Older versions

[pärn86740650]

I need to install an older version of InDesign, maybe from 2023 or 2024. Isn’t that possible? My computer, Mac Pro 5.1 from 2012, is too old for the current version. I try to copy an folder with InDesign from a external drive, but that doesn’t work either.

Besides, this system with renting the apps for a lot of money per month isn’t good. Much better before when you bought them on DVD, registered your name and got a product key. Why does everything need to be online? Some illness of present time.

[Manan Joshi]

Adobe provides only the latest two versions of the creative cloud apps for download. So for InDesign that would be the 2026 and 2025 versions i.e. version 21 and 20. If you need any other version other than these then you are out of luck.

-Manan

[Eugene Tyson]

On the “owning” vs “renting” point even back in the DVD days, you never owned the software itself. You bought a license to use it, and that license was always subject to terms and conditions.

The presence of a DVD and a serial number didn’t grant an eternal or transferable right to run the software on any future machine or OS. Licenses were

• OS-specific
• hardware-limited
• governed by EULAs that could (and did) change over time

The main difference today is how the license is delivered and enforced, not the legal reality of ownership. Subscription licensing makes that more visible, which understandably frustrates people, but it didn’t change the fundamental model.

You can fairly criticise subscriptions on cost, long-term access, and dependency on online services but it’s not accurate to say that software was ever truly “owned” in the way physical goods are.

[BobLevine]

You can contact Adobe directly and see if they'll help you out but I wouldn't count on it. Instead, I would suggest that it's time to shop for a new computer.

[leo.r]

My computer, Mac Pro 5.1 from 2012, is too old for the current version.

By @pärn86740650

Check this thread for info on OCLP that allows you to install newer versions of macOS on unsupported Macs (provided you're also willing to deal with the drawbacks of this solution as also mentioned in that thread):

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/do-i-need-a-new-computer-to-use-indesign-my-mac-...