Old Indesign versions not available except for $$$ now. [Trying to open PageMaker 5 file]

[buzzalong1]

After wasting 30 minutes of my valuable life with an ignorant CS rep, I realize now that I have to pay (AGAIN) for an older version (which I paid for over 30 years).  I have an old file from 2003 without an extension so not sure what version will open it.   Does anyone have an old version that could possibly upgrade this file for me?  

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Since the OP has abandoned the issue anyway, it's all moot at this point! 🙂

Sorry, I misread. the threads here get out of whack pretty easy

[Per Berntsen]

Adobe changed the policy for downloading older versions in 2019.

Since then, you can only download the current version and the version preceding the current version.

Older versions are no longer available for download.

This is surely something support should have been able to tell you.

[BobLevine]

Not only that but downloading old perpetual versions hasn't been possible in many years.

[Per Berntsen]

Not only that but downloading old perpetual versions hasn't been possible in many years.

By @BobLevine

Are you sure? The way I remember it is that before the change in 2019 you could download at least all the CS versions, and Lightroom back to version 1. Not that it matters much ...

[Pariah Burke]

Per is right: we could previously download all prior versions, at least people like Community Experts and other education/support professionals if not the general community. There was a website and an FTP server with all the old versions. Serial numbers we had to request through channels, but the software was always available.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Not only that but downloading old perpetual versions hasn't been possible in many years.

By @BobLevine

You still can - if you have it registered:

Unfortunately, I haven't registered CS6 😞

[BobLevine]

Wow. I thought they pulled those long ago. Not that they're going to do too many people any good. With activation servers getting cut off and no resets anymore, those old versions are getting very long in the tooth.

[buzzalong1]

Thank you - now my mind is at peace that I've looked under every rock.  I apologize that we all spent so much time on this ... I did complete the Adobe report card on the agent and hopefully they will elevate his training.  You are very kind and smart.

[Pariah Burke]

I did tell the original poster to do exactly that in comment one. They said they had. I was going to do the same, but you beat me to it.

[Per Berntsen]

I did tell the original poster to do exactly that in comment one. They said they had. I was going to do the same, but you beat me to it.

By @Pariah Burke

I overlooked that when replying.

In any case, there were 18 references to PageMaker 5, but none at the beginning of the file.

[Pariah Burke]

Gotcha. Nice work.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

The Pagemaker 5 references you see are modules that are used by PM in versions above v5. Even if you opened a 7.0 file in a text editor, you would find these same references. This is not indicative of the file version.

In any case, the file is actually a PM6.0 file (I have restored its resource fork).

Some of the images are embedded, which I have extracted, but many are missing links. And the fonts will need to be sourced, but I have, like @Robert at ID-Tasker, have successfully converted it to ID, but it seems the OP doesn't care. !! If you change your mind @buzzalong1 , let me know