What is the last version that worked with Windows 7?

[Lee James]

I'm still using InDesign CC 2018 (on Windows 7) and have been wondering about updating to the October 2020 (16.0) release.

This page says it works with Windows 7:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/system-requirements/2020.html

While this page says it doesn't:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/user-guide.html/indesign/system-requirements.ug.html

So which is telling the truth? And what's the most recent version that works with Windows 7?

Not only have Adobe abandoned Windows 7 users, but there is so little information out there about which versions will work. As a designer, there is no way I could ever install anything as hideously ugly as Windows 10, and since I loathe Macs, it leaves me in a difficult situation. If Adobe would support Linux, I would definitely take the leap to Linux, but since design is my .

[Lee James]

…since design is my whole life, I can't move to Linux if there's no Adobe.

(This site truncated my message and won't let me edit it!)

[rob day]

Same with OSX, one gives High Sierra as the latest and the other has it as Mojave. 

[Laubender]

Hi Lee James,

I think there is an error in the help pages of InDesign.

If I start from here to see into the minimum system requirements for earlier versions of InDesign:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/system-requirements/earlier-versions.html

I could go on to the minimum requirements for version 14.0 ( InDesign 2019 ) which still supports Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit) with Service Pack 1:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/system-requirements/2019.html

But if I use the link for version 15.0 ( InDesign 2020 ) I seem to land on a page where the minimum requirements are listed for version 16.0:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/system-requirements/2020.html

However the page's name says "2020" and not "2021" what it should if it is showing specs for version 16.0.

That's confusing. To sum this up: I really don't know if Windows 7 (64-bit) with Service Pack 1 is still supported; but I'm quiete sure that you can install version 15.0 ( InDesign 2020 ) on Windows 7 (64-bit) with Service Pack 1.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[rob day]

Looks like the new versions will not install on High Sierra, so this link is not right for OSX

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/system-requirements/2020.html

[BobLevine]

Still supported on Windows 7 but that doesn't hold true for other CC apps and that's where the confusion came in. And don't be fooled by that 4GB RAM requiement. Anything less than 16GB is going to be painfully slow.

That said, I disagree with you vehemently about Windows 10. It's rock solid. You don't like it, don't rant at Adobe...Microsoft doesn't even support Windows 7 anymore.

As for Linux, don't make laugh. Adobe is the business of making money, the cost to develop Linux versions of all of this software would run into the tens of million of dollars per application. It'll never happen.

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Some news on what operating systems InDesign 2021 version 16.0 is installable.

This page is showing the right minimum requirements:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/user-guide.html/indesign/system-requirements.ug.html

To sum this up for Lee James:

InDesign 2020 version 15.0 is the last one you can install with Windows 7 (64-bit) with Service Pack 1.

InDesign 2021 version 16.0
No support for Windows 7 (64-bit) with Service Pack 1.
No support for Mac OS X 10.13 (High Sierra)

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Lee James]

Thanks, Laubender! Really helpful 🙂

Thanks also, Mr Levine. Believe me, that was not a 'rant' against Windows 10, just a very brief explanation of why I (and a third of Windows users) don't use Windows 10. I care about the way things look, and just looking at Windows 10 makes me feel sick, I could never install it. (Then again, Adobe's GUIs have been veering toward ugliness in recent years, with an increasing trend toward white text on black, which I cannot bear.) For me, the way things look comes first above all else.

As for Linux development costing tens of millions of dollars. Gosh, that seems a lot. Adobe already has the software design and code in place, so it's only a matter of making it compatible. There are plenty of good coders out there who would work at a reasonable rate. Adobe could start with just Photoshop and see how it pans out. Perhaps that's optimistic or naive of me, but that's how I see it.

[BobLevine]

Naive would probably be the best word to use. As for the Adobe GUIs, they're all over the place and I've been screaming about the horrid InDesign UI scaling on Windows for years. Nobody with any power to do anything about it cares.

As for Win 7 vs Win 10, like all things, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but the market share has nothing to do with the interface...it's more about enterprise deployment and IT departments that are always years behind.

At some point, you're going to have no choice at all.

[Lee James]

> At some point, you're going to have no choice at all.

I do have a choice - I'll stick with old verisons, even if that means permanently sticking with CS6 from 2012.

To be fair, I was quite happy with Creative Suite. Everything seemed much more stable and less buggy back then. The GUIs were much nicer, with *vastly* more tolerable splash screens. Plus I got to own the software forever (and still do, of course).

For me, Adobe haven't added any features in the last 8 years that I find indispensable. Nothing on my wishlist has been implemented yet. ID has improved very little, while Premiere Pro just seems to get worse all the time and I'm so sick of it that I'm likely going to move to DaVinci Resolve (which does run in Linux). The only feature I'd genuinely miss about CC is Photoshop's "Preserve Details 2.0" scaling, which is useful, though I can replace it with the good old PhotoZoom plugin.

The only Adobe program I genuinely think goes from strength to strength is After Effects, with very worthwhile and useful new features being added in each release. It will be a shame to lose out on that, but the draw of AE isn't strong enough to get me to install Win 10. I'd seriously rather change career than have to use Win 10!