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Participant
October 19, 2024
Question

What duplicate Adobe programs should I delete?

  • October 19, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 296 views

Macbook Pro. I have multiple years pf Photoshop CS2,5,14,18 2024. Lightroom3,4,5, CC, CLASSIC, Bridge  CS5,2021, 2022, 2023 installed. I want to thin out my hardrive. What versions can I delete. I have used all versions over the years.

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2 replies

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 20, 2024

If you don't need them anymore, uninstall all but the most recent versions with Creative Suite/Cloud Cleaner Tool.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

 

Hope that helps.

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
Conrad_C
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 19, 2024

You can delete any versions that you no longer really use.

 

Some people leave old versions because they still like using some of the old features that have been removed over the years, such as 3D, Shake Reduction, or Lighting Efffects in Photoshop. Another reason is that some people have plug-ins, extensions, or other add-ons that stopped working in newer versions, so they need to keep an old version of an app to keep using those add-ons.

 

If nothing like that applies to you, you can delete the older versions.

 

But keep in mind that if you ever want to reinstall older versions, you might not be able to. In the Creative Cloud desktop app, only the last two major versions are available for installation so, for example, today you can no longer reinstall Photoshop 2021. And the online activation servers for versions like CS2 are no longer available, so even if you can reinstall, they can no longer be activated for use. So if you uninstall very old Adobe apps, that is probably going to be a permanent decision at this point.

 

When the big upgrades come every year, if you don’t want the older versions to clutter up your startup volume, you can set the Creative Cloud desktop app installer to Remove Old Versions. The picture below is how to set that if you have Auto-Update enabled, but  if you have that disabled, when you update manually there is a screen that pops up with the same options that you can adjust before the manual upgrade starts.