Okay, my turn: for some reason we haven’t been able to explain the deal when people are considering upgrading to the Creative Suite. I’ve seen lots of confusion in forums, emails, etc. lately, so, here goes:
Q. Can I upgrade from Photoshop to the Creative Suite?
A. Yes.
Q. Which versions?
A. All versions.
Q. If I upgrade Photoshop to the Suite, and later I decide I want to upgrade just Photoshop, can I do that?
A. Yes. As long as you still own that earlier copy (say, PS7) and have the serial number, you’re golden.
Q. What if I get an application (say, InDesign) for the first time as part of the Suite, and later I want to upgrade just that application (not the whole Suite). Can I do that?
A. No. For various legal reasons, a Suite isn’t a collection. So, you can’t upgrade just one piece of it.
To recap, if you owned Photoshop previously and want to upgrade to the Suite, you will have a choice of upgrades in the future. And if you owned InDesign, Illustrator, etc. on their own, you could upgrade them on their own in the future, even after upgrading the Suite. It’s only apps that you didn’t own outside of the Suite that need a Suite upgrade to move forward. Make sense?
If you have further questions or hear conflicting info, please let me know: jnack [at] adobe [dot] com.
an information graphic would help
I have bought into the CS system in the last year and love it.I know I will want to upgrade to CS2 soon.But I keep reading that I cannot just upgrade and that I must shell out hundreds for the whole package.Is this blog myth or the monetary truth?
I can easily imagine business reasons why Adobe would distinguish a “suite” from a collection for upgrade eligibility purposes. (For one, purchasers of a suite usually get a price break compared to purchasers if a single program, so it may be understandable that their upgrade option for a single program is limited.) I can also imagine technical reasons that could distinguish a suite from a collection of individual programs and complicate a single program upgrade. It is, however, hard for me to imagine a legal reason that would prevent Adobe from offering an upgrade of Photoshop alone to a purchaser of CS. Even if Adobe has licensing agreements that require distinguishing these dcircumstances for the purpose of calculating royalties, I doubt these would prevent Adobe from offering a single program upgrade from a suite, although perhaps at a slightly higher price than that charged to an original purchaser of the single program.
This news has piqued my interest. I have Photoshop 6, and have have been pondering upgrading to the newer version. But being able to upgrade to the complete suite is sounding like a great option.
Something I wonder though, is there an upgrade version specifically for upgrading from Photoshop alone, as opposed to the suite? I mean, I’ve taken a look on the Adobe collections page on Amazon, and am seeing “Adobe Creative Suite Standard CS2 Upgrade from Photoshop [Any Version]” and “Adobe Creative Suite Standard CS2 Upgrade” right below it. Is there a difference?
Thanks John this really helps understand more about the upgrade process. I still have one question however.
He’s my problem:
I bought the Video Collection 2.5 Pro when Photoshop was just CS. Then, Photoshop CS2 came out and I wanted to upgrade but then realized that if I did, I would have to buy it again when the next version of the Video Collection Pro comes out and I upgrade to it. This all assumes that there won’t be a “CS3” in the VC2 – then my point would be mute. I finally did upgrade because I’m a Photoshop junkie 🙂
Here’s my question:
If the next version of the Video Collection Pro comes out and it still has Photoshop CS2 in it, when I upgrade my Video Collection Pro can I get credit for “pre-buying” Photoshop CS2?
Shawn
Q. Which versions?
A. All versions.
so, I have an edu version of Photoshop 7 I bought for home use when I was a student, by definition of the word ‘all’, that would make me eligible for upgrade pricing to CS2?
Yes, that’s correct.
Okay, I have adobe creative suite 7 I want to upgrade to cs2 or just photoshop cs2 whats the next step?
Have been trying to upgrade fron CS Suite to
CS2 – when I use the install it runs to the license ageement BUT does not show the ageement and so I can’t continue.
ANY SUGESSTIONS??
Ken, check out the tech note at http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/329831.html. If there’s still a problem after that, please call tech support at
206-675-6330. Installation calls are complimentary.
By my understanding, the CS3 suite is about a year away (Q2 2007), so I may hold off on CS2 for the time being. However, I wonder if there are plans to allow upgrading to CS3 suite from Photoshop alone, as has been discussed in this posting – will those explanations still apply?
[I can’t really speak for the future, but I haven’t heard any plans to discontinue the option of upgrading from Photoshop to the Suite. That said, if you think it’s a good option, I’d suggest going for it now. There’s plenty of good stuff in CS2 that you’ll be glad to have over the course of the next year. But of course I’m biased. 😉 –J.]
Thanks. I was in a computer store today, and was looking at the CS2 Premium upgrade. It indicated on the box it required CS1 to be able to upgrade – is there a seperate package for upgrading Photoshop to CS2?
[Yes, I believe the package you saw is for upgrading one copy of the Suite to another copy of the Suite. Check out the Adobe online store for the Photoshop->Suite upgrade: http://store.adobe.com/store/main.jhtml –J.]
Thanks for the tip, I will have a look at that.
I purchased 5 licenses for CS last year. I only want to upgrade 1 of them to CS2. Can I do that? The other staff are not using CS so there is no need to upgrade those licenses.
Thanks,
Dorothy from Kansas
Also I have a question. I have Photoshop CS2 and Studio 8. Is there a way for me to upgrade (from my two programs) to CS3 Web Bundle thing when it comes out?
[I’m afraid I don’t know. I haven’t seen anything announced regarding Adobe/MM upgrade paths. If I hear more, I’ll post it here. –J.]
Okay, a new question. If a person upgrades from say cs or cs2 standard to the newly announced cs2.3 premium, can they upgrade their previous standard version to future standard versions as well?
[Great question, and I have absolutely no idea. But let me check. –J.]
I’m going to upgrade to cs2 from PS5.5. I aften see pn numbers posted next to software. Is there a place I can check to see if the software is registered using this number?
thanks
[I recommend giving customer service a try: http://www.adobe.com/support/service/. –J.]
I have a copy of CS1 for windows… do you see any reason why I could not buy the CS3 upgrade for Mac when it comes out and switch my license’s platform?
[Good question, and I honestly don’t know. The company’s policies on whether & how to enable cross-platform license switches have changed a few times over the years, so your best bet is to contact Customer Service. –J.]
i am running photoshop 6 on an ibook with os 9…… i am moving to os x and was wondering if and how i can also upgrade to photoshop cs?
thanks!
[Sure, you can absolutely upgrade to Photoshop CS2, or to the whole Suite if you’d like. –J.]
I purchase a Adobe Creative suite 2 Premium and what to upgrade just photoshop and Illustrator to CS3. Can I do this ?
We would like to upgrade from Adobe suite1 to suite 3. can this be done?
sylvester
Hi I have photoshop 6.0 on my PC, about 6 months ago I got a lend of the CS2 suite. For safety, at the time, I didn’t uninstall 6.0. Im wondering now if I uninstall 6.0 will it delete crutial files that Photoshop CS2 uses? Ie. is it safe for me to uninstall 6.0 and not have CS2 affected. I dont have the disk or sn anymore for CS2!
[Removing PS6 should have no effect on CS2. –J.]
I have an eduacation version of PHOtoshop CS version 8. My computer runs on VISTA. Lately I have wanted to photograph and process in RAW but apparently my version of photoshop and ViSTA are incompatible in this respect.I would like to upgrade but am finding it impossible to get information from the Adobe site. The chat online site has been unavailable for days and I have spesnt many many hours waiting to be answered on the phone only to get an unsatisfactory reply.Can you tell me what I can upgrade to which would solve my problem or suggest a sousrce of support that is actually of use. Thank you.