graphicpush

Well, as previously discussed on graphicPUSH, Adobe’s InDesign CS (or version 3.0) is definitely not compatible with version 2.0. Several readers wrote in and pointed me in the direction of this knowledgebase document, which clearly states that the Help files in IDCS are wrong:

The InDesign CS user guide and help documentation includes information on using the InDesign Interchange format export option to save documents for use with InDesign 2.0. This information should be disregarded, as this export option does not support InDesign 2.0 compatibility. Opening InDesign CS documents is not supported in InDesign 2.0.

To all the other readers who wrote in about having serious problems with reverse compatibility, I feel your pain. For multi-page documents, there is no means of going back, which is a restriction computer users are simply not used to; generally, things work with a bit of tweaking, file conversions or program hacks. In this instance, the road to backward compatibility is closed. To any adventurous plug-in developers out there — the print design community would be more than appreciative of a quick utility to fill this glaring hole.

For single page documents, there are workarounds. Converting the file to EPS is the most obvious way, and then completing edits inside Illustrator. PDF is also possible, but jumping through hoops for image compression and text embedding is not exactly user friendly.

In short, be exceptionally careful upgrading to CS, or converting documents to CS. While the new functionality and palette management is a massive improvement (the best in the whole CS line in my opinion, at least for print designers), make sure your printer or service bureau has upgraded, or be prepared for some bumpy roads come prepress time.