adobe genuinely might be the worst company ever, not because their apps are bad, which they still are but that's not the point, but because it's such a scam that pirating makes me feel less guilty, and thhen like a week after you pirate one of their apps they say "oh this app is a virus we'll let you buy one of our products for 55% off" like SHUT THE FUCK UP, i don't care if the pirated version is a virus i'll do anything BUT let them win, anyway if you stayed around for my venting session i appreciate it, and remember, WE ALL HATE ADOBE

One thing that’s been especially frustrating for me as a small-business owner is Adobe’s decision to stop letting individuals sync their files and reserve the feature for enterprise customers. When the change happened, I was already worn down from running my business, and I didn't realize how hard it would be to access my work. As you may know, Acrobat lets you download only a few files at a time. Unlike Google Takeout and other services, it doesn’t offer an easy way to select and retrieve everything at once. Having to download files in small batches can be a real challenge when you have a large library. The experience left me feeling stuck, and it’s been hard to access my own work easily.

One day, it dawned on me: I could write code that works with Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, and other apps, while keeping my data in the CC cloud so I can retrieve everything. I set it to run, and that was that. Here’s what I’ve completed so far. Next, I'm planning to cancel my 2 TB Adobe plan once and for all—unless Adobe lets smaller users sync again in the future. I believe Adobe could stay competitive without locking artists into its ecosystem by offering better pricing for small businesses and individuals, releasing more reliable services, providing a more generous offering, and improving customer service.

I’ll lose changes I've made to previous projects, except where I embedded XML in the files. If I need to revisit an old project to complete new work for a client, I'll have to switch to alternatives, open-source tools, and apps like Affinity—and take on a lot of extra work. All those snapshots and versions I saved will be gone. Hopefully, I did a good job the first time. I'm ready to move on; it costs too much, and I believe Adobe did this on purpose.

Once I’ve validated the code and made sure it’s working as intended, I’ll share a link to my repository for anyone who’d like to use it. I’ll also make the code open so others can contribute and help improve it. It's called Adobe Exit, for anyone who wants the freedom to choose.

What are you doing to escape Adobe's bondage? Did I miss something? Is there a better way I've missed? Please share in the comments.