Download All Official Adobe CS4 and CS3 Free Trials
May 19th, 2010 Leave a comment
[UPDATE (5/3/2011) – If you'd like to download new CS5.5 directly see our full set of links.
If you want to buy After Effects CS4 or Premiere Pro CS4, see our recommendation here.]
If you want to buy After Effects CS4 or Premiere Pro CS4, see our recommendation here.]
Even though Creative Suite 5.5 is out and is a phenomenal release, some folks still need the earlier versions for various reasons: 32-bit vs 64-bit (e.g., After Effects and Premiere Pro), compatibility with other software or systems owned, the rest of your class or company is still on CS4, you need to reinstall but no longer have your original disks or download file, etc… But this older software is now hard to find – Adobe doesn’t publicize or provide a web interface for it. So if you’ve been searching high and low all over the Internet to find the official Adobe trial downloads for CS4 or CS3, well your search is over!
Below are two tables for CS4 trial downloads in major languages. These links go to the authentic and original CS4 files residing on Adobe’s servers, are guaranteed genuine and will not change. For Windows, each program consists of two files, an .exe and a 7-Zip file (.7z). The .exe file will only work once the .7z package is fully downloaded and resides in the same location. For the Mac, it’s just a single .dmg file for each program.
There are also optional “extra content” downloads included here for most products that consist of one or two additional files, which you can install separately after the main product is installed.
Note: Very Important Instructions
| Other Direct Download Links |
|---|
| CS5.5 |
| CS5 |
| Acrobat X |
| Lightroom 3 |
| Elements 10 |
| Captivate 5 |
You need to have a free Adobe account and be logged into it to use the links below, as Adobe sets a session cookie on your browser that allows you to access the direct download links. Otherwise, you will receive an “access denied” or “resume your download” message preventing the connection. So please follow these instructions carefully or the links will not work!
- Adobe recommends temporarily turning off any surfing restrictions you might have running, like site or cookie blocking, firewalls or antivirus software.
- Click «here» to visit this page like you want to try Photoshop CS5.1, and then select the “Download Now” button at the bottom.
- If you already have an Adobe ID, then please sign in with it (checking “Remember me“), otherwise take a minute to create one for yourself.
- Wait a moment and then close/cancel any download windows that pop up for the trial of Photoshop CS5.1 (you can do a full trial for it later).
- Now that you’re logged in at Adobe with the trials cookie set, you can instantly download any of the software below. Just make sure you have plenty of disk space available.
- Download the files either by clicking directly on the DDL links, or by right-clicking and choosing “Save Link As…” on the popup menu – and save all files to the same place.
- Then follow the product installation instructions here.
Creative Suite 4 – Adobe CS4 Downloads
| Creative Suite 4 Trials (English) | Windows | Mac | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Trial | Extra Content | Trial | Extra | |||
| * See here about purchasing After Effects CS4 and Premiere Pro CS4. | ||||||
| After Effects CS4* | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 4 | File 1 | File 2 |
| Premiere Pro CS4* | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 4 | File 1 | File 2 |
| Photoshop CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Dreamweaver CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 4 | File 1 | File 2 |
| Illustrator CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| InDesign CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| InCopy CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Flash Pro CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Fireworks CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Contribute CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | |||
| Soundbooth CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | |||
| Acrobat 8 Pro | File 1 | |||||
| Creative Suites | ||||||
| CS4 Master Collection | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Design Premium | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Design Standard | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Web Premium | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Web Standard | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Production Premium* | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
And for other countries, here are the CS4 trial download links for most Western European languages – which can include French/Français, German/Deutsch, Dutch/Nederlands, Danish/Dansk, Finnish/Suomi, Swedish/Svenska, Norwegian/Norsk, Italian/Italiano, Portuguese/Português, and Spanish/Español:
| Creative Suite 4 Trials (Western Europe) | Windows | Mac | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Trial | Extra Content | Trial | Extra | |||
| * See here about purchasing After Effects CS4 and Premiere Pro CS4. | ||||||
| After Effects CS4* | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 4 | File 1 | File 2 |
| Premiere Pro CS4* | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 4 | File 1 | File 2 |
| Photoshop CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Dreamweaver CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 4 | File 1 | File 2 |
| Illustrator CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| InDesign CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| InCopy CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Flash Pro CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Fireworks CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Contribute CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | |||
| Soundbooth CS4 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | |||
| Acrobat 8 Pro | File 1 | |||||
| Creative Suites | ||||||
| CS4 Master Collection | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Design Premium | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Design Standard | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Web Premium | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Web Standard | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS4 Production Premium* | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 | |
We suggest using a browser other than Internet Explorer to download any of the files above. They can be quite large and sometimes IE has difficulty with the file or the download. Using Firefox or Chrome will work better. IE has also been known to drop the extensions (.exe and .7z) from the filenames, so you may have to restore or rename them back.
Creative Suite 3 – Adobe CS3 Downloads
Here are the links for the official CS3 trials in English, all downloaded from Adobe servers. For CS3 on Windows, there are almost no .7z files; usually it’s only .exe files. For the Mac, it’s all .dmg files. All other instructions remain the same as for CS4 above.
| Creative Suite 3 Trials (English) | Windows | Mac | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Trial | Extra Content | Trial | Extra | ||
| * See here for buying After Effects CS4/CS5 and Premiere Pro CS4/CS5. | |||||
| After Effects CS3* | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Premiere Pro CS3* | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Photoshop CS3 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Dreamweaver CS3 | File 1 | File 1 | |||
| Illustrator CS3 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| InDesign CS3 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| InCopy CS3 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Flash Pro CS3 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Fireworks CS3 | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| Contribute CS3 | File 1 | File 1 | |||
| Soundbooth CS3 | File 1 | File 1 | |||
| Acrobat 8 Pro | File 1 | ||||
| Creative Suites | |||||
| CS3 Master Collection | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 |
| CS3 Design Premium | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS3 Design Standard | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS3 Web Premium | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS3 Web Standard | File 1 | File 2 | File 1 | File 2 | |
| CS3 Production Premium* | File 1 | File 2 | File 3 | File 1 | File 2 |
If you’re looking for CS2, CS, or an even earlier release, you can try digging around on Adobe’s FTP server for older products (but that’s really only for advanced users).
It is strongly advised not to use unknown sites or sources to download Adobe software, as increasingly these files are being used to deliver viruses and trojans onto users’ computers.
Did these links work for you? Hope they helped you out; please let us know in the comments below… And please see our companion page if you want the direct download links for all CS5.5 products.
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The download starts when I follow the steps, but it just stays at 0 kb downloaded the whole time. Here’s what I did:
1. Initiated trial download of Photoshop CS5.5
2. Signed in in Download Manager
3. Clicked the link here and began the download
Hi Tommy, it sounds like you’re doing absolutely the right things according the instructions given in the article above… But sometimes folks do have challenges downloading from Adobe’s servers, it can be hit or miss.
Try a different browser, computer, and/or Internet connection and see if that helps. Or read Kate’s earlier comments, the things she tried, and the series of replies which follow – and hopefully that will help you get going.
I tried it a few more times and eventually it did start downloading. Thanks!
Sure, you’re welcome Tommy – glad to hear it worked and thanks for letting us know!
I am unable to download the trial version of CS4. It redirects me to the Adobe downloads site and the only options available are CS5. What am I doing wrong?
Hello Gaby, have you followed the download instructions given in the article?
Yes, thank you. My follow up comment above is my concern now. The download is stuck at a certain number and no matter how many times I restart it, it will not finish the download.
Hi,
If you do a factory reset on your laptop, is it possible to download Photoshop CS4 if you downloaded the trial, once last year? I actually can’t remember which version I downloaded. I tried the CS4 and CS3 and both said not able to open Bridge nor the Photoshop file try downloading it again or you don’t have a licensing subscripton, when I tried to open up the program after spending 30 min downloading it :(
So is this because I must have downloaded once before or is it something else my Windows XP system might be stopping it? I have removed the firewall and anti-malware. Please help, have a portfolio presentation to get my work sorted so I’m panicking as I can’t afford to buy it at the moment.
thank you
alex
Greetings Alex, each Adobe trial can only be installed and run once per computer. But, if you have “reset” your computer as you say – meaning wiped the disk and completely reinstalled the operating system – then you are starting fresh and should be able to run it again.
If you can’t run the trial and can’t afford to purchase the software outright, you could consider a temporary month-by-month Photoshop subscription.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I needed to find these for a short class since I’m running XP and I can’t use CS5. You guys saved me from having to spend HOURS in the school computer lab! Now I can do my homework at HOME! (novel idea, right? ^_^) Thanks again!
Hello there, I’ve read many of these comments and they have been extremely helpful throughout most of the process. However, the file 2 for adobe premiere pro download has begun but it is not moving from .01/1.2GB and remains saying 2 hours left. I’ve restarted the download many times and still no success. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.
Hmm, that normally shouldn’t happen. But it sounds like you’ve at least got the downloads kicking off correctly, which is the step that sometimes gives people trouble.
What type of Internet connection are you using? Make sure it’s fast – and wired (no Wi-Fi)… these are fairly large files.
Right now it is stuck at .4 of the 1.2 GB…Unfortunately my only school connection is wireless. This could be the main issue.
Also, is there a way to shut off the email notifications for comment replies? I’m not sure why I keep getting more. Thank you so much for your help, I’m hoping this will work!
Well, unfortunately it sounds like the connection there is too slow and unreliable for these files, sorry…
To stop receiving follow-up comments, look for the link within each email that’s just below the content, and simply click on that.
Good luck Gaby!
Hi, thanks a lot for the links. I need to install Adobe on some PowerPC systems and I need CS3 and CS4, but I have a question. How can I have a permanent license for these versions??? Those only are Trials, what do I have to do? I need to buy the CS5.5 version for having a license and support to the CS3 or CS4 versions???
Yes Luis – that’s a good question, and you’re exactly right on the answer. Here’s how…
For ordering (any) CS4 products generally:
How to Buy Prior Adobe Releases like CS4 or CS5.0
And for AE or Premiere specifically:
Buy After Effects CS4 & Premiere Pro CS4, Get CS5.5 Free
Hope this helps!
Hi,
I am having the same problem as Gaby previously. I just want a trial version of CS3 and the direct links in this article takes you to the adobe download site where your only option is to download the CS5.5 trial. How can I just get CS3 trial for Mac?
@ Tam Hua
So Sorry. I need to delete this comment. I am trying to follow the instructions above. PLEASE DISREGARD THIS COMMENT.
i downloaded the cs4 .exe trial and windows says it doesnt know what program to open it with any ideas?
Welcome James, please see this earlier comment and response with Adam – thanks.
@ProDesignTools
Hi, thank you for letting me know, I got my trial started. My problem now is that when I try to open up a file jpeg or PSD, InDesign CS4 wont allow me to open it. It says:
Cannot open the file. Adobe InDesign may not support the file format, a plug-in that supports the file format may be missing, or the file may be open in another application ?
I don’t understand as it’s not opened anywhere else and it should open a Photoshop CS3 version in CS4 InDesign. Could it be because I might have created it in CS5? I don’t understand as it won’t even let me open jpegs.
Please help I have a Portfolio presentaion and can’t get my work done. thank you
Hello again Alex, when you open a file in InDesign, you’re opening a complete document…
So you actually don’t open Photoshop PSDs or JPEGs in InDesign, you place them.
Me again! I got the downloads to complete, no longer stuck at 0.00MB or anything. However when i try to run the .exe file I get a message saying ““the file archive of adobe after effects cs4 is missing. please download all parts” I’ve read through many of the previous comments and suggestions however I still get this message. And then, when I click on the .7z file it says that windows cannot open it because it does not know what program to use to access it. Not sure why I am having so much trouble with this!
Not sure why either Gaby, but here’s a previous comment response that will hopefully help you with that message.
Also note that you don’t need to do anything with the .7z file… The .exe file is the only one to open, and that will take care of the other.
God bless you, man. I’m not even really religious, but seriously- god bless you. You have made very many macbook air owners very happy, i assure you.
That’s very kind of you to say – thank you Saxon!
Yes, increasingly DVD drives are disappearing, especially from laptops… So here’s an answer for how to get your older software onto your new notebook.
I’m just trying to help…
I wasn’t able to download CS4 either way, I did all you said and it didn’t work. So I gave up and downloaded the Adobe Download Assistant, logged in and started to download CS5. To my surprise, after I logged in in this application, I was able to download the CS4 version here.
Hope it can help you, guys.
Cheers ;)
Interesting Manu! So, after you set yourself up with the Adobe Download Assistant, afterwards you were then able to download from the links on this page.
Haven’t heard that before, but it’s a good one to know – thanks.
Hi
I just found out after looking for it everywhere on the downloaded trial Photoshop CS5.1, that it’s only the CS3 version that has the PDF PRESENTATION set-up option!! I have to urgently put my work together in a PDF and it has to be combination of my design and text, so this option is perfect.
If I remove this trial and have only used 4 days of it and open the CS3 version. Will I be able to next month open the CS5.1 again and continue using it until the remaining trial ends, or is it deleted once removed? I know you’re only able to try them once each hence I’m asking, until I can afford to buy the programs.
thank u!!
Hey there Alex, good to see you again. Each free Adobe trial lasts for 30 calendar days on each computer you install it on… The trial cannot be paused or run again after the month is up if you don’t purchase it.
This goes for all versions of Creative Suite (CS5, CS4, CS3, etc).
Does that answer your question?
By the way, note that Adobe will be bringing back PDF Presentation as well as Contact Sheet in Photoshop CS6…