Looking for software Adobe pro 6.5

[jensee]

I am looking for some help in reprinting a book I authored.  However the publishers are  out of business.  They used Adobe pro 6.5.  I have a disk and it is readable but that's it.  I need to either acquire software Adobe pro 6.5 or find a way to transfer it so it can be given to another publisher to print copies. We would like to keep the same format.  It has pictures and tables.  The only editing would be the publisher page.  If  you have questions ask if this isn't clear.  Otherwise, if you can help let me know  Thank you

[Per Berntsen · Accepted solution]

I suspect that you mean Adobe PageMaker 6.5, which was released in 1996.

Version 7 was released in 2001, and development stopped in 2004.

Even if you could get hold of it, you would most likely not be able to install it on a modern computer.

PageMaker was replaced by InDesign, and the last version that was able to open PageMaker files was CS6, which is also obsolete, and no longer available. Also, the conversions were not perfect, and there could be a lot of tidying up to do in the converted files.

You might get better help in the InDesign forum, a moderator should move this thread for you.

(this forum is for issues with the forums themselves)

Moderator: Please move to InDesign

[Derek Cross]

Another approach might be to scan a printed copy of the book (assuming you haven't got a PDF of it).

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Do you by any chance have a PDF file of the book? It is fairly easy to extract the content and layout from a PDF and rebuild the book in InDesign.

Check the files on the disk for a (probably) fairly large file (2-10MB, or more) with a .PDF extension.

Send me a PM if you want to discuss resurrecting your book from such a file. (Can't help if it's a PageMaker file, but I suspect others here can.)

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[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Considering how little you need to change, it would be better to do this in PM and generate a new Print PDF master. I can do that for you, as well, I can do a quick conversion to InDesign "as is" for future use. ("As-is" means without regard to missing graphics/fonts/and layout reflow: Because of the differences in the programs, the tweaking to make the ID file match your old layout would take more time than it's worth for a reprint like this, but is something you can tackle at a future date)

PM me if interested.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Concur with the approach. I didn't notice the OP only wants to change one page.

And if he has a PDF, that new page can be created in anything and inserted.

Could be worse. I have book files here on IBM DisplayWriter disks... 😄

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[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Yah, I was going to mention to just drop in a new page into an existing PDF, but back then, a PDF workflow wasn't really in most printers' repertoires yet, so the possibility the OP has a Press-quality PDF is slim.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

It depends. I've been sending PDFs for print since at least the late '90s, and had workflows of submitting PS files before that. (I have yet, in mumble years, to send a printer a live doc file.)

But yes, especially with PM, the live file is probably what the printer got. Good thing some keep antique systems around. 🙂

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[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

I worked pre-press for a printer between 1991-2008, and our particular workflow was JUST becoming all PDF in  the last few years before I left. Before that, it depended on getting native files from the clients and making individual single-page EPSs for our RIP, and before THAT we were outputting files to film, separated, page by page for manual stripping on the table. Fun times.

[BobLevine]

Same. I was using Pagemaker 6.5 on Windows and started sending distilled PDFs in 1998 from Acrobat 4.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I went to work for a "desktop publishing" shop in 1990, and because it was MS/Windows based, it was out of step with all the print shops and legions of kitchen table designers who'd bought Macs. Sending work in edited PS form was half professional control and half required, because the shops we worked with didn't have Win boxes to accept live files. I learned a ton doing it all old-school craftsman style, a linear evolution from several years of using non-electronic layout methods and such.

I still remember a client/contract partner who had bought a Lisa, an Applewriter laser printer and all the options (extra external storage, all the programs, etc.) Ten grand on his kitchen table and the guy couldn't lay out a grocery coupon. We "fixed" a lot of projects with our shoddy, incapable Windoze systems where he'd gotten in over his head. But I'll stop before someone takes offense. 😄

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[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

I'm currently in the middle of giant PM restoration project for a client who has several books created in PM 4 through 7, that they never had any sort of PDF of. As I type this, I have my old Mac G3 and G4 tower to the left of me churning out postscript files to distill both print PDF masters for future reprints and "ebook" versions, and also doing rough ID conversions in case they ever want to revisit/update the designs. It's actually kinda fun.