I signed up for a free trial but it says my computer is not compatible.

[Samantha5F9B]

I wanted to download Indesign so I decided to start with the free trial which would turn into a full subscription. I went to download Adobe Indesign to my computer and it says that it is not compatible but it will not tell me the exact problem. I have a Macbook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, early 2015). I do not have any available updates to my computer. Can anybody please tell me what to do? I am new to this so I am not too familiar with computer language and a lot of this stuff doesnt make sense to me yet. TIA

[Manan Joshi · Accepted solution]

Your computer must match the system requirements for the application. See the requirements at the following

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

The computer hardware should be fine, i suspect you might have to update your OS.

-Manan

[Test Screen Name · Accepted solution]

You need to learn how to check system requirements, especially if you have an old computer, or you will waste a whole lot of time. The actual Mac model is almost never important. Look at the version of Mac OS from APPLE MENU > About this Mac. It will be something like 10.11.12. Tell us what you see, and tell us the amount of RAM or memory shown there.

[Samantha5F9B]

The version says OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 and the memory says 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3.

[Test Screen Name]

Thanks for your reply. I have one of those Macbook Pros, I think. El Capitan is the system it came with. There have been countless upgrades since then. 10.11 El Capitan gave way to 10.12 Sierra, 10.13 High Sierra, 10.14 Mojave and 10.15 Catalina. All of these will run on your system. 

This page https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/indesign/system-requirements.html shows the InDesign system requirements. InDesign CC 2020 needs "macOS version 10.15 (Catalina), macOS version 10.14 (Mojave), and macOS version 10.13 (High Sierra)". So you certainly can't run that without upgrading your system. If you subscribe for a year you can run the older InDesign 2019 for now, which needs "mac OS version 10.13 (High Sierra), macOS version 10.12 (Sierra), or Mac OS X version 10.11 (El Capitan)" - which is good. 

In the long term you should upgrade your system but get expert advice because system compatibility may well bite again, and your older apps will all stop working. 

If you are new to desktop publishing, please be aware that InDesign is a professional tool with a steep learning curve. Even experienced designers usually need professional training to be able to use it. 

[Samantha5F9B]

Thank you for your help! I took a course at my university where we used Indesign for the entire semester so I know how to use it I am just having trouble getting it on to my computer but your answer helped me a lot!