FAQ: Adobe apps & Mac OS Mavericks

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Here’s the official word:

Adobe and Apple have worked closely together… All Adobe CC and CS6 products are compatible, but a few products require updates to the latest builds to work properly. Adobe Photoshop® CS5, CS4 and CS3 were also tested with Mac OS X Mavericks and there are currently no major issues known.

Notably After Effects requires an update (CC, CS6) to be compatible. If you see any weirdness, please let us know.
Update: If you see a message about “Adobe Creative Cloud” (the management/desktop sync app) being incompatible with Mavericks, you’ll need to reinstall it. [Via Keith Lang & Fergus Hammond]

51 thoughts on “FAQ: Adobe apps & Mac OS Mavericks”

  2. I never wait, and I rarely have any problems, including today!
    Mavericks runs really great on my late 2012 iMac 27″ i7. Everything runs faster, and I love the new features of the OS.

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      1. Best advice is do NOT install Mavericks if you rely on any Adobe products to make a living. It is definitely not compatible with CS6 Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.
        Someone should take a class legal action against Adobe for falsely stating there were no major compatibility issues. I call not running a major issue.

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  3. Illustrator CC doesn’t open after installing Mavericks. Crashes every time (MacBookPro8,2 , early 2011)

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    1. Problem was Astute Graphics plugins. I removed those and now Ai works.
      [Good to know; thanks. Another reader also reported that a third-party plug-in was keeping AI from loading, but he didn’t specify which one. Your solution worked for him, too. –J.]

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  4. Loaded Mavericks. Now cannot open ANY adobe software: Dreamweaver CS6; Photoshop; Acrobat Pro — Now I am utterly stumped while clients are screaming for their websites to be updated. Sometimes I think Apple is as bad as Microsoft and Wiindows!

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  5. Just updated to Mavericks. And now Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator (CS4) simply refuse to launch. The icons don’t even bounce when I click. AE launches.

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  6. How about the whole suite of CS4? Anyone? I have InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator as my main concern.
    Thanks,
    Raul

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    1. I’ve got the same suite, anyone know whether it will work?
      I’m probably about due for an upgrade anyway, but if CS4 still works, I don’t see any reason to spend my hard-earned $$$ on CS6 (screw CC!)

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      1. hi there, i just upgraded to mavericks, and then my CS4 icons didn’t bounce either, however i was then prompted to install a javascript and it now works perfectly. I also just decided to run Adobe CC but photoshop CC crashes whenever i open and illustrator CC just bounces for a while then refuses to open. you will be fine to upgrade to mavericks with CS4 and the javascript update but don’t bother using CC yet. I’m disappointed.

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  7. I have CS5.5. After installing Mavericks on my MacBook Pro, my Photoshop needed a new Java runtime installed, which it did automatically. But now it won’t open, says it has a “program error.” Illustrator won’t open new docs, and with old docs it says it doesn’t have enough memory. InDesign shows new docs as items in the View menu, but they don’t show up on screen. Dreamweaver’s docs get squeezed up into a corner of the screen, so I can’t do anything with them.

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    1. I’m having the EXACT same issues!! Have you found a solution? I installed the new Java Runtime (several times) as others suggested and Photoshop still gets the Program Error and won’t launch. The tiny window in Dreamweaver is driving me crazy. I need these programs to work for my job! I hope someone has an answer.

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      1. Teresa, I seem to have solved my problem by replacing my eight-year-old monitor with a new one. When I first took my MacBook Pro to the Genius Bar, “Chris” told me that my weird window display problems were because Mavericks has changed some aspects of how it displays screens, and I *think* what he did was simply reset the options in System Preferences>Display so 10.9 could reassess the situation.
        I *know* that he also rebooted into the recovery partition, chose Open Terminal from the Utilities menu, typed resetpassword [that’s one word, then press enter], and then when the Reset Password window opened, hit the Reset ACLs button at the bottom – which reset user level permissions, an action which apparently has been clearing up a lot of problems with the Mavericks transition.
        At that point, Photoshop launched perfectly, and the persistent problem where the Java Control Panel in System Preferences wouldn’t open seemed cured as well, so I thanked him and took my Mac home… where Photoshop failed again! Same behavior.
        Back to the Genius Bar, “Torey” showed me how to reset the ACLs myself, Photoshop launched, all is good… until I got home, and the same problems all over again. It wasn’t until I took the MBP back to the Bar after the weekend – where Photoshop launched perfectly as soon as I gave it a shot – that “Ryan” and I realized that it might very well be one of my peripherals causing the problem. And sure enough, when I got home and launched Photoshop with no devices attached, everything was OK.
        Imagine my surprise when the first peripheral I plugged in, my monitor of all things, provoked the problems I’d been wrestling with. I tried messing with the settings, and realized that my old monitor was so outmoded that I couldn’t update a driver for it or anything. So I did a little shopping around, and found the LG 22EA53T-P on sale at Best Buy for $140. It’s IPS rather than TN, and LED rather than CCFL, which are both usually the better, spendier options. And the reviews on Amazon were glowing. I just went and bought it, hooked it up, rebooted, and – while I haven’t yet spent enough time with it to say ALL my problems are over with – so far, it seems to have been the solution I was praying for.

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        1. Kenneth – THANK YOU!!! You have solved a big mystery for me… I couldn’t understand why I could get Photoshop to open correctly at home but then it would give me the program error when I took my MacBook to school. After reading your very informative reply, I think the problem must be the attached VGA cable that is attached to my classroom whiteboard. I never thought about that being the issue. I’ve spent hours trying to fix this. I will definitely try the steps you described in your message. I can’t thank you enough!

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          1. I know! Who’da thunk it? The last thing I expected to have to worry about was my ol’ monitor. But it gave me an excuse to replace it with a shiny new one, so there’s a silver lining…

          2. That worked out beautifully for you! I’m not sure how I will fix my whiteboard issue. I’m hoping if I try the steps the Apple geniuses used on yours, maybe my connection to my whiteboard will be OK. I noticed that the image projected after I upgraded to Mavericks was “off” and I couldn’t fix it. I teach HTML, Python, Office, etc. to high school students, and right now we are doing Photoshop/web projects in 3 classes. Needless to say, I was upset when I couldn’t launch Photoshop in my classroom! I had to “talk” them through the steps. At least the other applications opened correctly. I was so mad at myself for upgrading so quickly and then having all these problems. I use Dreamweaver to update pages on the school’s website and when that tiny window appeared with Mavericks, I wanted to cry. Ugh – it’s never easy, is it? Thanks again!

  8. I had no issues except for illustrator. A nasty bug crept up last night while I was editing a layout using web fonts synced from Typekit. The text became unselectable and the cursor not visible while inside the text block. There was nothing I could do to make it work. I had to trash the document and start fresh.

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  9. Got a solution.
    Reboot your Mac a SECOND time. You will be asked whether you want to install a new version of Java Script. Say yes.
    Then Adobe programs will load!

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    1. We also use adobe products in the hole company, from cs3 to cs6. Does all the CS versions load until the second reboot and java script update or only the newest?

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    2. I’ve rebooted my Mac several times now, and I’ve manually run the same installation of Java (it’s never asked about JavaScript) that Photoshop automatically installed (as noted in my previous comment). Still getting that program error. I stupidly didn’t back up before installing Mavericks, and now I don’t know what I’m going to do.

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  10. Dreamweaver CS5 crashes on Mavericks. It opens for about a second, then crashes every time, even after it prompted me to install a new Java runtime environment, which I did. Photoshop and InDesign CS5 are working for me, but not Dreamweaver.

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  11. After a Mavericks install, none of the CS5.1 products will open. I have no offending plugins of which I’m aware.
    Any advice?
    Jim

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    1. Yeah a second boot seems to be the key for some folks. Not sure why the first boot after the OS updated doesn’t align the stars correctly, but oddly a second reboot does. Someone from Apple would need to comment on the need for a second boot. There may be more info on their support site.

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  13. Took the splurge…Loaded Mavericks…..and everything…….I mean EVERYTHING loads works to flu capacity. My little version of CS3 seems to make it thru each update.

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  15. I am having problems with Lightroom & Mavericks using 2 monitors. If I go to another app on my Mac with LR still running, when I go back to LR, the screen is showing the present picture only (no tools, etc). My reaction was to push all the keys to make the tools, etc. appear… but nothing would happen. So I would quit LR and relaunch and all OK.
    Finally figured out what was happening. The LR window of my 2nd monitor was on top of the window in my main monitor when I would return to LR. For now, I have disabled the 2nd monitor in LR and it works OK, though inconvenient.

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  16. The problems I had with CS6 and CC apps coexisting in Mavericks went away by updating the Java runtime thingie (that’s the technical term). Even InDesign 5.5 hums along.

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  17. One work around that worked for me on CS3
    Right click (control click) on the application icon.
    Click Show Package Contents
    Open Contents folder
    Open the MacOS folder
    Double click the Adobe Photoshop CS3 unix executable file.

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    1. Tried that, Dan, and when I double-clicked the executable got this:
      There is no application set to open the document “Adobe Photoshop CS5.1”. Search the App Store for an application that can open this document, or choose an existing application on your computer.
      What happened for you?

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  18. Adobe illustrator CS6 wont launch when I installed Mavericks yesterday on 2 of my macs.
    Machine #1- mbp
    late 2012
    2.5 intel core i5
    4 GB ram
    Machine #2- mbp
    late 2010
    2.4 intel core i5
    8 GB ram
    Both machines wont launch adobe illustrator CS6.
    I have re installed CS6 but still the same.
    Help!!

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  19. CS4 works for me after the java update, however my newly acquired Creative Suite products DO NOT. Photoshop CC loads then crashes immediately as soon as I try to load a photoshop file into it. Requires a force quit. Filed a crash report to Apple.
    Illustrator CC bounces in the dock then nothing. Five mins later the app suddenly launched. I quit out, re-opened to test stability, seemed to be ok, then switched from that app to my mail app, then back and the lag time was incredible, it wouldn’t switch back to the illustrator CC app.
    After that, I haven’t even bothered opening the others.

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  20. When opening a plugin in PS CS4 I get the “Not enough memory (RAM)”-message. I’ve got lords of memory but somehow Mavericks doesn’t tell Photoshop. Anybody’s got a clue? My work’s come to a grinding halt..

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  21. I have CS4. Since downloading Mavericks I have issues with exporting to pdf from indesign. The fonts seem fine in the indesign document but when exported come out as a series of boxes.

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  22. I have a problem with sidebar display in acrobat. the arrow and textboxes have become very large such that only two or three can fit vertically in the sidebar where before there might have been 30 or 40 staked up. i use the bookmarks as outlines so this makes it very difficult to use that function. the same is true when making forms. only two or three show up so very difficult to do reordering for tabbing. it only happened after installing mavericks.

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  23. Using Illustrator CS5.5 and upgraded to Maverick this morning. I never had Illustrator crash since 2011 on any upgrades. Since Maverick upgrade Illustrator has crashed 3 times in the middle of my work. Lost any changes not saved every time. Having to save work every 5 mins now. Very Annoying

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  24. I Installed Mac OSX Mavericks the same night as it came out, and the only real issue I had was with After Effects, but using a direct download update for a new patch corrected the problem.

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