KB197363888: Introduction to Esko licensing

The basics

What licensing options does Esko offer?

How does the Esko licensing system work?

Esko software is protected by activation-based licenses: in order to use Esko software on your computer, you need to activate a valid license first. 'Activating' means transferring the license from the Esko license server over the internet to your local computer system where the Esko software is installed.

In practice, this means that:

• Every time you install Esko software, you also need to activate the appropriate licenses
  
  • When you bought new licenses or subscriptions
  • When you're upgrading your Esko software to a newer major version (e.g. from 14.1.x to 16 or from 16.0.x to 16.1.x)
  • If you're upgrading to a newer minor version (e.g. 16.1 to 16.1.1) or if you're installing a hotfix, you don't need to activate licenses
  • When you're working with temporary licenses, and you received an extension
• Every time you change anything, you need to deactivate (and reactivate) the appropriate licenses
  
  • When you want to move your Esko software to a new computer.
  • When you want to virtualize or modify (e.g. restore a backup) the hardware where the Esko software is installed

More info:

• Page:
  KB78620100: Licensing - How does the Esko license activation process work

Can you access the software via remote desktop (Windows)?

No, it is not possible to have software installed with a local license or a subscription and access it via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

What to do if you get license expiry warnings?

If you have temporary licenses that are about to expire, you'll get warnings in the software. When a license has expired, the software won't work anymore.

You can find instructions on what to do with license expiry warnings here:

• Page:
  KB76728155: Licensing - What to do when licenses are about to expire

About local and network licenses

How to activate or deactivate your Esko licenses?

• You can find the general instructions on how to activate or deactivate licenses here:
  • Page:
    KB73059246: Licensing - How to activate or deactivate licenses
• You can find instructions on how to transfer licenses from one computer to another one here:
  • Page:
    KB78626835: Licensing - How to transfer licenses between two computers
• You can find instructions on how to activate upgrade licenses here:
  • Page:
    KB78615354: Licensing - How to activate upgrade licenses

Where can you find your product keys or product key files (HTML-files)?

You can find your HTML-files in your mail box (we send them to the requester or to the contact person for the order). They're compressed in a ZIP-file, You can unzip them with standard tools that are freely available.

Or you can download your HTML-files from MySoftware.esko.com/Licenses.

More info:

• • Page:
    KB170987223: Licensing - How to view and download your licenses on MySoftware
• • Page:
    KB79694227: Licensing - Where do I find my product keys or product key files

If you don't have access to MySoftware and you don't have the HTML-files in your mail box, you can contact Esko Support to send them to you.

Do you need internet access to activate Esko licenses?

This is not necessary, you can also activate local licenses or network licenses on a disconnected computer ('offline activation').

In short, the offline activation process works as follows:

1. You create a request file on the computer without Internet access.
2. You transfer the request file to a computer with Internet access and upload the file to the Esko website.
3. From the Esko website, you receive a response file.
4. You transfer the response file back to the computer without Internet access and you load it to receive your license.

Note: With subscriptions, it is not possible to activate or sign in when you're offline because you need to be online regularly to renew your subscription.

You can find more details on the requirements to access the Esko license server here:

• Page:
  KB73058510: Licensing - Which network ports are used by the Esko licensing services

What is special about upgrade licenses?

If you're upgrading your software to a newer major version (e.g.: from 14.1.x to 16.0.x or from 16.0.x to 16.1.x), you need to activate upgrade key files. You can follow the same procedures (online and offline) as for normal local licenses, but the HTML-file will look slightly different as it contains some logic to clean up your old licenses too.

Therefore, you need to keep the following in mind when upgrading your Esko software:

• You need to activate the upgrade key file on the computer where the older licenses are activated (if they can't be cleaned up, the newer licenses won't be activated either)

• You can only use the upgrade key file once. Afterwards, you can
  • use the backup HTML-file that is saved on your computer (in the Documents-folder),
  • or you can download a new HTML-file with all licenses on your computer from MySoftware.esko.com.

More info on how to activate upgrade key files: 

• Page:
  KB78615354: Licensing - How to activate upgrade licenses

What are the system requirements for a computer acting as license server?

• You can find the system requirements for the Network License Manager here.
• You can find more details on supported configurations here:
  • Page:
    KB180978361: Licensing - Supported configurations for network licenses

About named user subscriptions

Where can you manage your company's subscriptions?

You can view your order, payment status, invoices etc on My Store Account.

You can manage your subscriptions online on MySoftware.esko.com/subscriptions (You need to sign in with your Esko ID). On this management portal, you have two different views:

• Unassigned subscriptions: per order you can see which subscriptions are still available and for which product, so you can assign them to your users.
• Assigned subscriptions: per user you can see which subscriptions he/she has, since when, whether he's actually signed in and on which computer.

How to assign or unassign your Esko subscriptions?

You can find all instructions here:

• Page:
  KB197364369: Licensing - How to assign and unassign subscriptions

How to sign in or sign out?

You can find all instructions here:

• Page:
  KB197365066: Licensing - How to sign in and sign out with subscriptions

What if your computer has crashed?

You can recover your subscription as follows:

1. Reinstall the software (if needed).
2. Launch the software and sign in. You will get a warning that you're still signed.
3. Check Sign Out Remotely and continue.
4. You can now work again.

Can you work offline?

Yes you can, but you need to be online to start using your subscription (= when you sign in) and every month to make sure your subscription gets renewed. In between it's perfectly OK to work offline for a few days.

How can you see that you're signed in?

• For ArtiosCAD, ArtPro+, Cape and Studio Toolkit: 
  
  • Go to the Help menu (if you're signed in, you will be able to sign out and you can see with which Esko ID you're signed in).
• For plug-ins in Illustrator
  • Go to Help > Esko > Subscriptions...
• For plug-ins in Photoshop: 
  
  • Go to File > Automate > Esko Subscriptions...

Can you share an Esko ID with a colleague?

No, an Esko ID should always be linked to one physical person and cannot be shared among different people.

Can you downgrade to an older version of the software?

No, this is not possible. Before purchasing, you need to verify whether your environment meets the system requirements of the application you want to subscribe to.

You can check all system requirement here.

What if a user lost his subscription?

Users won't lose their subscription. As long as they know their Esko ID, they can sign in on any computer. If a user's computer got damaged, he can reinstall the software, he will again be asked to sign in and he can continue working.