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• • April 23, 2011 at 11:51 pm #59405
    Stuart Horner

    Member

    The company I work for are thinking of replacing my trusty PowerPC mac with an Intel iMac and purchasing an upgrade from CS3 to CS5. Although I am looking forward to exploring InDesign CS5's new features, I still need to be able to use the CS3 version because I rely on plugins that are either not available for CS5 or the company wouldn't be willing to upgrade.

    If I understand correctly, I would need to de-activate CS3 on the PowerPC before reinstalling and activating it on the iMac. If I then upgrade to CS5 am I still able to launch and work in CS3?

    Also, is it possible to buy an iMac with Leopard, rather than Snow Leopard installed? We use so many printer drivers that are not yet available for Snow Leopard that I think it would cause real problems.

    Any advice or related experience on these issues would be much appreciated.

  • April 24, 2011 at 4:29 am #59406
    Theunis De Jong

    Member

    If you are going to thrash that old PPC Mac, yes, it'd be wise to de-activate the old ID. You can re-install your CS3 a couple of times, but I lost count of how many times I did that and forgot (or just couldn't) de-activate it first. So next time, it's gonna be a gamble if it still works.

    There are a few known issues with running different versions side-by-side: you must install them in chronological order (don't first install CS5 then CS3), and your system may attempt to open a double-clicked document in “the wrong version”. The latter is not a problem if it attempts to open a CS5 document into CS3 (it will simply fail) but the other way around, you'll be inadvertently 'upgrade' a document to CS5. And there is no way back from CS5 to CS3, without a CS4 to sit inbetween.

    As for the operating system for new iMacs: ask Apple … (it's a fair bet they won't be doing that.)

  • April 24, 2011 at 4:54 pm #59408
    Tom Pardy

    Member

    I cannot improve on Jongware’s comments re moving from a PPC Mac to an Intel Mac as I have not faced that problem.

    But on my iMac (Intel, late 2007 24-inch model) I have InDesign CS, CS2, CS3 and CS4 (all installed in chronological order) as, for a variety of reasons, I need to open files in each of those formats and, after working on them, be able to save them in their respective formats. InDesgn CS is rarely opened these days (and, indeed, Adobe tells me I shouldn’t be able to open it — but I can) but each of the others functions without drama.

    In these circumstances, life is made a lot simpler by using Rorohiko’s marvelous little utility, Soxy. Other than being a happy customer, I have no connection with the company. Soxy intervenes whenever I double-click on an InDesign icon, recognises which version created the document and launches that version of the application so that it can open the file. Too easy!

  • April 26, 2011 at 8:09 am #59416
    Stuart Horner

    Member

    Thanks for your advice guys. I have seen Soxy mentioned before and shall definitely be using it when the time comes.

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