Download 1,000,000+ High-Quality Assets from the Adobe Stock Free Collection

CS7? Create Grace Period for Free Upgrade to Next Adobe Release

[UPDATE (May 6th) – Major news out: Adobe Unveils New “CC” Release (CS7)…]

Based on recent indications from Adobe, we expect a new release of Creative Suite and/or Creative Cloud to be unveiled at their big annual MAX Conference on May 6th, just a few weeks away…

Know the Return Policy to Create Your Own Grace Period for a Free Upgrade to Adobe CS7

Historically during times like these, the company has set a “grace period” or grandfather offer to provide free upgrades to the next versions for customers buying the older software around the time of new releases – and in fact, such an “Upgrade Assurance promotion” deal was announced for CS6 in March of last year.

However, no such announcement has been forth­coming this year, perhaps due to the advent of Creative Cloud – where all paid members already receive all product updates and upgrades at no additional charge as soon as they are available.

But no matter – you can actually create your own grace period now, whether one officially exists or not.

The key is in awareness of Adobe’s longstanding Software Return/Exchange Policy – whereby you can return your purchase to them within 30 days and they will grant you a full refund, no questions asked. This is possible even if you’ve already opened, installed, activated, and started using your product – and can be done quickly over live online chat with their customer service team.

(The best part is nothing ever has to be returned physically, because the product returns all happen electroni­cally through deactivation of software license keys.)

The Creative Cloud FAQ: See Your Top 90 Burning Questions Answered

So, if you buy something today (either CS6 or Creative Cloud, full or upgrade) – but new information or a newer version comes out within 30 days from now to change your decision – then you can easily return whatever you bought and get something else instead, no problem.

In a nutshell, this automatic protection means you can move forward with confidence and get started with your software today and not have to worry about what happens on May 6th, because you now have an “insurance policy” if you should change your mind or see something better then.

Naturally, the other options are to use the 30-day free trial downloads – or a go with month-to-month Cloud subscription to retain flexibility and see what happens, rather than make a fixed full purchase now that may soon become obsolete.

If you’ve been thinking about going with the Cloud, Adobe says:

The new version‘s release date has not been announced, but there is a great way to get yourself to the front of the line. If you join Creative Cloud now, you will immedi­ately receive the entire stable of currently shipping CS6 applications AND you will automatically receive the new versions of all your favorite Adobe applications as soon as they are available.”

Either way you decide, you can read more on the details of Adobe’s Return Policy to assure yourself, then go for it!

Give your input before it ships – what would you like to see in CS7?  Share your thoughts below or on Adobe’s official feature request “wishlist”

See Also

Get the New Creative Cloud 2024 Direct Download Links

To follow this story going forward, subscribe to our RSS feed or like us on Facebook or Twitter… You can also enter your email and have new articles sent directly to your Inbox. We are reader-supported; when you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

GET FREE ADOBE BOOKS

Sign up for our popular newsletter and we’ll send you 30 great ebooks to learn all major Adobe tools at no cost!

Thank you for subscribing! We hope you enjoy the newsletter and your free Adobe books... Click here to see the books now, and start downloading and reading!

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Share This

Download 1,000,000+ Royalty-Free Images from the Adobe Stock Free Collection

9 thoughts on “CS7? Create Grace Period for Free Upgrade to Next Adobe Release”

    • Hi Walter, sorry for any misunderstanding. There is no official offer from Adobe for a free upgrade to Creative Suite 7, and we don’t expect there to be one actually.

      However, the article above describes how you can effectively use Adobe’s Return Policy to create your own “grace period” for whatever you buy – so that if something better or different comes along within 30 days, then you can simply exchange what you bought for the new option instead… Knowing this can provide some insurance for your purchase now.

      Hope that helps, if you read the post again with this in mind.

  1. Here’s my situation. We have some users on CS 5.0 and some on 5.5. I’m looking for the correct time to upgrade to CS6.5 that will also give me a copy of 6.0.

    Assuming I decide to stay with the non-cloud products, if that’s still possible, if I wait for the announcement on May 6th, will that be too late to actually purchase the 6.0 upgrade (will that announcement be the 6.5 shipping date)?

    Or will there be some time between May 6th and the actual ship date where I can upgrade to 6.0 and get a free upgrade to 6.5 when it ships? Or would it be better upgrade just before May 6th, and hope I’m inside the grace period.

    Your suggestion of upgrading and returning it doesn’t apply to me because we would want to keep 6.0.

    Thanks

    Reply
    • That’s a terrific question Jamie, and a common one about upgrading this time of year. In the past, people have taken advantage of an official grace period to get both the current version and the new release at the same time – to wind up with both for one price, effectively. That’s what happened with CS5.5 going to CS6, actually – and we advised about it here.

      However, you’ll notice that Adobe has made no such announcement this spring. No indication as to why, but our sense is that the Creative Cloud may have changed the equation.

      In other words, someone who wants both CS6 and CS7 can just get the Cloud now – because as we discussed elsewhere, current CC members will wind up with both releases.

      So our best advice to you would be to pretend like a grace period doesn’t exist this year, because so far one doesn’t. It may be that Adobe puts one in place on May 6th, but that’s pure speculation and there’s no way to know what will happen.

      That’s why the message of this article is to use Adobe’s longtime Return Policy in your favor. So go with a decision now to be safe and cover your bases – and then you can always change your mind later if you want, depending on what is announced within the next 30 days.

      Hope this helps!

  2. @ Walter Nussbaumer

    Ok, Adobe stated that there were “new” tools for CS6 when one subscribed to Creative Cloud that are not available to regular CS6 users. My question is which tools are they referring to, and now that I am a Cloud user, where do I find them?

    Reply
  3. I realize the differences, I have paid for the Cloud, but do not see any diiferences in my CS6 version from what I already had

    Reply
    • Walter, now that you’ve joined, try running the Adobe Application Manager on your system – or just go to Help > Updates on one of your CS6 applications to pull the Cloud updates.

Leave a Comment or Question


Receive over 30 Adobe Books plus Our Newsletter, Free!
DOWNLOAD FREE ADOBE BOOKS

Download Free Adobe Books Sign up for our popular newsletter and we’ll send you 30 great ebooks to learn all major Adobe tools free!

Thanks for subscribing! We hope you enjoy the newsletter and your free Adobe books... Click here to see the books now, and start downloading and reading!

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

And don't miss: The New CC 2024 Direct Download Links
Boost your content creation with 1,000,000 free images from Adobe Stock

Don't miss: Download 1 million FREE Adobe Stock assets!

Start downloading instantly from the Adobe Stock Free Collection:

DOWNLOAD NOW

This message will close in:

GET FREE ADOBE BOOKS

Download Dozens of Free Adobe Books Sign up for our popular newsletter and we’ll send you 30 great ebooks to learn all major Adobe tools at no cost!

Thank you for subscribing! We hope you enjoy the newsletter and your free Adobe books... Click here to see the books now, and start downloading and reading!

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Thanks for sharing!
Subscribe to ProDesignTools for Adobe updates:
15.8kFans
7.2kFollowers
2.5kRSS
DOWNLOAD FREE ADOBE BOOKS

Download Free Adobe Books Sign up for our popular newsletter and we’ll send you 30 great ebooks to learn all major Adobe tools free!

Thanks for subscribing! We hope you enjoy the newsletter and your free Adobe books... Click here to see the books now, and start downloading and reading!

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.