I have Macromedia Fireworks 6. What is the latest version and how do I upgrade?

[tony26189283ymor]

I have Macromedia Fireworks 6. What is the latest version and how do I upgrade?

[rayek.elfin]

When you write "Fireworks 6" do you mean Fireworks MX or Fireworks CS6?

If you have MX, the only way to "upgrade" to CS6 is to rent the entire CC suite. Then CS6 becomes available as a legacy app which is no longer developed or supported by Adobe since 2013.

If you are running CS6: congrats, you are already on top of things and have the latest (read: last and final) version of Fireworks.

[tony26189283ymor]

Thanks

[tony26189283ymor]

If I rent CC Suite for 1 month will I get all of the CS6 products?

Will they all install on my pc independent of the cloud?

If I stop renting the CC Suite, will I still have the CS6 products?

[rayek.elfin]

No, renting CC gives you access to the latest versions of all apps and for actively developed and supported ones like Photoshop, Premiere, InDesign, etc. you will only have access to two previous versions.

You will not have access to any CS6 apps, exept for Fireworks CS6 (as far as I am aware), because that was the final Fireworks release.

To install any of the CC apps you must install these via the Adobe Creative Cloud app, but once installed you only need internet access once every month or three months (not sure) in order for the CC app to check your license.

If you stop paying the rent, you lose access to all Adobe software.

[tony26189283ymor]

You're telling me that to get Fireworks CS6 I have to pay $600-$1000 per year.  That's absurd.  There must  be some way to get Fireworks CS6 (and Dreamweaver CS6) for a reasonable one-time price.

[rayek.elfin]

It is what it is. The only legal path to a perpetual (one-time cost) license of any CS6 version is to scour eBay for unopened boxed copies, and pray that those are actual official versions.

But more often than not it turns out that cracked copies are sold instead. And even if you are lucky enough to find a legal unopened boxed copy, it may still not be possible to activate it via Adobe, because Adobe has retracted whole series of serial numbers to prevent piracy of CS6 and the sale of "educational" versions.

In short, the only legal and safe option is to access Fireworks CS6 is to rent the entire CC suite. Which would be, I agree, at an exhorbitant price if it is only FW that you'd be interested in. And you'd still not be have access to Dreamweaver CS6 since only the two previous versions can be installed and CS6 is too old!

To be honest, I regard Fireworks CS6 as abandonware. I do rent the entire CC suite, but I could not get Fireworks to run properly, but needed it to convert older files and decided to download a "portable" version of Fireworks. Which is also fraught with danger: very easy to pick up a virus and ruin your Windows. I wouldn't advice it unless you know what you are doing.

Btw, if you just need to convert Fireworks files, consider the free online Photopea editor: it reads layered Fireworks files, and allows you to save the file as a PSD (and as other file formats).

[tony26189283ymor]

Thanks for the explanation.

So adobe is useless for casual users like me. 

Too bad.

[Paul-M]

You might be better looking at Affinity ... no subscription

[rayek.elfin]

Or PhotoLine. No sub either. 😉

[Nancy OShea]

Fireworks is discontinued, unsupported legacy ware.  It hasn't received any updates in a more than a decade.

If you have a paid Creative Cloud all apps plan and a computer that can still support it, Fireworks CS6 is the last version Adobe released.  Tick the box to Show older apps in your Creative Cloud Desktop App.  

Fireworks alternatives.
===========
- Illustrator CC: https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator.html
- Photoshop Elements: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html
- Photoshop CC: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html
===========
- Affinity Photo & Affinity Designer: https://affinity.serif.com
- CorelDRAW Graphics Suite: https://www.coreldraw.com/
- GIMP: https://www.gimp.org/
- Gravit Designer: https://www.designer.io/en/
- Inkscape: https://inkscape.org/
- Krita: https://krita.org/
- Paint.NET: https://www.getpaint.net/
- PaintShop Pro: https://www.paintshoppro.com/
- PhotoPea: https://www.photopea.com/
- Photo Pos Pro: https://www.photopos.com/PPP3_BS/Default.aspx
- Pixlr: https://pixlr.com/
- Vctr: https://vectr.com/

Hope that helps.

[rayek.elfin]

Hi Nancy,

I notice that PhotoLine is missing in your list... 🙂

Cheers!

[Nancy OShea]

I dread updating my Macros for fear of breaking all the links. Sorry.

[Paul-M]

Just save yourself a lot of time looking through all the lists, if you are not prepared to pay for a full Adobe subscription, and go the Affinity route. I used Fireworks since v3 and share the same feeling like you and a lot of people who are disappointed with what Adobe did to it, Affinity is by far and away the nearest thing, you have two options:

1) Buy Affinity Designer which has most of the features of Fireworks bar  a few and some extras features.

2) If you want to go for Fireworks on steroids you can buy Affinity Publisher, Photo and Designer and take advantage of something called Studio Link which allows you to use the features of all three Affinity apps effectively in one app. It is a very useful feature.

**I'm not affiliated to Affinity and no have vested interest, just my opinion as someone who has looked at all the alternatives...

[tony26189283ymor]

Thanks for the info

[Daniel Kramer]

Tony, what did you end up doing?

[Nancy OShea]

@Daniel Kramer,

Do you need help with something?