Adobe Sets Grace Period for CS6: Buy CS5 Now + Get Free Upgrade

108 thoughts on “Adobe Sets Grace Period for CS6: Buy CS5 Now + Get Free Upgrade”

1. Confirmed with Adobe that a new large wave of emails went out this morning with redemption codes for a free upgrade to CS6, for those that bought CS5.5 during the grace period… Not everyone had received theirs yet, so hopefully this will go a long way towards completing the offer.

   For those still waiting, you can still get started right away by downloading the free CS6 trial, which will work fully for 30 calendar days until your permanent serial number arrives. Then you just enter your new license key to convert the trial to permanent.

   Reply

2. I’m one of those who ordered Creative Suite 5.5 in order to qualify for a free upgrade to CS6. Everything worked out fine, so thank you Prodesigntools for drawing my attention to this offering!

   The following might be interesting to some customers like me who already had CS5 and bought CS5.5. solely for the purpose of getting the free upgrade to CS6. Apparently I am entitled to a free benefit for buying CS5.5 (but not for the free upgrade to CS6).

   It wasn’t until after I installed CS6 that I received a pop-up from Adobe telling me that I could claim a free benefit if I updated my profile. I clicked on the link in the pop-up, was taken to my profile page where there was an image of a present with a link “Claim your benefit”. When I updated my profile, the link for claiming my benefit had disappeared. I contacted customer service, who said I was not entitled to a free benefit for CS6.

   That gave me an idea: I launched one of the CS5.5 applications, clicked on the “Complete/update Adobe ID” link from the Help menu, and voilà, on my profile page I was able to select a free benefit. I didn’t get the offer if I accessed my profile page from a CS6 application.

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   • Thanks Eve, terrific tip! So glad it worked out for you with the free upgrade, and saved you some money. That’s also great about the free benefit… It’s a little-known perk of registration, and we even wrote an article about it some time ago:

     Register Your Adobe Software and Receive Complimentary Benefits

     Thanks for bringing it back to the fore and updating the story for CS6! Hope you enjoy your new products and please stop back anytime.

3. Does Adobe have a specific upgrade for CS5.5 with more plug-ins?

   Thank you

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   • You can definitely move up from CS5.5 and the upgrade price will be the lowest available, since CS5.5 was the last release.

     There is no special or specific version – all versions of CS6 are the same no matter which prior version you’re upgrading from… And you can keep the same plug-ins that you have now with CS5.5 – you don’t need to upgrade or change those, as they will work with CS6 as well.

     Hope that answers your question!

4. I purchased CS 3, 4 and upgraded to 5 – how can I get an update to Contribute 6? Cost?

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   • Hi Clentin, when you say you purchased CS3, CS4, and CS5, do you mean the standalone Contribute application – or a suite?

     If the former, then you can just upgrade your Contribute to the new version 6.5.

     If the latter, then there is no upgrade path from a suite to an individual tool (because of the deep discounts Adobe gives when bundling the suite) – and you would have to get full Contribute 6.5 on its own.

     Hope this helps!

5. I originally purchased Premiere Pro CS4 and have since upgraded to CS5 and most recently to the CS5.5 Suite to include After Effects along with the rest of the bundle.

   I have just received an email stating that, since I am a CS4 licence holder, I have until January 1st 2013 to upgrade at a discount to CS6 or pay full price for the entire suite.

   Do I understand correctly, meaning that my next upgrade will be at full price if I don’t do it by December 31st 2012, even though I have upgraded to the CS5.5 suite?

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   • Greetings John, it is definitely true that Adobe is changing the upgrade policy starting next year, and that upgrade discounts will no longer be offered going more than one major version back. So at the moment, this will affect current owners of CS3 and CS4 who would like to upgrade…

     However, since you already upgraded your CS4 up to CS5, this will not immediately affect you. The most recent release you own is Creative Suite 5, meaning you’ll be able to upgrade from that to CS6 or CS6.5 without paying full price.

     But when CS7 comes out, with Adobe’s new policy only owners of Creative Suite 6 will be able to upgrade at that time. So this change could affect you in a similar way if you don’t already own CS6 or CS6.5 by then.

6. Here’s my issue with this whole upgrade policy as it stands:

   1. If I did not upgrade from CS4 to CS5 on the way to CS6, I am now essentially being charged for that upgrade to CS5 which I never had use of anyway. Is this even legal?

   2. If I don’t hurry up and upgrade before the end of this calendar year, I’ll be charged full retail price for CS6. Cripes. They could have at least gave until the first week of 2013 to be able to put it on next year’s tax return.

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   • Hey there Toonces, up till now Adobe has had a Tiered Upgrade Pricing Policy, whereby customers who upgrade more frequently pay less than those who skip releases… That’s why the older the version that you have, the higher the price to upgrade to CS6.

     Adobe’s upcoming change in upgrade policy that affects current owners of CS4 and CS3 was originally announced over a year ago, and then revised back in January 2012, and is now set to go into effect starting in 2013. So one could say that at this point, it’s been out there a while. Naturally most folks wish the policy weren’t changing, but arguably it was pretty generous before compared with other software companies.

     Hope that explains a little more of the background and details on the policies.

7. Hi…
   I was wondering where online I could purchase and download CS5 for a:

   Mac OS X Version 10.5.8
   Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
   Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
   Startup Disk Macintosh HD

   Any information is totally appreciated..
   I am an artist and I tried a friend’s and fell in Love!!!

   Aloha and Mahalo!!!
   Regards,
   Michael ;)

   Reply

   • Welcome Michael, CS5 is actually outdated now and Adobe no longer sells it… CS6 is the latest-and-greatest release and that’s what we recommend – especially because trying to find an older version is hard, risky and unsafe.

     To get CS6 just visit Adobe’s online store – it’s available as a full version or as a low-cost monthly subscription. You can also get all Creative Suite 6 applications (and a lot more) as part of the Creative Cloud, which is more affordable for many folks.

     Lastly, if you want to try and use it on your own computer before purchasing, just download the free 30-day trial.