Reviving my old PS CS3 on a newer OS

[Shivi]

Hi all,
For years now, I have been using a very old version of Photoshop CS3 on my old computer. Since I do the bulk of my work in InDesign it has been working pretty good for me - I did not need any of the features of the newer versions, and the light agile old CS3 was doing just fine for me. However, since I recently upgraded my operating system (Mac OS Sonoma 14.5) - CS3 files are no longer supported by it, rendering my old CS3 useless. I still don't need a full blown newer version, and so I don't want to have to buy or license one. I just want my old Photoshop to work the way it did. Any ideas on how to get around this pothole?

[davescm · Accepted solution]

CS3 is not compatible with current Mac operating systems, nor can it be newly activated on any system (activation servers are shut down). Time to move on I'm afraid.

Dave

[Jeff Arola]

Apple depreciated using 32 applications starting with macOS Catalina 10.15.

The last macOS to support 32 applications is Mojave 12.x.x

https://support.apple.com/en-us/103076

What macOS were you using before upgrading to macOS Sonoma?

Apple doesn't really make it easy to go back to an older operating system without doing a fresh install of the older OS.

So you would need a Time Machine or some other kind of backup of the drive before attemting to go back to your old OS

And in the case of Photoshop CS3 it's even harder because one just can't simply reinstall CS3 because of the activation issue as mentioned by Dave.

Perhaps Photoshop Elements 2024 would work in place of Photoshop CS3?

https://www.adobe.com/products/elements-family.html

[Nancy OShea]

I still don't need a full blown newer version...

By @Shivi

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Uh.... yeah you do.  21 year old software is way beyond it's shelf-life.

MODERN OPTIONS:
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Photoshop Elements (no subscription needed).
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

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