A quick heads-up about your notification emails
UCI's software licensing service is being rebuilt on a modern platform, License Commander, with one place to order, approve, and manage software, tailored to your role. The system that sends these emails has changed, so a few of your notifications may look a little different than before.
Rolling out · Fall 2026Last revised:
AntSoft, UCI's software licensing service, is being upgraded onto a modern platform called License Commander. We've rebuilt the engine behind the scenes first, the part that emails you about approvals, orders, and transfers, and the redesigned web experience follows soon. Nothing is broken and there's nothing you need to do. If a message about a license order or approval looks new, that's expected. Below is a field guide to what you might see.
Real examples with sample data, grouped by what they are about. Which ones reach you depends on your role, most people only ever see one or two.
Ordering & approvals
A software request needs a fiscal officer's approval before it can go through.
A license you requested has been approved and is on its way. It links to a getting-started guide for that product, and when someone else placed the order, it shows who requested it.
An order did not go through. The reason and who to contact are included.
A fiscal officer asked you to review and approve a request on their behalf. The primary fiscal officer and the person who asked are both told the request was delegated.
Whenever an order for you is waiting on fiscal officer approval, you get a heads-up, whether you placed it yourself or someone placed it for you. There's no approve button and nothing for you to do. (If you're the fiscal officer, you get the approval request instead.)
When you order software for someone else, you get a confirmation that it went to the fiscal officer for approval. Nothing for you to do.
If you ordered for someone else, you now get a copy of the approval email too. Your copy leaves out the holder's license keys and download links.
An OIT administrator moved an approved order to a different person. It's the same order on the same account, and billing doesn't change. The new holder gets their own approval email.
A shared device license order with a quantity, placed through the legacy AntSoft form, becomes one order per device. Reply with each computer's name and IP address or FQDN so they can be activated.
When a backup approver or an OIT administrator approves in the fiscal officer's place, the confirmation says exactly who approved and on whose behalf, and that approver gets a copy too.
Some titles are covered centrally or by your unit, so there's no cost to you. The email confirms it, and when a unit foots the bill, the fiscal officer is told which account covers it.
Bulk ordersA CSV bulk order is treated as one order, not dozens of emails. The person who placed it gets one summary, each fiscal officer gets one email to approve or deny the whole batch, and people on the list hear from us only once their seats are approved.
Confirms what you submitted, grouped by fiscal officer, so you can see who will approve each part.
One email covers every seat on accounts you manage. Approve all or deny all in one step. If it waits, the reminder is one email for the batch, not one per seat.
Says how many seats were approved and lists any that need attention. Each person then gets their own email once their license is ready.
Includes the reason. Nobody on the list was emailed about the order or the denial, so you can sort it out with the fiscal officer before you resubmit. If only one seat is denied, you get a short note about that seat.
Getting set upApproval emails link to a getting-started guide written for that product. The guide opens after you sign in with your UCInetID and we confirm your license. A couple of products need one more step from you.
If you already have a Canva account under your UCI email, Canva may not send you an invite. Sign in once at canva.com with your UCI account, and we add you to Canva-Employees automatically, usually within an hour.
Your MNova approval email links to a sign-in page where you enter your computer's Host ID. The NMR license administrators get it automatically, and you get this confirmation.
TransfersTransfer notices now show which unit and department the license moved from and to, plus a small badge for who made the change, and the person who started the transfer gets a copy.
Someone reassigned a paid license to you. Here is how to get started.
A paid license was reassigned to a new holder, with the accounting details for your records.
Account & fiscal-officer changesWhen a pending order's funding account is edited and that moves it to a different fiscal officer, everyone involved is told, so no one is surprised that a different person is now the approver. A single change can send up to five notices, and no one is ever double-emailed.
The funding account on a pending order was changed to one under you, so it now needs your review and approval.
The funding account on an order you were asked to approve was changed, so it now routes to a different fiscal officer. You can disregard the earlier approval request.
The account funding your order changed, so a different fiscal officer will approve it now. Nothing for you to do, you'll be set up automatically once it's approved.
The order you submitted for someone else now routes to a different fiscal officer than it was first sent to, so you're never left wondering why a new name is approving it.
An oversight copy: who changed the account and the fiscal officer it now routes to. It goes to the person who made the change and to OIT Licensing, so the change is always on the record.
Billing & the license lifecycle
A license charge was moved to the correct account. The license itself does not move.
A license that had been revoked is active again, and billing resumes.
An attempt to bring a revoked license back did not go through. The reason and next step are included.
When someone's appointment is active again and their license is reinstated, they get a short welcome-back note. Nothing to do.
KFS reported an account as closed during service billing, so the licenses on it weren't charged this cycle, and nothing lapses. The email walks you through updating the account in License Commander (Edit, change the account, Save). It bills on the next service billing, with no re-approval.
A charge was refunded as a credit on an upcoming service billing. Because it's a refund, the license seat is released rather than kept as a spare, so place a new order if it's needed again.
When someone leaves UCIIf a license was set up for someone who then separates, we remove it before it bills so the department is not charged.
A license for someone who has since left UCI was removed before it billed. Nothing for you to do, and if they come back, the email links to where you can order them a new license.
Someone you ordered a license for has left UCI, so we removed it before it billed.
CanvaCanva keeps each person's designs in their own account, so these emails are about keeping access, or saving work before access ends. Each person gets at most one of the order notices below, even if they're on both Canva-Employees and Canva-Students.
Faculty and staff using Canva-Employees without an order get this automatically after a few days on the team. It gives three weeks to order through AntSoft, or time to save designs if Canva isn't needed.
For someone who signed up for Canva as a student and is now career staff: congratulations, plus a date to order a staff license or save their work.
A department's shared Canva login is handled through its sponsor. The order form can't order for a shared account, so the sponsor replies with the KFS accounting and OIT Licensing places the order.
One reminder, a week before the deadline, and only if no Canva order is on file yet. Sponsors of shared accounts get their own version.
For someone who's no longer a current student or employee but is still on Canva-Employees. One notice, a week before UCI access ends, with their own Canva activity, how to save designs, and how to keep using Canva with a personal email address.
When OIT Licensing revokes a Canva license with time to save work first, the holder gets their last day of access and Canva's instructions for downloading or copying designs.
OIT Licensing handles Canva revokes and transfers. If you ask for one, nothing changes yet. This note lays out the options for the holder's designs (keep them in the unit, let the holder save them, or go ahead as is) and asks you to reply with your choice.
Each Canva license renews on the anniversary of when it started. This lists the licenses coming due with each person's department and the account on file. If it looks right, there's nothing to do. If not, update it in License Commander by the end of the month, or reply if someone no longer needs Canva.
A faster, clearer way to manage the whole license lifecycle, from request to renewal, powered by License Commander.
Request software for yourself or your team without the back-and-forth.
Fiscal officers review and decide right from the notification email.
Move a paid license to a new person or account instead of purchasing again.
Charges land on the right account, a mischarge can be re-billed to the correct account in seconds, and a refund is issued as a credit that nets on the next bill.
Every order, transfer, and change is tracked, and nothing gets lost.
Fiscal officers, units, and KFS accounts are wired in the way campus actually works.
If someone leaves UCI before their license bills, it is removed automatically so the department is never charged for a seat they cannot use.
Recent updatesJuly to October 2026, newest first. Items tagged Admin only are for OIT Licensing administrators.
For per-seat software (SAS, SPSS, LabVIEW, MNova, Mathematica), an administrator can hand an approved order to another person. It stays the same order on the same account, and billing doesn't change. SPSS activation keys move with it, the new holder gets the approval email, and the fiscal officer gets a heads-up, copied to the previous holder. Named-user licenses (Adobe, Microsoft, Canva, ArcGIS Pro) still use Transfer.
Faculty and staff who use Canva-Employees without an order now get an email automatically after a few days on the team, with three weeks to order and one reminder a week before the deadline. Nobody gets more than one of these notices, even if they're on both Canva teams. People who say they don't need Canva, or who miss the deadline, are removed after OIT Licensing reviews it, and if Canva adds them back later, we remove them again quietly with no further email.
The Watchlist gained an At a glance panel showing where every unpaid Canva member stands, a search box that looks across every tab, a Declined, revoke button, a status column that shows every notice and deadline for each person, and a typed-count check before removing more than 10 people at once.
If someone who's no longer a current student or employee is still on Canva-Employees, they now get one notice a week before UCI access ends, with how to save their designs and how to keep using Canva with a personal email address.
ArcGIS Pro is now a named-user license: one per person, no quantity, and a second ArcGIS Pro order for the same person is blocked. ArcGIS Classroom Network and ArcGIS Enterprise Server still take a quantity.
Creative Cloud Pro already includes Acrobat Pro and Express Premium, and Express Premium includes Acrobat Pro. License Commander now stops a separate Acrobat Pro or Express Premium order for someone who already has, or has a pending order for, the bigger plan. Upgrading from Acrobat Pro to Creative Cloud Pro still works.
A license's activity timeline now also lists changes made by the nightly directory sync and other background jobs, marked Untracked, so its history has no silent gaps.
Handing off a spare seat no longer removes someone's access when they still hold an active license for the same product (Adobe and Microsoft). Orders are filled only from spare seats, and both sides of a transfer are saved together, so a seat can't be given away twice. Since September 11, you also can't transfer a license to someone who already has an active copy.
Revoking a Canva license now opens a screen that asks what happens to the designs: hand them to a colleague, give the holder time to save their work first (they get an email with the date), or remove now. An approver is required, and it defaults to the fiscal officer.
A Canva revoke or transfer makes the holder's designs unavailable, so OIT Licensing now does these by hand (transfers since September 23, revokes since October 6). If you try one, nothing changes, and you get an email with the options for the holder's designs and how the holder can save their work. Trying again within the hour doesn't send a second email.
If you ordered software for someone else, you now get a copy of the approval email too, without the holder's license keys or download links. Bulk orders still send one summary instead.
Canva licenses renew one at a time, on the anniversary of when they started. Fiscal officers get a notice for the licenses coming due, those licenses show a Renews this month tag, and the fiscal officer can update their accounting through the end of that month.
A shared device license order with a quantity from the legacy AntSoft form is now split into one order per device, and the person who placed it is asked for each computer's name and IP address or FQDN.
For CSCs and administrators using the Adobe bulk tool (AMAPI): uploading the exact same list again within two hours, for the same add or remove and the same license, is stopped with a friendly message, so nobody is processed twice. Since September 30, the completion emails also say who ran the operation.
A CSV bulk order now sends the person who placed it one summary and sends each fiscal officer one email with Approve all and Deny all. People on the list are emailed only after their seats are approved, a denial goes only to the person who placed the order, and reminders are grouped the same way. A short guide opens before you upload; the main rule is to start your file with a header row.
Links in our emails, such as approval requests, delegated approvals and closed-account notices, now take you to the right record even when you have to sign in first. If a delegated approval still doesn't open, the email explains how to find it.
A View activity button on each license opens a single timeline, newest first, with filters: how and when it was ordered, approvals, emails, transfers, and billing and account changes. Since October 2, refunds appear there too, and the license's accounting details show the refund.
If KFS reports a billing account as closed during service billing, the licenses on it are held, not charged, and nothing lapses. The fiscal officer gets an email with steps to update the account in License Commander, and the corrected account is billed on the next service billing.
If you already have a Canva account under your UCI email, your approval email, and a follow-up if it's needed, tells you to sign in once at canva.com with your UCI account. We then add you to the team automatically.
While a service-billing run is in progress, licenses in the run show an amber Frozen for the service-billing run note and stay read-only until the run is released. On billing day, a heads-up banner may appear at the top of License Commander. Only approved, active orders are billed.
Approval emails now link to a guide written for that product (Acrobat Pro, Creative Cloud Pro, Express Premium, Canva, LabVIEW, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Project, Visio, Visual Studio and ArcGIS Pro), in place of the old generic BigFix article. Guides open after you sign in with your UCInetID and we confirm your license. CSCs can open any guide to help someone, and those visits are logged.
Order emails now label the license holder clearly and add a Requested by line when someone else placed the order, including orders from the legacy AntSoft form. Since August 18, every pending order also sends the license holder a short order-received note (a fiscal officer ordering for themselves gets the approval request instead).
A billing workspace for OIT Licensing and the Business Office. It checks each KFS service-billing document against License Commander, runs the monthly service billing, and follows refunds and closed accounts through to the next bill.
Administrators can refund a charge from the license itself: the money returns as a credit on the next service billing, the seat is released, and the fiscal officer gets a short note. A Not Billed view lists active licenses that haven't been charged yet.
MNova approval emails now link to a sign-in page where you enter your computer's Host ID. The NMR license administrators get it automatically, and you get a confirmation.
The redesigned AntSoft, one platform powered by License Commander, is rolling out now. Keep an eye out for these emails, and reach out anytime with questions.