Opening InDesign CS5 documents in CS3?

[jameskiavi]

I found this helpful article about how to open a CS5 document in CS3.

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6d4da.html

Unfortunately this does me no good because I need to have CS4 in order to  pull it off. I only own CS3 and CS5. Is there another way to get a CS5 InDesign  document into CS3?

Please help!

[Peter Spier · Accepted solution]

The only way to get from CS5 to CS3 is to go through CS4 because CS5 doesn't know about .inx and CS3 doesn't know about .idml. You'll lose any features that are not supported, and you should expect some differences in line endings due to differences in the text engines. Going back is really not a recommended workflow.

What is the compelling reason, and how many files do you need to convert? A number of us would be willing to do one or two for you, but, as I said, this is NOT a good workflow, especially if they are going to make a round-trip.

[jameskiavi]

The reason I'm trying to go back to CS3 is because I've encountered a bug that crashes my InDesign CS5. Restarting InDesign causes it to crash again. Restarting my PC and then InDesign again still causes a crash. Not until I move my original InDesign file so that it fails to recover it can ID CS5 start again without crashing.

I was just hoping to have the option of working from the much more stable CS3 if I encounter this bug far too often.

In terms of features, there isn't anything in CS5 that I'm using that isn't in CS3.

I think for now I'll just try to muscle through CS5. Thank you for the offer though and I may take you up on it if need be.

[Peter Spier]

Maybe we should try to figure out why CS5 is crashing?

Any error messages? Crash reports?

[Guest]

Gosh Adobe have made things hard fro their clients here. I'm very annoyed at them at this presnt moment.

[Peter Spier]

Sounds like you've been living under a rock. If you need to collaborate with other users, all of you should be using the same version, which probably means someone (or maybe everyone, since the current version is CS5.5, with CS6 coming in the not-too-distant future) will need to upgrade, or you all need to have the same older versions installed. Upgrades to maintain compatibility with an advancing technology (not to mention getting the new features that will improve productivity or even allow you to do waht was previously impossible) are, as has been mentioned, an ordinary business expense. If you cannot budget for these expenses you probably need to look at whether you are really doing the right thing.

(Link modified by the Moderator ^VS)

[SoINTourism]

Perhaps the solution is to vote with your wallet. The gung-ho buy-every-update crowd is made up of professionals who appear to expect one another and the people they work with to have the latest and greatest version of InDesign. More power to them. However, my guess is that there is a significant group of others who are not in that category and who rely upon Adobe to be reactive and responsive to their needs. If Adobe insists on making the new version of a product incompatible with the last version, then perhaps the solution is to move to a product that will support prior versions and leave InDesign to the group of people who can justify buying every version. Based on Adobe's apparent lack of concern about the issue, I feel certain they believe that they can survive fine on just that group of professionals, and that they don't need the small people and companies who struggle just to get together enough money to buy one version, let alone version after version. If that's the direction Adobe wants to go, I say more power to them. By the way, what's the URL for Quark's Web site? Never mind ... I found it.

[BobLevine]

Adobe Creative Suite software is for profession use as is QuarkXpress which you will find has the exact same limitation. In fact, it’s more limited since it can only go back one version and with IDML InDesign can now go back two versions. I suspect that with CS6 IDML will continue to backsave to CS4.

For hobbiests or those with lesser needs there are plenty of low priced or open source alternatives.

Have you looked into Scribus (http://www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus)? On Windows you can look at Serif PagePlus, as well (http://www.serif.com/pageplus/).

Bob

[Jongware]

MrSunny wrote:

[...]. If Adobe insists on making the new version of a product incompatible with the last version, then perhaps the solution is to move to a product that will support prior versions[..]

That's not true, and not the issue in this thread.

[Peter Spier]

MrSunny wrote:

Perhaps the solution is to vote with your wallet. The gung-ho buy-every-update crowd is made up of professionals who appear to expect one another and the people they work with to have the latest and greatest version of InDesign.

Nobody is forcing you to upgrade. If you want to stay on the version you have, no problem, but you can't expect the rest of the world to stay there with you. That's not a problem if you aren't trying to work with native files in collaboration with other users. I do a lot of work with one printer locally. They made the decision to freeze at CS3 becasue it didn't make economic sense for them to buy new Macs and the expensive upgrades to both Adobe products and more importanly their RIPs which would be required to support CS4 or CS5 native files. I send them PDFs from newer versions. No issues. I also do some work for them in CS3 for their other clients when they need a file that they can update in-house later.

[KG698_]

Hi I am in need of having a file converted to CS3 is there anyone who can help me out asap? I forgot my client is CS3 and I am CS5. I would appreciate anyones help! I only have one file that needs opened and saved back. I have already made the .idml file.

Please help!

Thanks.

[KG698_]

I also need to add that I work on a Mac. Thanks

[Peter Spier]

If nobody has helped you yet, send me a Private Message (click my name and go to my profile) with a link to your file....

[kiski]

So, I've just come across this post and I identify with the frustration of many. As a single graphic designer working from my home who started with Quark v3, I eventually switched to InDesign because I was ticked with the ridiculous prices Quark used to charge to upgrade. I use Freehand which still works great for me to build logo files. Of course, FH will die with my next OS upgrade to 10.7. Thanks to Adobe for buying out the competition!

So, now I have to upgrade 3 apps from CS4 to CS6 by the end of December. Plus buy the User Manuals. Total of $700+. I wouldn't use Creative Suite enough to go that route. Creative Cloud is overkill for me in several ways. I hate the option whereby I MUST upgrade by Dec 31 or buy full versions. That's pure BS!

"Your focus becomes your reality"... I guess by the time you have posted here 37,000 you've helped a lot of people, but only have one way of looking at it... all or nothing. I bet there are many others who are in the same quandry as me with a lack of options forced on us by Adobe.

[MW Design]

I think Peter is simply being realistic about Adobe's "reality." Adobe has made it an all or nothing proposition.

RE the manuals. Do you really need physical manuals? As far as I know, you can download the PDFs. However, I find that the help here is usually more pertinent to a user's particular issue than combing through a manual. Usually a search here pulls up exactly what I have needed. If this works for you, save a buck or two and skip the manuals.

I feel your (financial) pain. I really wanted to put off the CS6 ID and Illy upgrades for a while longer. Budgeting for upgrades is to me like setting aside money for taxes. I don't like it, but I have to do it. Over the past 6 months, I have had to upgrade  a dozen or so software titles. Without saving up for it, I doubt I could have done so.

Take care, Mike

[BobLevine]

And this is where Creative Cloud comes in. No budgeting, no falling behind. And for $29.99/month for the first year it's a steal. Even the full price is a bargain.

Bob

[MW Design]

Except for people like me, Bob.

I only use, and will likely only use, ID and AI. It's break even at that point re the perpetual versus cloud licensing (the $30 cloud price). Budgeting for me can be as simple as skipping Starbucks several times a month and putting the money into a jar--and if I must, spare change. Same would apply to paying for the cloud service...but I am opposed to the cloud.

Take care, Mike

[BobLevine]

But...more and more people are going to Creative Cloud and that means that come April or May, those people will be running CS7 and you'll be behind, again. Remember, upgrades now come at you every 12 months.

Just to be clear, I don't care one way or the other but I think it's important for people to understand the ramifications of not staying current. Coming here and whining about Adobe being greedy is not going to help them and it's not going to change anything. Adobe is business to make money and the more they make the more they can invest in better software.

Bob

[MW Design]

No, it means that sometime within the next year I will upgrade again simply because I do not desire to be forced to pay full retail later on should I purposefully or accidentally skip an upgrade.

If I didn't ever have to return native files, I would stay at CS5.5. Pretty dang stable here. I have no past/current customers using CS6. My decision to upgrade at this time was simply having the spare cash else I would have put it off for a while longer.

Once CS7 is out, and if I were to have a client using it, I would use their deposit to upgrade too. But should I not get a client using CS7--and from past history, none of them are using the latest/greatest anyway--then I will upgrade sometime after its release and once I have spare cash or at least before CS8 (or if Adobe pulls the .5 thing again).

I hope you didn't take anything I wrote as whining. Didn't mean for it to come across that way. Adobe is perfectly free to do anything they want in my eyes. I may or may not like it, but it is their choice.

I did have a chuckle about your last sentance. Any enhancement from a greater revenue stream mostly goes to the stock holders, as well as an attempt to even out their quarterly reports for Wall Street. Judging from the past several versions, they are spending no more effort on programming from one version to the next. With the exception lately being throwing resources (time and money) into a cloud platform <g>.

Take care, Mike

[BobLevine]

Not you, Mike (as far as whining).

My point is that more and more are indeed moving to Creative Cloud. At

$600/year (after the first year) it's way cheaper than an upgrade and

comes with a ton of benefits including my favorite, unlimited DPS SE apps.

And my conclusion stands. My guess from your statement is that your

focus is mainly on print, but to dismiss the progress Adobe has made in

the digital area (yes, they still have a ways to go) is not fair. Adobe

isn't being run by idiots and in case you didn't know, they don't pay a

dividend.

Bob

[MW Design]

Yep, print and web design.

I don't think I am dismissing Adobe's ePub advancement. But everything I have done in that regard is for Kindle and the fastest means to that end I have posted.

Yes, if, like Peter mentioned, I owned a full suite, I would likely look into the cloud as much as I dislike the concept. And that goes for DPS as well. But I don't have clients beating down the door (zero, actually) requesting even a quote for anything beyond simple ePubs.

Nope, didn't know about the dividends. But in the main, stability in the revenue stream means it is more attractive to stock purchases and that likely makes more money for Adobe than software sales, or at least greatly enhances the overall picture.

I'll leave the thread alone now.

Take care, Mike

[kiski]

I agree with Mike. Right now I've got Photoshop, InDesign & Illustrator CS4 on Mac OSX10.6.8. I use Freehand for 15+ years and it won't work on 10.7.  Adobe bought the competition and won't upgrade it. That tells you a lot about their corporate philosophy! And will Illustrator CS6 open FH files?

Which means I have to upgrade my 3 apps before month end. I wonder how many casual users know that? Adobe leaves very few options - BUY (and upgrade yearly), or LEASE (Creative Cloud) forever. There are far too many unanswered questions to buy a perpetual subscription.

I quit using Quark years ago, because they became too big and too inflexible. Adobe is heading in the same direction.

[Peter Spier]

I tend to agree with Mike on this (though for those who can make good use of it, I continue to believe the cloud is a real bargain). I'm a print guy, and there hasn't been much in ID since CS5 that I felt was worth the price of the upgrade if I consider only the type of work I'm doing now. Perhaps I'll get into the epub thing at some point, but I'm not motivated in that direction at the moment. Mostly I keep current just to be able to answer questions here and in case I need to collaborate with users on the latest versions (it's more common I need to work in an older version, but it does happen).

Likewise, if I wasn't a suite owner and getting them all anyway (a decision I made for economic reasons when the first suite was released and I was much busier), I probably wouldn't bother to upgrade Photoshop or Illustrator, or probably even Acrobat. That said, I see the day coming when it will be cloud or nothing, and I don't think it's far over the horizon. We'll be able to use our antique applications for as long as the hardware to run them survives, but if we really want to call ourselves pros I think we need to look at software as an ongoing business overhead expense and build that cost into our pricing structures.

[MW Design]

Peter,

For ePub in its current state or capability, I will continue to use Jutoh. I have gotten Word and LibreOffice files from clients, they import great and away I go.

Where I will invest money in Adobe in this regard is if and when I need to build something interactive using DPS or whatever App maker is on Adobe's horizon. But not for simple ePubs.

Take care, Mike

[BobLevine]

If it's one file, you can email it to me and I'll save it back from CS4.

Don't expect miracles. Any new features will be lost or even worse, badly mangled.

Bob (Bob AT theindesignguy DOT com)