoshop1 DeploymentMode : FRL_ONLINE, FRL CacheExpiry : 03/06/19 20:01:56 India Standard Time LicenseId : 511F26523959D15EBD9B LicenseExpiry : 03/06/21 20:01:56 India Standard Time NpdId : YjZiOGU0ZTItYTkxNy00NTFlLWFkOTItZTljNTc2M2U2OTgx AppId : Animate1 DeploymentMode : FRL_CONNECTED Operation Successfully Completed
Sign into the Admin Console and go to the Packages tab.
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In the filtered list of packages, click the package. The details of that package are displayed on the right. The Package License ID on the Admin Console corresponds to the NpdId on the Licensing Toolkit command, above. Use this to identity the packages installed on a client computer. |
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The Package License ID is only available for packages created on or after 7/24/2021.
Yes. Adobe XD is available as part of the Creative Cloud All Apps Feature Restricted Licensing plan purchased through an ETLA contract. However, there are differences in the XD interface, features and workflows compared to XD in a Named User Licensing environment.
For details on the differences, see Adobe XD with Feature Restricted Licensing.
