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Participant
June 4, 2020
Answered

Need Pagemaker Plugin for InDesign

  • June 4, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 6882 views

I have old Pagemaker Files (specifically .pm6 files) which I need access to. 
I have downloaded an old copy of  InDesign CS6 and was able to open .pmd files but I get an error when trying to open .pm6 files.

I get an error that I need a plugin. And, of course, can't find it anywhere now. Any ideas?

Correct answer Brad @ Roaring Mouse

That's InDesign's general error when you try to open a file that it doesn't recognize. There actually is no plugin to be had since CS6, as Bob says, should open .pm6 files natively (In fact, I just tried one myself and it works). Perhaps there's some corruption in those files. I assume these are PC files? Try rename one with a different extension.. e.g. .p65. The file structures of the three PM's it can open atre very similar, and maybe you can trick it by changing to a different extension.

 

If you'd like, I can take a look at one of the files you are having trouble with and advise.

3 replies

Participant
March 6, 2021

I have been a user of PageMaker 6.5 for many years and was disappointed when it would not load on my new Windows 10 computer. I did stumble upon a potential work around.
On my Windows 10 computer, I was looking through a hard drive from an old computer (running windows 98) which was able to run PageMaker 6.5. Of course this hard drive had the operating system from the old computer since I had simply pulled the hard drive from the unit. Out of curiosity I double clicked on the PM65.EXE file. Much to my surprise, PageMaker 6.5 started. I reloaded PageMaker onto an old Windows XP laptop to have a more current operating system and smaller cleaner hard drive. I then cloned the hard drive of the laptop to a USB flash drive. I can now insert the USB drive into my Windows 10 computer and start PageMaker 6.5 from the flash drive. I did have to rename the "PM65.CNF" file to "PM65old.CNF" and let the program recreate the file in order to be able to save defaults. I haven't use it to extensively yet and I am sure I can probably streamline it to some extent. Some more experienced computer users can probably offer more improvements!

Frans v.d. Geest
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 6, 2021

PageMaker 6.5 Was released in... 1996! That is 25 years ago...! That is ancient software and you wete disapointed it would not run on Windows 10??  Geez...

Participant
December 4, 2021

Pagemaker 7.0 works well on Windows 10.

Brad @ Roaring Mouse
Community Expert
Brad @ Roaring MouseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
June 5, 2020

That's InDesign's general error when you try to open a file that it doesn't recognize. There actually is no plugin to be had since CS6, as Bob says, should open .pm6 files natively (In fact, I just tried one myself and it works). Perhaps there's some corruption in those files. I assume these are PC files? Try rename one with a different extension.. e.g. .p65. The file structures of the three PM's it can open atre very similar, and maybe you can trick it by changing to a different extension.

 

If you'd like, I can take a look at one of the files you are having trouble with and advise.

BobLevine
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 4, 2020

CS6 should open PM 6, 6.5 or 7 files. Are you sure those are really Pagemaker files?

Participant
June 20, 2020

Hello, can i get a link to download CS6 please, i have the same probblem trying to open .pmd files.

Legend
June 20, 2020

No, if you do not already have a licensed copy of CS6 already downloaded, there is no way to get it. Warning, scammers may contact you privately pretending to be Adobe staff. Adobe will never send you a private message asking you to email an account that isn't @adobe.com, or use Skype. Adobe never ask you for their password. These scammers want your Adobe info, credit cards, your money and control of your computer, please take care.