Adobe Lightroom Launches on the Microsoft Store

Adobe is bringing one of its core photography apps to the Microsoft Store in Windows 10. The company seems to have quietly released Adobe Lightroom on the Microsoft Store this week.

Lightroom being available on the Microsoft Store means that you can now easily install the app without needing to go through the hassle of downloading the Creative Cloud app manually. You will still need a paid subscription for the app, though Adobe is offering a free 7-day trial on the Microsoft Store.

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Adobe bringing Lightroom to the Microsoft Store is a big deal: it’s the first major Creative Cloud app to be available on the Microsoft Store. Sure, Adobe has had apps like Photoshop Express and Photoshop Elements on the Microsoft Store, but they are nowhere near as important as the full-fledged, professional photography apps like Lightroom.

The company brought Lightroom to the Mac App Store back in June of this year, by the way.

If you already have Lightroom installed via the Creative Cloud app, you will still be able to install Lightroom from the Microsoft Store and have both the different apps installed side-by-side. There doesn’t seem to be any difference in functionality, though you won’t be able to run both the apps side-by-side as Adobe limits Lightroom to a single instance at a time.

Lightroom coming to the Microsoft Store may also pave the way for other Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop in the future. For now, you can get Adobe Lightroom from the Microsoft Store here.

Thanks, @FlunkyFlunk for the tip!

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Conversation 11 comments

  • MikeGalos

    18 December, 2019 - 5:06 am

    <p>Note, however, this appears to be the lighter Lightroom and not the full featured Lightroom Classic. </p><p><br></p><p>Seeing how you have to have already bought a license (which comes with its own installer that is, frankly, not difficult to run) it's hard to see the point.</p>

    • techreader

      18 December, 2019 - 9:19 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#499349">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Right, this is not anywhere near as full-featured as the classic version. I don’t know if they ever plan to give it feature equivalency. </p>

    • gregsedwards

      Premium Member
      18 December, 2019 - 12:04 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#499349">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>Aside from just being another and possibly more visible way to find and acquire the product, one benefit is that it will be installed like other store app – that is, in a secure app sandbox that doesn't require administrative credentials and isn't allowed to change system files. It can be used on Windows 10 S or by anyone who might otherwise be prevented from installing random software on their device.</p>

      • MikeGalos

        18 December, 2019 - 12:21 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#499451">In reply to gregsedwards:</a></em></blockquote><p>Good points. As for acquiring the product, though, you already need a license which you have to get through the regular channels either before installing or after the trial period.</p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      18 December, 2019 - 12:20 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#499349">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's not difficult to run, but the Creative Cloud app runs all the time so it can keep everything up to date. Those things add up when you are running 6-8 of them from different companies.</p>

    • garethb

      Premium Member
      19 December, 2019 - 12:38 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#499349">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>If I didn't end up with tons of different Creative Cloud processes running all the time on my PC (including two Node.js processes), I'd think it was a _huge_ advantage.</p>

    • ulrichr

      19 December, 2019 - 3:16 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#499349">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yeah, and its not just Creative Cloud running with the standard Adobe install. I count 10 different processes running on my machine at the moment, and I haven't even started Lightroom yet. They include notification processes, genuine software verification and others.</p><p><br></p><p>As for the features, Adobe about 3 years ago split Lightroom into two versions, Lightroom CC and Lightroom CC Classic. The latter is the same as we have always had, the former is a mobile version, and is the version that is available in the store. That version lacks file renaming and disk based file management (all photos are stored in the cloud), plus a lot of other features like Photo Books, printing, etc. It does however have virtually all of the image processing features of its big brother. </p><p><br></p><p>There is a specific Adobe subscription which gives you this light weight version of Adobe Lighroom with 1 TB of cloud storage. It actually works pretty well, once you get over the idea of managing the photos as files on your desktop. It's got some nice sharing features, and performs really well on my Surface Pro 4 for example. If the store version means you don't need to install all the additional Adobe baggage, its a nice alternative.</p>

  • zbecka

    18 December, 2019 - 8:05 am

    <p>Does this version provide native ARM support? </p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      18 December, 2019 - 9:20 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#499367">In reply to zbecka:</a></em></blockquote><p>I very much doubt it. So far, Adobe has only brought Fresco to ARM, as far as I know.</p>

      • zbecka

        18 December, 2019 - 11:40 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#499378">In reply to wright_is:</a></em></blockquote><p>You are correct. Once I got on a device with the Windows Store on it, I looked it up and this shows up: Architecture x64</p><p><br></p><p><img src=""></p>

  • saint4eva

    19 December, 2019 - 11:44 pm

    <p>Dear writer, kindly note that there is something called Adobe XD. </p>

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