ChemDraw: Licensing Help

This article summarizes the options in the Licensing dialog box when launching ChemDraw.  If you are looking to purchase the software, please see this article:  Where can I buy, order, purchase, or trial a license of ChemDraw?

With the release of ChemDraw 23 and depending on the level of ChemDraw you have purchased, there are options for activating ChemDraw with an activation code (ChemDraw Professional and ChemDraw Prime) or using Authentication with a username and password (for Signals ChemDraw customers).  

ChemDraw Prime / ChemDraw Professional

For ChemDraw Prime and ChemDraw Professional, please refer to this article on how to obtain your activation code:  How do I find my activation code?

After installing the software, you will be prompted to select the license activation method when launching ChemDraw.

In the Licensing dialog, select “Activation code” and click “Continue”

In the Activation dialog, enter your name, email address, and activation code in their respective fields.  Select Activate. Upon successful activation, a confirmation message is displayed.

The Activate button will be grayed out if you do not enter all the required information.  Please make sure there are no extra spaces at the beginning or at the end of the activation code.

If you are behind a firewall that limits your Internet access, or if your computer does not have access at all to the Internet, a "General Communication Error" will appear.  If that is the case, follow the instructions here:

How to activate by uploading a file?

Signals ChemDraw

***Before using Signals ChemDraw, you must be added to your tenant by your local admin.

For ChemDraw Signals, proceed to login to your ChemDraw Signals tenant and launch ChemDraw from the home screen:

Before being launchable, however, ChemDraw Desktop and ChemDraw Collections must first be installed.

After clicking "Launch", your tenant URL will be populated automatically.  Click Sign In and enter your credentials:

You can also launch ChemDraw from your computer and select "Signals Account" on the Licensing window:

However, this option will require you to enter your Signals Domain URL.  Please refer to your local tech admin if you do not have that information: