Accessing Creative Cloud Tutorials

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One of the benefits of subscribing to Adobe’s Creative Cloud is having access to such a wide arsenal of apps at your fingertips. That amount of access can also be overwhelming at times. How is one person supposed to learn it all? As a trainer, I certainly extol the benefits of hours- or days-long in-depth training. But sometimes you just need to get up to speed on a particular program, grasp a single concept, or familiarize yourself with your favorite app’s new features, often right away. Considering how quickly the Creative Cloud apps are being updated, I certainly appreciate learning those new features as quickly as possible.

The Creative Cloud apps have so many features jam-packed into them that I am thankful Adobe also makes it easy to find and consume tutorials relating to those apps. To keep your head from spinning, find a tutorial in one of the many convenient locations discussed below.

Individual Product Pages

When I’m thinking about downloading a new app (because, why not?…I have access to them all), I tend to gravitate towards the product page for that app. For the most part, you can find the product page at adobe.com/products/

. For instance, I recently decided to give Muse another look and wanted to bone up on the app first. I went to Muse’s product page, clicked on Tutorials in the top nav bar, then checked out the “Introducing Responsive Design” video. In just over ten minutes I had a handle on this feature and felt compelled to update my version and give it another try.
Muse_tutorials
The tutorials are broken down into categories such as “What’s New” and “Learn More.” They also come in several flavors, from single videos to written articles to complete tutorials which combine videos, step-by-step instructions, and sample files to download. I find that the tutorials on the product page come in handy, whether I’m thinking about trying out a new app, or want to get more out of one I already use. Most of all, they’re short and generally focus on one specific point.
Full_tutorials

Start Workspaces

For newly-added features, my up-and-coming favorite place to look is the recently-introduced Start workspace in Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. If you have older versions installed, you can view tutorials from the Welcome screen. While I tended to disable the old Welcome screen after a week or so, I dig having easy access to the Start workspace, which is accessed from the app’s Workspace menu. The tutorials appear at the bottom of the workspace window in InDesign and are accessed by clicking the question mark icon in the window if you’re using Photoshop or Illustrator. Only a few tutorials show in the initial view, so click Show All to see the full collection.
ID_startwkspc
Among the selections, you’ll see the same choices of videos, articles, and tutorials as you do on the individual product pages. That’s because clicking on the Start workspace tutorials actually brings you to the product pages. For me, the convenience of getting right to a tutorial from within the app is key. Also, once you’ve digested the tutorial and you create a new document, the start workspace goes away—restoring your previous workspace—and you can get right back to work.

Mobile Apps

If you’re using the mobile apps, there are tutorials built right in for your convenience. To access these tutorials within the apps, tap the app icon in the upper left corner. From there, tap the View Tutorials screen. Unlike the videos on a product’s page, these tutorials are self-running looping visuals without sound. Each app features a couple of tutorials that you can swipe between.
Comp_tutorial
Trying to watch them on a phone is difficult, as there is no way to enlarge them, however tablet viewing is a pleasant experience. For more variety covering the mobile creativity apps, you can always head to the individual product page on the Adobe website.

Never Stop Learning

There are a lot of options when it comes to learning about all of the apps you have available to you in the Creative Cloud. Sometimes a quick animated graphic will be just what you need to understand a concept, and other times you need a step-by-step with a downloadable PDF to really grasp an idea. Accessing the myriad Creative Cloud tutorials is a simple process and sure beats the old days of reading the Help manual.

Erica Gamet has been involved in the graphics industry for over 35 years. She is a speaker, writer, trainer, and content creator focusing on Adobe InDesign, Apple Keynote, and varied production topics. She is a regular presenter at CreativePro Week, regular contributor to CreativePro Magazine, and has spoken at Canada’s ebookcraft, Adobe MAX, and Making Design in Oslo, Norway. Find Erica online at the CreativePro YouTube channel, CreativeLive.com and through her own YouTube channel. When she isn’t at her computer she’s probably daydreaming about travel or living in a Nordic noir landscape.

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  • Thanks Erica! I just noticed that Adobe TV is being phased out for something called Adobe Learn; it’s hard to tell if this may change things or not, but I wanted to pass this along.

    • Erica Gamet says:

      Thanks for the heads up. I had heard of Learn but hadn’t looked into it. Adobe keeps it fresh, so I’m looking forward to seeing what ends up where.

  • linda says:

    this is kind of strange. I could not see “Show ‘Start’ Workspace When No Documents Are Open.” in my CC.
    any pointer?
    thanks

    • Erica Gamet says:

      In your Preferences? Make sure you have the latest update…it’s a fairly new feature (February, I think).

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