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“Can You Save/Open CS6 Files on CS5, CS4 or CS3 – and Vice Versa?”
Are Adobe CS6 Files Compatible with CS5, CS4 & CS3 - and Back?
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Recently I tried out what will happen when using new Stroke option in Photoshop CS6 saved in PSD format and open in Photoshop CS5. Everything is as it should be but Stroke will be rasterized because earlier version does not recognize this feature.
Hey there Bojan, welcome back and thanks for your comment. Yes, that’s a great point and good example of exactly what will happen if one of the newer features is used when a file is opened by a previous release… The older version doesn’t have the capability to understand the newer functionality – so typically that part is just ignored while the rest of the file is read in, which is what you hope would happen.
But for a product like Photoshop CS6, certainly not all the new capabilities fall into this category… It’s only the few that could possibly be saved structurally into a file, like the new vector strokes as you mentioned. With everything else, all the core Photoshop functionality, there’s never an issue saving back or forward.
It is good idea to write a post with a complete list which new Creative Suite features can be saved back and opened with previous versions, and which cannot. Nobody has a similar tutorial on the web.
That is a very good idea indeed, thanks Bojan!
I was a former FreeHand user. I upgraded to Illustrator CS3 a few years ago. I was still able to open my Freehand files in CS3 and CS5. I cannot open Freehand files in CS6.
Hi Paulette, thank you for pointing that out. The last issue of FreeHand was nearly a decade ago and appears to be too far back for Adobe CS6 to support, but this is one of those cases where keeping older CS releases around comes in handy – so here are some suggestions for converting your files.
If you need a prior release for any conversion project like that (another example would be for saving back several releases in InDesign), then check out our Creative Suite direct download links, where you can access and install all trial versions going back to CS3… The free 30 days usage that you get will hopefully be enough to take care of your files.
If you have or use Illustrator CS4, then you can even use automated scripting to convert your FreeHand files to Illustrator files.
Hope this helps!
I have both CS3 and CS5.1. I can open FreeHand files in both, and save them as Illustrator files. Occasionally I’ll refer back to old files. Not something I do often but it’s nice to have a version of Illustrator I can open them in. Thought I’d bring this up in case someone else has FreeHand files they want to convert.
Thanks for your input!
Thank you Paulette for your contribution – and fortunately the free trials for many versions of Creative Suite are still available for situations like these, and can help some readers out when an older release is needed in a pinch.
That is really great to know. I did not know free trials of prior versions were still available. That can be a lifesaver!
I was using an Arab-English version of Photoshop CS3. Now my computer crashed and I can’t install it back because the code has been used and can not be disabled at Adobe. Is my program useless now?
Hi Raya, sorry for your computer trouble. The only people who can help you with a case like that – where you need to deactivate software that you no longer have access to, like from a crashed disk – is Adobe themselves…
If you contact them and give them your serial number, they should be able to reset all activations in their database for your product, and then you can start reinstalling and reactivating it fresh on whichever machines you want. The best/fastest/easiest way to contact Adobe Customer Service usually via live online chat. Be sure to have any purchase-related information ready.
These articles should also help you along the process:
How to Move or Reinstall Adobe Software from One System to Another
How Many Systems Can You Use Adobe Products On?
Hope this helps!
Hello,
I am wanting to get into doing some monogram design work for weddings. The tutorials/examples that I want to create were made using CS3 Extended. My question is would I be able to do the same things in a newer version, maybe by taking a different route?
It seems like the tools required in CS3 do not exist in the trial version of CS6 that I downloaded.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Welcome MoJo, you should definitely be able to do the same things in Creative Suite 6 that you can in CS3, in fact even more and better… Which particular tools are you referring to?
hi.. i have problem with my cs6.. actually i use mac air. my problem is :
1. i can’t save my project on my external hard disc..
2. i can’t open my project from my cs6 with my other laptop in my cs3..
tq…
Greetings, what specific error messages are you getting? What particular applications are you using? It’s impossible to say without knowing those… Have you tried Adobe Technical Support?
Hello,
I am using Adobe Flash Pro CS6 and sadly YOU CANNOT SAVE IT TO CS4 BUT ONLY TO CS5.5 and CS5.
:((((((
Sorry about that James… Adobe’s current online documentation says you can, but it appears to be dated:
Save a Document as a Flash CS4 document
We’ll make the change in the article above. But to go back to CS4 format, you’d need to also have a CS5 version of Flash Pro, re-open the file and then re-save it back to CS4 from there.
I only need one question answered and I am sorry but I hate how Adobe is with the Forums, I never find what I want and they won’t just let me email Adobe. Anyways rant over, my company has CS5 and we don’t have a lot of money to keep upgrading every year when Adobe comes out with new Creative Suites. Do I have to upgrade to CS6 or can I still open files sent by other people using CS6? Is it mostly on the other person’s end when they save?
No worries Nikki, feel free to email or ask whatever you like anywhere on our site and we will be sure to answer, and give you a good, correct and complete answer… :)
So the answer to your question is: If you want to continue using an older version when your colleagues are using a newer release, then yes it is mostly on their end when they save the file. That’s what the article above is guiding on (how to backsave) for each CS application – so you can point other people here… But as mentioned, the big caveat is that trying to save back to prior versions doesn’t always work well, and newer features are not able to carry back to an older format that doesn’t understand them.
Hope this addresses what you wanted to know – but if you have any further or follow-up questions, then just post back.
Great and very helpful post, and I’ve bookmarked for when I need it, thanks. I had a question though. Have the newer versions of some of the CS6 apps in the Creative Cloud added any changes to the file formats for those apps? Or are they all the same formats as the regular CS6? Thanks again.
Hey there Frances, thank you for your kind words – and that’s an excellent question. The answer is no, Adobe has not made any changes to the CS6 file formats with the exclusive upgrades that have gone out for several of the major products included in the Creative Cloud…
In other words, the newer versions of Photoshop (CS6.1), Dreamweaver, and Illustrator that Cloud members (and single application subscribers) are using have the exact same project and data file formats as those in the “standard-issue” CS6. So, these can be treated as the same.
Running multiple versions? Use Soxy to keep file associations straight,
Yes, great tip Lindsey – thanks!
Hello, I have a question – when I create a legacy file, and make it compatible from CS6 to CS5, it keeps converting it into a Acrobat PDF file instead of making it an Illustrator file. This keeps the person receiving the file in CS5 format from being able to properly view the uploaded file. Do you know how I can stop it from converting to an Acrobat PDF file? Thanks
Hello Loren, here are a few things you can try or think about… We have no problem at all saving back to Legacy versions in Illy CS6. Are you carefully following the instructions for how to do it? Are you specifying the file you’re saving to have a “.ai” extension? Why or how would it get a PDF extension instead, or open in Acrobat? What happens when you save down the file, close in Illustrator (Ctrl+W) and then immediately read the same file back in to Illustrator?
Hopefully this helps track down what’s not happening the right way for you.
On Windows how can you determine the version an fla file was saved as?
I am using Flash Pro CS6 on Windows and I do not see any differences in the File/File Info when I open version 5 or 6 fla files or in their file properties either.
Sure – you can’t determine it automatically, but if you want to tell the version of Adobe Flash Pro that a .FLA file was created with then just use the free FLAver utility.
@ ProDesignTools
There’s the Product Trial files and the Extra Content files. How can we find out what’s in the Extra Content files to determine if we need it?
Hi Mary, do you mean for the Adobe CS6 Direct Download Links?
Here’s a description of what’s in the Extra Content downloads – they’re optional and the content varies by application.
There is also some extra content for Photoshop on the official Help page:
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/plug-ins-photoshop-cs61.html
I also found some extra content for Ps Extended here:
https://www.photoshop.com/products/photoshop/3d
Thank you so much Bojan! We will add that to the list there.
We are currently using the CS4 suite. We have 6 licenses for this version. Can you tell me what the cost would be to update to the latest version?
Thank you.
Welcome Laura, you’ll find current upgrade pricing for all Creative Suite products on Adobe’s page here:
Upgrading to CS6 from Earlier Versions
Note that upgrade discounts are not available to CS6 from CS4, however there are discounts offered for upgrading from CS3, CS4, CS5.x, or CS6 to the Creative Cloud.
Creative Cloud (instead of CS6) would be the way to go at this point, since it appears that CS7 may be coming out soon.
In your case, since you have six seats, Adobe’s group/volume product is the Creative Cloud for Teams.
Hope this helps – feel free to post back with any further questions.
Hi, I have faced the same problem as well, however I have lost the Adobe Creative Suite CS4 CD! :(
However, when I logged on to my online Adobe account, my serial number is still intact – so what should I do, since now the Adobe website does not even provide CS4 trial demo downloads anymore…
And does the CS4 serial number work for CS6 trial demo downloads??
No, serial numbers from older versions of Creative Suite will not work on newer versions (nor the other way around) – each release has its own unique license key and they are not interchangeable.
However, the original CS4 free trial versions are still available for direct download from Adobe’s servers.
Are .eps files saved in Illustrator CS6 able to be opened in earlier versions of Illustrator (CS3 specifically)?
The print company I am working with can only accept CS3 formats and specifically asked for .eps files.
Good question! Never tried it but we’d expect it to work because EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) is an independent format, and PostScript is a page description language which hasn’t really changed much since 1997.
I recently ran into a CS6 Illustrator file at my office, we are CS5 based; instead of downloading a demo of CS6, just take the eps and run it through Distiller. It creates a PDF that can then be opened in any version of Illustrator.
My computer is old and i can not install the illustrator CS6 version, i’m still using CS3 and can not open a CS6 file.
Sorry – in many cases, CS3 tools won’t be able to open CS6 files – there’s a 5-year difference in age there… Photoshop is the application that’s most likely to be backwards compatible in such a case.
Sometimes it also depends on the features used in the CS6 file/project, if they existed in the CS3 version.
Hi,
I am working with cs4 on my computer at work, while someone else is using cs6. We both share files to work on.
My question is, if I open a cs6 file on my computer does it automatically save it in a different format, overwriting the original cs6 format?
When I open a cs6 file everything is in a clipping mask. So if I just wanted to open a cs6 file to say print it, would that corrupt the file format in anyway?
Hey Alanna, just opening a CS6 file in a CS4 tool won’t resave or rewrite the file in any way, or change the format… You would have to explicitly resave it to overwrite the original file.
So if all you want to do is open and print, then you shouldn’t have a problem with that process.
See the Best Practices section above for tips on how to proceed if you’re trying to do more than that.
@ProDesignTools
Thanks. I figured that but wasn’t sure.
Hi, I`m using PS-6 Illustrator, when I make any file by it but I can`t save.
I use PS-6 Illustrator Portable.
Please Solve me.
Hello Moshiur, unfortunately Adobe has never made any such product as “Illustrator Portable” or “Photoshop Portable” – so the behavior of whatever you put on your computer is completely unpredictable and dangerous, sorry:
Warning About Adobe Software Piracy
Hello, can I really save cs6 to cs5, then cs5 to cs4, then cs4 to cs3, then cs3 to flash 8? When I try to open my sprite .fla in flash 8 (it’s some flash 8, because my cs6 is spanish and I do not understand, I just say “si” thingy.) Then it says “Unexpected file format.” when I try to open it in flash 8. So can I really save cs6 to cs5, then cs5 to cs4, then cs4 to cs3, then cs3 to flash 8?