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Vincent323324218wm9
Participant
February 16, 2026
Question

How to install previous version of Illustrator v28

  • February 16, 2026
  • 10 replies
  • 650 views

Hello, We have $7k worth of plugins from a third party, which never expire; however, they only work with Illustrator 28.  Adobe Creative Cloud no longer offers versions prior 29.  How can we get this older version? Thanks, Vincent

10 replies

Participant
May 19, 2026

Jumping on here because I have a similar issue ~ I recently had to upgrade to a new laptop (both using Windows 11). I was using Illustrator 28.5 before, and need to install it again on my new device to maintain compatibility with my previous workflow. I can provide my Adobe ID via DM. Any help would be sincerely appreciated!

Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
May 20, 2026

Hello ​@Cy5FBE 

 

I have sent you a DM. Kindly check.
 

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Anubhav

VictoriaOP
Participant
May 13, 2026

Hi ​, i need also Illustrator 28.0
Im using Windows 11 pro. Please Help me, i need it asap.

[Personal info removed by moderator]
@Anubhav M ​@Abhishek Rao 

Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
May 13, 2026

Hello ​@VictoriaOP 

 

Thanks for sharing the details. I have sent you a DM. Kindly check.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.
Anubhav

j.rickell
Participant
May 20, 2026

I downloaded Catalina but I need the Adobe Illustrator 2020 I guess. Can you please assist? Thanks!

Juan Miguel23094522j7qz
Participant
April 23, 2026

I need llustrator v28. Please help

Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
April 23, 2026

Hello ​@Juan Miguel23094522j7qz 

 

Thanks for reaching out. Could you confirm the version of the OS installed and your Adobe ID (email address) so we can better assist you?

 

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav

Juan Miguel23094522j7qz
Participant
April 24, 2026

Hello Anubhav,

Thank you for your response.

The OS installed is Windows 11 Pro, and the Adobe ID email address is ******

Please let me know if you need any additional information.

Best regards,
[Personal Information removed by moderator]

Amelia Jack
Participating Frequently
April 21, 2026

To obtain Illustrator v28 (2024), open your Creative Cloud Desktop app, click the three dots (... "More actions") next to Illustrator, and select "Other versions" to find and install it. If v28 is no longer listed, you will need to contact Adobe Customer Care for specialized access, as they usually support only N-1 or N-2 versions. 

 

Adobe Help Center +4

MattAbundes
Participant
March 23, 2026

I have contacted Customer Support but they weren’t very helpful. Did you have any luck downloading Version 28. I also need this version to run my equipment.

Marlakenya24300373n6w6
Participant
March 4, 2026

Did you ever find out how to get the version? I am in need of it as well,

Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
March 5, 2026

Hello ​@Marlakenya24300373n6w6 

 

Thanks for reaching out. Could you confirm the version of the OS installed and your Adobe ID (email address) so we can better assist you?

 

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav

Marlakenya24300373n6w6
Participant
March 5, 2026

I sent you a DM

Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
February 20, 2026

Hello ​@Vincent323324218wm9 

 

Thanks for reaching out. Could you confirm the version of the OS installed and your Adobe ID (email address) so we can better assist you?

 

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav

MattAbundes
Participant
March 24, 2026

I also need Version 28 to run my equipment. How can i download it?

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Community Manager
March 24, 2026

Hi ​@MattAbundes,

 

Thanks for reaching out. I’ve sent you a DM with a few details to help move this forward. Please check it and share the requested information there. Also, please note that Adobe supports only the current and previous (N and N-1) versions of Creative Cloud apps as per the support policy. Ref: Adobe's Creative Cloud support policy

 

Looking forward to your response.

Abhishek

Community Expert
February 20, 2026

I think Adobe should relax its policy on prior versions of Creative Cloud. It's not good for some users to get their work flow impacted because they can't use a build of Illustrator two or more versions back from the current build.

 

People make mistakes and accidentally remove prior versions of Illustrator when installing a newly released version. There is no undo button when making that mistake.

 

The original poster of this thread is using expensive industry specific plugins for Illustrator. It is very common for the makers of such plugins to take a long time to update those plugins to make them compatible with the current version of the host application. In the sign industry there are people using third party Illustrator plugins to control vinyl cutter/plotter machines. Depending on the brand of plugin it may go a long time between updates. Those users are taking a serious gamble if they update to a new version of Illustrator and remove the previously installed version. There is no guarantee the plugin is going to be forward compatible with the new version of Illustrator.

 

I still have Illustrator 28 installed alongside version 30 due to a different work flow issue. At my work place I move a lot of artwork between CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator. There were already existing pain points with taking .AI files exported by CorelDRAW and opening them in Illustrator. With versions 29 and 30 of Illustrator, if I try to open an .AI file exported by CorelDRAW and that file contains any live text objects the file won't open. I'll see the good old "Illustrator could partially read this file" error box. The file opens with a blank page and no content. I have to open the .AI file in Illustrator 28 and then re-save it so it will open in Illustrator 30.

 

It's good that Adobe offers all the previous builds of the previous version of Illustrator. If they would offer older versions to download/install in the CC app it might be good enough for them to just offer the last final build of that version. In the case of Illustrator 28 that would be version 28.7.10. They could do the same for version 27, 26 and how far back they would be willing to go. I think offering Illustrator builds back as far as version 25 would be good enough.

 

Also, I think users needing those older versions would probably accept the fact those versions are no longer getting any sort of updates; they would have to accept any remaining technical issues that might exist with those builds.

creative explorer
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 20, 2026

@Bobby Henderson whenever I update my software, I always keep my previous version just in case—I need to roll back. I guess, I have learnt from the past and you just do what is necessary. That’s why I am always surprised people are so gung-ho on updating to the greatest updates. I usually wait a week to 2 weeks, because jobs are on a deadline, and updating an app mid-stream a job can be, well, nasty! 

There must be a good reason why they don’t offer previous version more than the previous build? 

m
Community Expert
February 20, 2026

The only reasons I can think of for why Adobe makes only the immediate previous version of their apps available is to save on server space and also reduce a certain amount of customer support that could be related to older versions. My feeling is if they offered downloads of Illustrator versions 28 down to maybe version 25 the end user would be on their own. The builds wouldn’t be “officially supported.” That’s how I would handle it.

I might be quick to upgrade to the latest versions of Illustrator, Photoshop, etc. I even try out the beta applications to test upcoming new features. But I don’t upgrade and remove old versions. You never know what sort of compatibility issues might occur.

I don’t know why my previous reply to you didn’t go underneath your post. It went out to the root portion of the discussion “tree.”

creative explorer
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 20, 2026

@Bobby Henderson ditto, I am using a MacBook that has Illustrator 28.0 and was undecided if I wanted to use the OpenCore Legacy Patcher for my Macbook so that it can run Tahoe and the other latest versions… than thought, I can just add the newer apps on my wife’s PC instead. Problem solved. Except, I am not a big fans of PC! This is one of the reasons why I have ‘Auto-update’ turned off on my MAC and her PC as well because of all these weird bugs. 

I do see the app on my MAC, but I don’t think the 3 gig app would actually work that way by dragging it to the Cloud and letting someone else use it—even if they legitimately purchased it. Adobe Support should be able to provide you the legit downloadable link. 

If not, you could use Wayback Machine? Maybe not as secured...

m
Community Expert
February 16, 2026

I would try contacting Adobe’s customer support and see if they could help and give you a download link to a version 28 installer. The installers in the Creative Cloud app go back only one version. I’m trying to protect an Illustrator 28 installation on my setup due to a different issue with versions 29 and 30.