CS6 32-bit Catalina

[Andrew1587]

So, about 8 years ago, I purchased the entire CS6 suite thinking "Cool, I'll have access to Adobe and never have to worry about it again".  Boy was I wrong.  I own CS6 for Mac.  Recently Mac stopped supporting 32-bit applications.  CS6 is 32-bit. 

So, I contacted Adobe to see what we could work out.  Long story short, CS6 was a bit of a bait and switch scam.  Adobe "moved' all of that software to the cloud suite and started asking people to pay monthly.  I paid a large lump sum up front, so I don't want to pay monthly on top of that, but there Adobe won't support their software in a 64-bit environment in any other way.  On top of that, they had the audacity to tell me that "It's Apple's fault, you should contact them", which I did. 

Apple's only support for this is to back up my 8 years worth of data on the machine, wipe the drive, install an older version of the OS from scratch, then put my files back and re-install all of my software and never update the OS again.

So, I tried (in vain) to install Mojave on VirtualBox, dumped several hours into that, and still can't run Illustrator.

So, super frustrated right now, and I can say with certainty that I will never give another dime of my money to Adobe.  I will download some third party PoS and force myself to learn it before I'm willing to give Adobe any of my hard earned money again after this bait and switch.  I recommend anybody who's considering Adobe right now turn away.

[Barbara Ash]

I have CS6 installed as a 64 bit application. I think you should be able to do the same.

[Manan Joshi · Accepted solution]

Hi Barbara, I doubt that is going to work. Catalina supports only CC2019 onwards only. There were other parts of the application that were still 32 bit even if the main application was 64 bit so in effect it does not work. See the following

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/fix-macos-64-bit-compatibility-errors.html

@Andrew :- You could install an older version of MAC OS on an external drive and install CS6 on that, I have tried this and works fine for me.

-Manan

[Barbara Ash]

Good point. I have a Mac, but CS6 is installed on my Windows boot. One of the nice things about a Mac is that you can have both operating systems.

[Test Screen Name]

" I can say with certainty that I will never give another dime of my money to Adobe. "  It sounds like that was your plan anyway. Did you seriously think that, when you install an incompatible system, they would provide a free update for people who stopped upgrading because they didn't want to pay?

[Test Screen Name]

By the way, in planning future purchases, be aware that 8 years is probably the longest Apple have EVER gone without breakling all apps. They have said they will do it all over again in a couple of years, so you'll need to buy whatever you buy again. Indeed, apps you pay for on Catalina may not work in Big Sur, in a couple of months. It's all part of the Joy Of Mac.