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“Buy CS5 Now + Get Free Upgrade to CS6: Adobe Sets Grace Period”
Adobe Sets Grace Period for CS6: Buy CS5 Now + Get Free Upgrade
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@ProDesignTools
No worries, I think I may just order from the Adobe Store then. Now the Credit card that I want to use is not in my name, will I run into issues there? (It’s a friend’s card)
Well, that’s probably safest Daniel, as you don’t get a second chance if it gets denied. As for your other question, you should be all right with that – we frequently use different billing and shipping addresses at the Adobe Store to send products to other people, usually our readers.
Good luck and enjoy the new software!
@ ProDesignTools
Thank you for the helpful infomation :) Last question, is there a step-by-step in getting the order in my name while being able to use a credit card from someone else? I just don’t want to make a mess of myself :)
Sure. On Adobe’s CS5.5 order page, you should see this free CS6 upgrade offer mentioned. So just choose your product with “Delivery: Ship the box to me,” and then check out.
They will then ask you for a Billing name, address, and method of payment, as well as a Shipping name and address. Just put the information as necessary and you should be fine. There shouldn’t be an issue because gift orders with different addresses are never a problem for us.
While you’re waiting for the CS5.5 box to arrive, you can just download the free trial if you want to get started right away, then convert the product to permanent later with your purchased serial number from inside the box.
Then sometime in May, Adobe will send you the special code and instructions you need to redeem your free upgrade to Creative Suite 6.
Hope this helps!
It’s good to see such upgrade grace period announced explicitly in advance. It seems like this is Adobe’s attempt to get some CS5.5 sales (news reports have that CS5.5 doesn’t sell well because everyone wants to wait for CS6), so this announcement means everybody wins.
For those who wonder why is Flash Catalyst is not eligible for the free upgrade, it is unfortunately because Flash Catalyst is being discontinued (search online for details). Acrobat and Flash Builder don’t follow the CS product cycle, and OnLocation isn’t even available as a standalone product. I’m not sure why is Contribute excluded, though.
Hey there YL, great to see you again. Agree 100% on the CS6 free upgrade grace period being clear and announced in advance – it’s a win-win for everyone. Yes, it’s regrettable but true that Flash Catalyst is being discontinued, and as usual, you’re right about everything else too!
Our only guess about Contribute is that possibly some changes are coming there as well, though naturally we can’t be sure – but if so, then we should know more when CS6 is released.
The best part is this offer saves a lot of money for customers, because you’ll pay less to go from (for example) a CS5 Design Premium suite to CS5.5 today than it will cost to upgrade direct to CS6 next month – because the fewer number of steps, the lower the cost with Adobe’s Tiered Upgrade Pricing Policy.
Hello,
Sorry to bug you guys again, It turn out that I can’t use my friend’s credit card because his card just expired, now my plan B is to get a prepaid VISA where I can just put the amount that I want on the card and that’s it. It’s from Woolworths Everyday Money Prepaid MasterCard.
Thank you
Hello again Daniel, that could certainly work – and of course your other option would be to use PayPal, which Adobe also accepts in most countries…
If you’re in Europe then there are often additional payment options as well. Good luck with it!
Just a heads up, I did put my order in and all is going well now.
Also I should add that some people may be getting a boxed copy and since I’m in Australia it looks like I would be getting it in a box even though I went for download only.
Great Daniel, glad it all worked out for you and thanks for letting us know. Hope you enjoy both versions!
This may be a stupid question, but does anyone know if Flash CS5.5 is included in this offer?
Or do you need to have the whole Creative Suite. I only have Flash CS5 Pro right now, and want to upgrade to CS5.5. I checked out some of the links above and did not see Flash, but I know that it is part of the Creative Suite (some of them). Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you
Absolutely Jules – all individual CS5.5 products (plus Photoshop CS5 and Illustrator CS5, which are the latest versions) are included in this offer, as well as the suite editions… So that includes Flash Pro, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Premere Pro, After Effects, and so on.
In other words, all buyers now will get a free upgrade to the same CS6 product when it comes out.
Thanks for your comment – we’ll try to make that clearer above.
Hello. I just purchased Photoshop CS5 Extended from the Adobe website, but I did not get the option for the free CS6 to be shipped. What can I do about this?
No worries Audra – if you purchased CS5 from Adobe on or after March 26th, then the free upgrade to Photoshop CS6 Extended will be sent to you automatically when CS6 ships next month! There’s nothing more you need to do.
You’ll receive the instructions by email no later than May 25, 2012, which will be sent to the email address you used for your qualifying order. The email will contain a unique coupon code that you’ll need to claim your complimentary upgrade by August 5, 2012.
So just be on the lookout for that email and you’ll be all set!
Hi, wondering how could I use this CS6 upgrade program if I already own CS5 – is it possible?
Hi Angie, thanks for your question. The latest and currently-selling versions of the Creative Suite 5 software are Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5, and then “CS5.5” releases for everything else (including all suites)…
So it really depends on “which” CS5 you have – if it’s one of those then you can’t upgrade any further right now, and would need to wait until the CS6 Launch Date.
But say (for example) if you own CS5.0 Design Premium then you can definitely upgrade to CS5.5 Design Premium now and get the gratis upgrade to CS6 delivered automatically next month. And that will cost you less than upgrading from CS5.0 to CS6 direct would later.
Older releases back to CS2 qualify too now, of course. Hope this helps!
So,
users who upgraded to a CS5.5 product before, do not receive the grace free upgrade to CS6?
Greetings Filippo, please see the earlier comment from Char and our reply – thanks!
I am an online student at an art institute and have to purchase CS5.5 within the next week. I have to update my previous version for the classroom & my files to work, etc… Then while browsing I found this forum. So my question is, if I buy CS5.5 through my school’s website within the next week will I be entitled to the upgrade as well?
Hey there Tasha, regrettably we can’t really answer that for you – you’ll have to ask them… We do know that buying from Adobe direct is a lock on the automatic free upgrades.
For a similar question and response, see here for more information.
So, where do I buy it from?
Hi, you just visit the Adobe Store Selector and select your country, then choose your Creative Suite 5 product and check out with a credit card or PayPal… The complimentary upgrade will then be sent to you automatically next month, within 10 days of the Creative Suite 6 release date.
@ Daniel
You should be able to use your friend’s card, so long as you have all of the information. And you may need the billing address for that card to prove it is not stolen. Have fun!
The CS6 launch event is just over and the Adobe store sites are all updated with the new products. Since there is no “Design Premium” suite any more, I wonder if those customers who upgrade to CS5.5 Design Premium during the special offer timeframe will be entitled to the free upgrade to CS6 “Design and Web Premium“…
Great question Eve, and yes, absolutely – all customers who bought (and buy) CS5.5 Design Premium or CS5.5 Web Premium will get the free upgrade to CS6 Design & Web Premium…
Incidentally, that’s a nice savings right there – you can buy CS5.5 Web Premium right now for US$1,799 and get the CS6 Design & Web suite for free (value $1,899).
Even better for Production Premium – buy CS5.5 PP now for $1,699 and then get CS6 PP next month, which is worth $1,899.
Same thing goes for upgrades – it’s probably less expensive for most folks to pay for a CS5.5 upgrade than to pay for a CS6 upgrade… For example, upgrading to Illustrator CS5 is $50 cheaper now than upgrading to Illustrator CS6.
Similarly in education, the Photoshop CS5 Student Edition is $50 less than the PS CS6 academic version. But, all customers now will receive CS6 next month – regardless of which one you buy now.
For those who’d still like to take advantage of the offer (until May 6th), just look for “Can’t wait? Order the previous version now” at Adobe’s Online Store.
I was thinking to upgrade to Creative Suite 5.5, which includes:
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat X Pro.
However, I decided to wait until CS6 is out.
My question is if I buy now the Creative Suite 5.5, am I eligible to upgrade again to CS6 for free?
Welcome Teklezgy, thanks for your question. The answer is yes – absolutely you would be eligible for the free upgrade to CS6 if you buy CS5.5 from Adobe now, so you were smart to wait – because you could save almost 50% on your upgrade… How? Well here are some quick examples:
CS5 Design Premium –> CS6 Design Premium is $749,
whereas
CS5 Design Premium –> CS5.5 Design Premium is $399 (almost half price!)
CS5 Master Collection –> CS6 Master Collection = $1,049…
compared to
CS5 Master Collection –> CS5.5 Master Collection = $549!
And so on… Try out the math in your case and almost always you’ll save money by buying CS5.5 from Adobe by May 6th, and then automatically getting CS6 for free within ten days of the release date.
Just got off a chat session with an Adobe rep. Here’s the rub: you don’t actually get a free upgrade copy of Adobe Creative Suite 6. What you get is an upgrade of whatever comes in CS5.5 version to the latest version. This is not the same as getting a full copy of CS6 if you buy CS5.5 today. Does this make sense? You will not get any newly-added apps and maybe other entitlements as well. I didn’t dig too deep, it was clear Adobe is being misleading so I politely disco’d. I used to think so fondly of Adobe, hard to believe.
Not sure what you mean by this DG. You will definitely receive a complimentary CS6 upgrade to the equivalent CS5 or CS5.5 product that you purchased or upgraded to…
In other words, if you got Photoshop CS5 standalone, you will receive a free upgrade to Photoshop CS6 after it ships.
If you bought CS5.5 Design Premium, then you will receive CS6 Design & Web Premium.
If you got CS5.5 Master Collection, then you will receive CS6 Master Collection.
All this is certain. And yes, you will also receive any newly-added applications and all other entitlements that normally come with that CS6 product or suite. The offer is valid worldwide until May 6th.
Is that not clear? It seems that someone somewhere had a misunderstanding in your conversation, not sure if it was you or on the other end… But hope this clarifies things.
[See here for the official terms]
Dear adobe, I feel very cheated and disgruntled. I purchase standalone CS 5.5 or 5 or whatever the version was on 11 March 2012. I spoke to adobe reps and as I was spending money with Apple, I purchased it all together with two copies of LR 4.
AT no time did the adobe rep or apple rep let me know about the imminent release of CS 6. I would have willing waited a week or so and purchased this offer of free upgrade. The selling practices to full targets is not customer-friendly and having been a loyal adobe CS 2 onwards customer, Adobe have not shown me any loyalty at all…
I FEEL VERY CHEATED…
Hello Paul, sorry it didn’t work out the way you hoped. The customer service reps aren’t informed of the timing of new deals and releases until just before or as they happen… So regarding the dates, unfortunately March 26th was the official start date for the free upgrade offer, and they couldn’t change that… If they did extend it back somehow to March 11th post facto, then the people who bought on March 10th wouldn’t be pleased.
One thing we’ve learned after being an Adobe Partner for 5+ years is that it’s never possible to set or announce dates on offers that will make everyone perfectly happy… No matter what the company chooses, by definition there will always be someone just before or just after. So pleasing everyone all the time is unfortunately not possible – but if you’d like to share your feedback with Adobe directly, here’s their Customer Contact page.
Anyway, you did receive the software you ordered and paid for, so hope it does good things for you! Going forward feel free to stay tuned here (see the “Subscribe” box at the upper right), as we always try to give early word and estimates on upcoming major releases, and have been posting on CS6 timeframes since last summer.
I have a question I can’t seem to find an answer to anywhere.
If I purchase the Student Edition of CS5.5 by May 6th, will the upgrade to CS6 be to the student edition or to the regular version? I know normally if you have the student edition and want to upgrade, you do not have the option to upgrade to another student edition…
That’s a great question Jeviner. If you read the exact terms of the offer, it says “customers will receive a one-time upgrade to the equivalent Adobe Creative Suite 6 product.” However you’re right that upgrades between education versions don’t exist. So what do you get?
We believe you’ll receive the standard upgrade to CS6, for the same software that you bought (rather than a second full CS6 student edition). So when it’s all done, you would own a commercial CS6 version of your tools.
That’s what makes sense to us, though if you want to be certain you can double-check with Adobe Customer Service. But it may not make much difference whether it’s one or the other, because the student editions are always upgradeable to the commercial versions anyway, and both can be used for commercial purposes.
Hope this helps!
I just purchased the Adobe Suite CS5.5 Master Collection (with the student discount), and will be receiving it in a few days. However, I plan to buy a new Macbook when the new ones come out. Now, I know that I can install the Adobe Suite in two different computers for my personal use, however, is the free upgrade to CS6 also available for two different computers? I read that the unique coupon is for a one time only upgrade. Does that mean only one computer? If it does, can I just wait until I the new Macbooks come out to do the free upgrade? Or does the upgrade offer have a due date also? Thank you very much.
Hi Andres, no worries at all. Whether upgrade or full, with the offer or not, you will definitely be able to install CS6 on up to two computers, just like all previous versions.
Regarding the language of a “one-time only” upgrade, that just means that you won’t receive future upgrades for free from your recent purchase – just this single complimentary upgrade now up to Creative Suite 6.0.
Enjoy CS6, it should be shipping next week!
@Paul Apps
Me too!! I bought mine I think March 12th. Not a word from anyone that I only had to wait a couple weeks. I even asked an Adobe rep before I bought it about free upgrade possibilities as my school told me I would get one, and Adobe pretended they didn’t know anything of course. This is such a screw job. They should widen that window at the very least for students. Thanks Adobe you’ve screwed me again. :D
Hey there Todd, the rep didn’t tell you (or know) because they are not informed of new offers in advance – the Adobe front line is told of these kinds of things just as they happen. We know this well, because often we chat with them and we know more than they do because of our advance NDA with company.
Adobe has always done it this way because otherwise the service folks would have to be keeping things from people, or not be able to be honest with the customers they are talking to or answering questions from. So you weren’t misled or lied to, it’s just the way the timing of it all happened.
If you had realized it sooner or contacted them again if you were unhappy for any reason, you could have requested to return what you got for a full refund within 30 days of your purchase. Adobe wants to try to make their customers as satisfied as they can within the boundaries of the offers they make, but sorry it didn’t work out perfectly for you this time.
If you stay tuned to this site going forward though, we promise to keep you abreast of important things we can tell are coming or announced!
Thanks, but I did contact them again after the gratis announcement and within 30 days. I sent a message to Adobe Support about it but I never received a reply back.
Well, they probably would tell you that you purchased before the grace period began, which is true… Only sales that fall within the period will qualify for the free upgrade, that’s just the set conditions of the offer.
But if you had happened to contact them within 30 days and said you were unhappy with your purchase and would like to return it, then they could have done that for you.
Sorry if you contacted them but never heard back. For future reference, in our experience the best, fastest, and most direct way to communicate with Adobe Customer Service is usually via Live Chat.
I just purchased CS5.5 Design Premium today through my university’s computer store. They gave me paperwork to fill out and submit to Adobe in order to get the free upgrade to CS6. I just read on your site, however, that the free upgrade offer expires on the 6th. Am I still eligible having purchased CS5.5 today, the 8th?
Greetings Heather, as far as we are aware, the last day for the offer in the U.S. was on Sunday, May 6th… That’s also what it says on Adobe’s offer policy page.
Since Creative Suite 6 became available throughout most of the world on Monday, May 7th, customers can now get CS6 for students for up to 80% off in boxed form or direct download.
I contacted Adobe today after purchasing CS5.5 at my university’s computer store. Since Adobe hadn’t shipped CS6 to their store yet, I was still eligible for the free CS5.5-to-CS6 upgrade. A representative from Adobe’s chat support gave me a link to fill out a “Post-Announce Upgrade Request” form. Anyone wanting this will have to contact Adobe with their serial number. Once a store has CS6 in stock, I’m sure the free upgrade will not be available.
Well, hope it works out for you Heather. We talk to Adobe regularly and pay close attention to special offers, and have never heard any other dates than what we posted – which is also what the paperwork says…
In our opinion it’s definitely safer to just buy CS6 right now. Good luck!
I purchased CS 5.5 upgrade from Amazon, actually a company called PCRUSH because they had it in stock and Adobe is NOT honoring the upgrade stating purchases from Amazon Marketplace (who knew there was a subtle difference) are NOT eligible. The announcement said that scanned receipts or Amazon confirmation were acceptable forms of proof of purchases. The vendor I chose is a reputable, GSA authorized. What consumer would suspect there are only around 6 authorized resellers on Adobe’s list of authorized resellers?
I understand Adobe wants to protect their IP and sell upgrades going direct going forward, but I still consider this bait and switch on Adobe’s part. It should have been more clearly spelled out in the announcement. I’ve worked for software companies where they did this flip/flop between being vendor friendly wanting to keep the revenue in house. I will return the product and pay the full upgrade price but I will remember this and so will the vendors when the winds change and Adobe wants to be partner-friendly again..
Welcome Steve, we’re sorry it worked out that way for you. If you read through our article and comments above you’ll see we always recommend buying direct from Adobe (and not through any reseller or retailer) for exactly this reason… It is simply much easier taking advantage of these offers direct from the company – where there is no paperwork, no waiting, and almost no chance of denial.
Adobe’s offer terms say simply, “Customers who purchase … through the online Adobe Store or Adobe Call Center.”
From the page where it summarizes the complimentary upgrade program: “… purchased from an Adobe-authorized reseller or retail outlet.”
And on the accepted-proof-of-purchase page: “Receipts from purchases made on Internet auction sites (such as Amazon Marketplace) do not qualify as proof of purchase.” The same goes for eBay, Craigslist, etc.
Unfortunately, unauthorized places like these are not reliably safe or genuine, so we definitely do not recommend ever purchasing Adobe software there.
Last point, normally if you’re unhappy with your product you can return it directly to Adobe for full money back under their 30-day Refund Policy, but in the case of an unauthorized reseller it wouldn’t be accepted.
Again, our apologies it didn’t turn out the way you wished, but hope this helps explain at least a little as to why.
I was wondering if you knew exactly WHEN Adobe announced the March 26th timeline? I purchased CS5.5 Design Premium on March 13th and was ASSURED by Adobe’s representative that I would be eligible for the free upgrade to CS6.
Yes Katherine, the grace period offer for complimentary CS6 upgrades was announced and began at 12:01 am on Monday, March 26th, 2012. Creative Suite 6 then launched four weeks later on April 23rd.
We’re not sure how anyone could have assured you that a purchase in mid-March would be eligible for a gratis upgrade, since the offer wasn’t public or available yet. Can you explain a bit further what happened? Do you have any record or other details on the exchange?