Participating Frequently

Question

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

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
November 22, 2024
3 replies
3422 views

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?

jmlevy

Community Expert

I have an old file from 2003 without an extension

Are you sure that it is actually an InDesign file?

If you want to share your file, someone (including me) can have a look.

Edit: @BobLevine was faster than me…

B

buzzalong1Author

Participating Frequently

Trying again ... Thanks - I'm attaching below. It did not have an extension so I added .INDD. I've tried doing that to open it, but no good. I'm guessing it's version 7.0.

BobLevine

Community Expert

"An additional complication is that in order to open the PM5 file in PM 6, 6.5 or 7 you would have to open it on the same platform it was created on."

This is incorrect. InDesign doesn't care about the platform. That only applies to converting between versions of PM between the platforms.

As for the lack of extension on the Mac files, adding one is not necessary. One only needs to open the file using the File > Open > Enable : All Documents. If it's a file version (in this case PM6.0) that InDesign can open, it will work, Mac OR PC.

Brad, I wasn't referring to InDesign. The discussion was about Pagemaker and getting a PM file to version 6 or later to open in InDesign. The only way to do that is to open it in a later version of PM which has to be on the same platform.

Of course we've now ascertained that the file in question is a PM6 file so that point is moot.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Without an extension? How do you know it's an InDesign file? Have you tried to add the INDD extension?

What happens when you try? Do you get an error message? If so, what is it?

Pariah Burke

Community Expert

Any version of InDesign will open any previous version's files. I've opened InDesign 2.0 (2001) files in InDesign CC 2024.

Try setting the extension to .INDD and opening it in your current version of InDesign. If that doesn't work, change the file extension to .inx and try again. If THAT doesn't work, open the file in Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac) and look toward the top of the file for information about what kind of file it is.

B

buzzalong1Author

Participating Frequently

Well, no. None of those things work. Is InDesign CC 2024 somehow different from regular old Indesign 2024 (20.0). I'd love to see how you opened a 2.0 file in 20.0. Adobe can't tell me it's possible.

Pariah Burke

Community Expert

Your wish is my command. Here's a video of me doing exactly that just now... Sort of. The oldest INDD I had access to on this computer is from 2003, so that was InDesign version 3 (CS) rather than 2.0 that made the file.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dvf0wnpgjcymruejxjmq0/InD-2024-opens-ID-2-file.mp4?rlkey=34oifo46xnd2pwt8y5pyk9rls&dl=0

If you can put your InDesign document on some cloud storage (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.), I'll be happy to try to open it and convert it to a more modern InDesign version. Do you want 2025, 2024, 2023, or 2022 version? Private message me the location, and I'll try to convert it during business hours (Pacific time) tomorrow, Friday, 2024-11-22.

Incidentally, when I said "InDesign CC 2024" I meant the same version you're talking about. InDesign is part of Creative Cloud, so that's the CC. There's no difference other than the way people refer to it.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded