Indesign CC now FORCES CS2 Files to Open Only in CC?

Just for those seeking this still, the behaviour experienced by the op should be noted as normal behaviour.

The file extension (eg: .indd - the last part of the file name after the period) is what the OS uses to associate the file to a given application. If you have MS Word installed, and double-click on a .doc or .docx file, Windows needs to know how to handle that file. It uses the extension of the file name to associate it with a given application - in this instance, MS Word.

If you didn't have MS Word installed, and double clicked on a .doc wile, it will open it in WordPad. If you double click on a .docx file, it won't have an association, ask you to choose an application to open it with.

With regards to have two applications that can handle the same file extension, Windows will have a default association with one of those applications. If you wanted to open the file with the other, non-default-association application, you need to right click the file and select Open With from the context menu, then choose the application you want to open it with.

On Mac OS X, the behaviour is a little different. OS X will have the default handler like Window, but then you can set a specific file (or files) to open in a different application by right clicking the file, selecting Get Info, then clicking the Change button in the info window, choosing the application, and that file will now open in the specified application - while the rest of the files with the same extension will open in the system-wide default. If you click Change All, then it changes the system default for all files.

By default, both Windows and Mac OS hide the file name extensions and they need to be turned on in view settings.

A final note, an update or installation of an application can and may change the default application association. If CC updates, it might very well reset custom associations you have set. If this happens, reset them to your desired preference again.

I hope this helps to clear this up for those looking for the same answer.

laurenl66039085  wrote 8. NOTE: If Adobe is attempting to force users of old versions its software to update to CC, that tactic won't work -- at least not on me. It's cheaper to buy a second desktop (or laptop) and run CS2 on it than to subscribe to CC; I already have a second desktop and laptop. Pfft!

Hi Lauren,

Any chance you can run CC on that second desktop? I keep a second computer with an older OS and older software and that's what I do for my clients when I need to work in an older version.

When you right-click an InDesign File in Windows File Explorer, what does it say is the default program to open .indd files? If it does not say CS2, can you change it and see if that works?

~ Jane

What version of Windows are you running that actually will run both CS2 and CC? Whatever it is make  sure that you never update it or your program cohabitation will end.

I realize that CC files are not backwards compatible to CS2. I also realize a user cannot save a CC file to anything before...what...CS6? I've been working with InDesign since it was PageMaker, before the program was bought by Adobe.

Unfortunately, "backward compatibility" isn't the issue. The issue is:

1. My personal files have been designed in InDesign CS2 exclusively, and are in separate folders from CC files. (Unfortunately, the file suffix for InDesign has always been .indd )

2. CS2 and CC (full suites) have been installed and have run beautifully side by side on one desktop computer for at least two years.

3. As of today, InDesign CC has decided that InDesign CS2 files will no longer open in CS2. CC has abruptly decreed that CS2 files will open in CC. Adobe appears to have taken away the ability to open a CS2 file in CS2 if CC is installed on the same computer.

     a. This happens if the file is opened through double-clicking on the file name in the file directory with ONLY CS2 open; AND,

     b. If the file is opened through the <File> <Open> command in CS2.

     c. CC should not be involved at all, especially if the file has been created in CS2, has never been opened in any other version of Adobe, and is being opened in CS2 as it always has been.

4. These files were not created in any version of InDesign beyond CS2. They have also not been edited in any version of InDesign than CS2. They have also not been "saved or back-saved" to any other version of CS.

In short, the latest update of CC appears to instruct Windows 10 to open all InDesign files in the latest version of CC, no matter the user's wishes or the version the file was created/edited/always saved in.

It wouldn't be backwards compatible.