Adobe Connect is Adobe’s platform for running online meetings, virtual training and webinars. Sessions take place in rooms that the host builds from movable panels. A room can therefore hold slides, a chat, a poll and a file list at once and keep that arrangement for the next session. Attendees join from a web browser, the Adobe Connect desktop application on Windows or macOS, or the iOS and Android apps. It is a paid service sold to individuals and teams.
Persistent rooms built from pods
Every meeting in Adobe Connect gets a room with a fixed URL that stays valid after the session ends. Hosts can load content and set up the room in advance, run unscheduled sessions in it at any time, and give it a custom address. A finished room can also be turned into a template for new rooms.
The room itself is made of pods: separate panels such as Share, Chat, Q&A, Poll, Notes, Attendees and Files. A layout is a saved arrangement of these pods. Hosts can switch between layouts during a session, for example from a presentation view to a discussion view.
Roles and room access
Each person in a room is a host, presenter or participant. Hosts control who gets in: only registered users, account members, guests the host accepts, or anyone who has the link, with an optional passcode.
Sharing screens, documents and whiteboards
The Share pod is where most presenting happens in Adobe Connect. It offers three sources:
- Screen – the whole desktop, one application, one or more windows of an application, or a browser tab, with optional system audio.
- Document – PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, images, video and audio files, uploaded directly or picked from the content library.
- Whiteboard – a blank or existing board with pens, highlighters, shapes, arrows and text that several people can draw on at once.
Shared documents remain stored in the room for later reuse without another upload. They usually look sharper and use less bandwidth than sharing the same file through a screen share. Presenters can force everyone to see the same slide, enlarge the content for all attendees, and use a pointer. When a presenter shares from the desktop application, a host can request control of that screen and work in it after the presenter approves.
Audio, video and breakouts
Rooms use VoIP audio by default, and hosts can add telephone conferences from an audio provider through audio profiles. An entry screen lets attendees check their microphone, speakers and camera before they enter.
Breakout rooms split attendees into smaller groups inside the same session. Adobe Connect creates three by default and supports up to twenty, each with its own layout and pods. Hosts can visit any breakout, rotate attendees from one group to the next, and bring everyone back to the main room.
Recording sessions
A host starts recording from the Room menu, and can pause, resume and stop it. Stopping saves the session as an MP4 file, with closed captions included when captioning was active. Recordings play in any browser from a link, and viewers can open the links and resources shared in the session. If the video is edited outside Adobe Connect, the edited MP4 can replace the original while keeping the same viewing link.
Virtual classrooms and the training catalog
For formal training, Adobe Connect offers virtual classrooms alongside courses and curriculums. A virtual classroom works like a meeting room but ties attached courses to enrollment and completion tracking. Only enrolled learners can enter. Reports show attendance and peak users, plus results by attendee, course, session, poll and quiz.
Courses, curriculums and classrooms can be listed in a training catalog organized into folders. Learners can enroll themselves, either freely or after a course manager approves the request.
Webinars and engagement data
For webinars, Adobe Connect gives the presenter a live engagement score during the session. After the event, an analytics dashboard groups participants into high, medium and low engagement. It bases these groups on time attended and on actions such as answering polls, asking questions, downloading files, clicking links and chatting. It also shows registrations, attendance and the average time attended. Participant profiles follow the same people across several webinars.
Simulated live webinars combine a pre-recorded video with live chat and other interaction. Adobe Connect also connects to Adobe Marketo Engage for webinar leads and to Adobe Learning Manager for mixing live and self-paced training.
Plans and customization
Adobe Connect is sold as individual and team plans, with Training and Webinar Pro Packs included in some plans or available as add-ons. Individual plans differ mainly in room size, storage and branding:
| Plan | Room capacity | Room branding |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 100 | Add-on |
| Premium | 100 | Included |
| Enterprise | 300 | Included |
Capacity upgrades raise a room to 500, 1,000 or 1,500 attendees. Team plans share capacity across hosts instead. Branding covers room colors, logos and backgrounds, with multiple brand profiles. Organizations can also use a custom domain and connect their own systems through a web services API.
