Here's a frustrating problem: You have InDesign CS4, and your buddy needs your file, but has InDesign CS2. "Easy!" you think, "just save an InDesign Interchange (INX) file and send it to him."

Lo, wonder of wonders: InDesign saves an INX file that's compatible only with the immediately preceding version of InDesign. (As I found out the hard way today.) CS4 saves a file for CS3; CS3 saves a file for CS2. If you don't have both versions on your computer, you're out of luck. Way to Quark it up, Adobe.

An INX file is just a glorified XML file. And Adobe, clever lads and lasses they are, inserted a version number in the file. Adobe CS2 looks at the version number, sees that the INX file is targeted for CS3, and pops up an error message without even trying to open the file. Curses.

But Mike Rankin figured it out last November: Open the INX file with your favorite text editor (like TextMate or BBEdit) and change the version number. Replace line number 2 (which looks like this):

<?aid style="33" type="document" DOMVersion="6.0" readerVersion="5.0" featureSet="257" product="6.0(352)" ?>

with this:

<?aid style="33" type="document" DOMVersion="5.0" readerVersion="4.0" featureSet="257" product="5.0(662)" ?>

Easy peasy. Open the INX file in InDesign CS2, and you're good to go. Use caution, though: This works best for simple layouts. The more complex your layout, the more likely it will unexpectedly change when re-imported into a lesser version of InDesign.

[Via InDesignSecrets.]

Today is the big day, ladies and gents - Adobe has officially unveiled a plethora of new Creative Suite 3 packages and products, all of which are available for preorder now. With this new suite, the acquisition of Macromedia in April of 2005 has come to fruition, with all products now under the Adobe umbrella and incorporated into various new CS3 product bundles.

To aid in the selection of a new CS3 package, Adobe has created a thorough product matrix that makes even the many versions of Vista cry. To further help navigate all the new products and features, Adobe has of course revamped their Creative Suite product pages and has also posted some introductory videos to help bide the time until this afternoon's live webcast event that we mentioned earlier. The webcast begins at 3:30EST today, but don't fret if you're all booked up for the day - it will be recorded and available for streaming for the ultimate in 'pajamas-at-3-am' viewing experiences.

Preorder pricing for Creative Suite 3 packages begins at $999 for a new suite (Web Standard), and $240 for upgrades (Design Standard). The Design suites are scheduled to begin shipping in April 2007, while Production Premium is slated for Q3 2007.

Adobe will host a press event this March 27 to announce the availability of CS3. This will be the first Universal Binary version of the Creative Suite, and Adobe is calling the event the largest software release in its history. If you've been looking for an excuse to finally buy that Mac Pro, this could be it.

In the meantime, enjoy the "What's in the Box?" promo video above.

Thanks, Nik!

UPDATE: Adobe has said that they won't be shipping CS3 on the 27th, just announcing it. Sorry for the confusion.

During Wednesday's Financial Results conference call, some insights came to light regarding the sales of Apple's Mac Pro. Were potential purchasers waiting on the release of Leopard before buying, in what they call a "Leopard related pause"? Apple said no. It wasn't a factor now and it didn't happen when Tiger was about to be released either. So why have Mac Pro sales have been under-performing? Apple thinks there is a major factor keeping people from hopping onto the Mac Pro bandwagon: Adobe.

The lack of an Intel-happy Creative Suite, whose release is due during the 2nd quarter of the year (calendar year, that is), will probably open up a new stream of Mac Pro sales that have been delayed because of software incompatibility. I personally cannot begin to count the amount of money I have sent towards both Adobe and Microsoft for their software, particularly for Photoshop, Word, and Excel. And I can't imagine a time where we ever see Apple software displace these software essentials. So for me, having Intel-friendly Adobe and Microsoft Universal Binaries is totally a precondition before laying out the cash for a major Mac upgrade.

Ali Hanyaloglu at the Adobe Blogs has announced version 8 of Acrobat, their software for all things PDF, with a nice surprise: it's Universal. It's being bundled with the also recently announced new Adobe Creative Suite 2.3 Premium, a retail upgrade (don't you love how they like to charge for .X upgrades when 1/8th of the suite is Universal?) which also now includes Dreamweaver 8. GoLive, fortunately, will be spun off into a separate product (yea that's right: I said 'fortunately'), but who knows how long Adobe will grace users with a choice in web design apps, especially since Premium Creative Suite buyers are already getting one major suite in their bundle.

Check out the new Acrobat 8.0 page, as well as the Creative Suite 2.3 press release, for details on what's new in this $159 upgrade (admittedly, a deal for Dreamweaver 8 alone). CS 2.3 is expected to ship before the end of 2006, but remember: the rest of the suite isn't Universal yet, and they won't be offering Universal upgrades to CS2. If you aren't dying for Acrobat 8 or Dreamweaver 8, I'd recommend waiting until the first half of 2007 to upgrade, especially if an Intel Mac is in your future.

I have to admit, I was pretty excited when I saw the screencap of an Adobe order confirmation email above from TUAW reader Craig. Despite Adobe's repeated official refusal [pdf] to do anything for Intel Mac Photoshop users until CS3, it looked like there might be big news on the Photoshop front. A closer look, though, shows that the rumor mill has gotten ahead of itself on this one, and here at TUAW, we believe in quashing this sort of thing in the bud. It's "Macintosh, Universal English," not "Macintosh Universal, English." That one little comma is huge. It's the difference between a universal binary, and a product that isn't localized specifically for British, American, or Canadian English.

Remember that post we had yesterday (ok, fine: I wrote it) that Adobe was giving pink slips to GoLive and Freehand? As it turns out, that might not exactly have been true. Macworld reported last night that a true-blue Adobe rep laid it out on the table: "Adobe plans to continue to support GoLive and Freehand and develop these products based on our customer's needs."

However, another quote doesn't cast any good vibes on the future of these products in the long run: "Clearly Dreamweaver and Illustrator are market leading when it comes to web design/development and vector graphics/illustration... Customers should expect Adobe to concentrate our development efforts around these two products with regards to future innovation and Creative Suite integration".

Take from that what you wish, but it sounds like the GoLive-haters from my previous post and the Freehand-lovers will still have some hatin' and lovin' to do, at least for a little while longer.

The Mac Observer is reporting that Adobe announced at Adobe Live that the company is giving the axe to GoLive and Freehand for CS3, due out spring of 2007. Before the Adobe-Macromedia merger, GoLive was Adobe's Dreamweaver (and a far superior product, might I add), and Freehand was Macromedia's Illustrator (here's hoping Adobe means every word of their comment that "Dreamweaver will get a new interface"). I'm sure that since this decision was made some time ago, Adobe has had extra development hands to spend on making an Intel-native Creative Suite other projects.

If this announcement disappoints you, just remember something John Gruber said in his translation of Adobe's PR announcement and FAQs of the merger: "Competition is overrated - it only benefits customers".

We're sure you've heard the news by now: No universal version of the Adobe pro apps until 2007. The good news is that Adobe is currently taking your suggestions for the upcoming Creative Suite 3. You've got the ear of one of the world's software giants, so speak up.

[Via creativebits]