I cannot figure out how to get trough all of Adode's firewalls to ask them a question.

Does anyone know how to do this?

I have thought of the phone but I always see a wait-time of over 30 minutes. What I would like to know is if I cana exchange or update my version of Photoshop - CS6, to the Extended version. I thought I would never need the Extended capabilities, but now I do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Phillip Anthony

Go to the Adobe dot com main page and...

1 - select the help pull down menu and click on contact us

2 - Select your product

3 - Choose from the menu

Now you will find a chat link at the bottom of the page for 24/7 support with less than a 10 minute wait time for a response.

Since you are doing this in a browser you are not stuck for 30 minutes of airtime on your cell phone and won't have to worry about it taking root in your ear.

Buy or Try CS6 extended here:

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopextended.html

@yogi3939

Thanks for that suggestion. I have seen that but thought I would be speaking to someone in a foreign land, so I passed it up. I will however, give it a try and see what comes of it.

I appreciate the help,
Phillip Anthony

@Imagemaster

Hello Tony,

I know about you because just this afternoon I saw some your magnificent work. You truly are an Imagemaster.

I am now 'on line' in Live Chat with 'Adobe' about my issue. But as usual,

'Thank you for choosing Adobe. A representative will be with you shortly. Your estimated wait time is 12 minute(s) and 18 second(s) or longer as there are 4 customer(s) in line ahead of you.'

Ha! It never fails, but who knows, this may be my lucky day. I will be back for an update.

I sincerely the help. I am now chatting with 'Pradeep', ! Here we go.

Thanks again!

Update!!!

I have some good news that may help others: Adobe Live Chat ROCKS!!!!

Last evening I signed in to Live Chat (LC) and in less than 5 minutes or so, I was talking to someone (with an odd name), but this person claimed that I could indeed exchange my Photoshop CS6 version for the Extended version. (This turned out not to be the case at all, but that no longer matters.)

He then passed me over to 'Sales', again, via LC. This person told me that the only way I could get the Extended version was to subscribe to Adobe's new Creative Cloud program. Of course, I'm thinking, 'Here we go!' Long story short, from my limited experience so far, this IS the way to go.

First of all, the subscripton price used to be $49 / month. It is now $29 / month. You get EVERYTHING Adobe has to offer save for a few things I never heard of. I now have the Extended version of Photoshop on my HD as well as Illustrator.

This morning, after launching Ps I realized that I still did not see the 3D menu item in my Ps Tools pallet, so I went back to LC and in less than 2 minutes I was chatting with an Adobe Rep. This Rep tried to fix the issue, but I relaunched Ps as we spoke and for some reason the 3D item showed up in my Ps Tool bar menu. The Rep thought that for some reason my Ps version had not been updated correctly from the Creative Cloud program. But, whatever, I am now good to go with Photoshop CS6 Extended.

Some may be thinking that this $29 / month is going to add up and I cannot dissagree. But, I just paid $199 to upgrade to Ps CS6. The Extended upgrade would have been $299. I have never had Illustrator, but I now have the latest version on my HD. And BTW, Illustrator CS6 is priced at $699 if you do not have a previous version to upgrade from. So, $29 / month seems like peanuts for all I now have access to.

Check it out for yourself:

http://tv.adobe.com/product/creative-cloud/

Thanks for all your help,
Phillip Anthony

If you are a professional (I'm not, but some here are), it's easy to do the math. Adobe plans on pushing an update every 1.5 years (or quicker) and if you already own a copy of PS, you are forced to purchase the update then since they no longer allow older then previous versions to be upgradeable. So, for around $348/year, you have a continually updated version of PS and, looks like, by your entry, access to AI and possibly more programs as well. I'm not a professional (have CS5 though) and am mainly a GIMP guy anyway. To eaches own. lol

Still, this model looks like a winner to me for the professional.

@Iylejk

Thanks for the observation. I think your commets are spot-on.

I am also far from being a graphic's pro, but I am involved in developing iPhone/iPad app's and as such I have to maintain several websites. Because of this, I need the capabilitie's that Photoshop offers. My latest website promotes my app and makes use of a lot of graphics and images. This is an app support website (required by Apple) and I want it to look as appropriate as possible.

Ps gives me the tools to do this and at the moment, I am learing all that I can about the 3D capabilitie's of Ps CS6 Extended because I want very much to add a 3D-style image to this website. To be sure, there is much to learn.

Thanks again,
Phillip

I am glad that the LC worked out so well for you. I have generally found chat based support to be better and faster than phone or e-mail support. That is the first thing I look for if I need to get support for any web based product or service.

@yogi3939

Well, I'm a beliver now. Thanks for your help.

PhillipAnthony wrote:
@yogi3939

Well, I'm a beliver now. Thanks for your help.


Regarding Adobe's plan to shift everyone to their new online offering, just understanding that it is good for them, OK'ish for corporations with large budgets, and less than good for almost everyone else, including 90% of the PS users I know.

Once Adobe has shifted people to their new solution, they will increase the price and you'll have to pay forever, and the choice becomes harder to justify in the long run for most people.Remember that when you stop paying, you lose the ability to do anything with your files. Want to open a PSD or AI file that you worked on last year? Fine, just pay another $360 (minimum) for the right to do so.

@jamesf99

Thanks for your comments. I cannot dispute any of your observations.

However, on the plus side the Creative Cloud business model does provide the subscriber with constant updates to nearly every app that Adobe has to offer at a cost of approximately $360 / year.

It would be very expensive to purchase each of these items separately. For instance:

Photoshop CS 6 $699
Photoshop CS 6 Extended $999
Illustrator CS 6 $599
Lightroom CS 6 $149

I upgraded my Ps CS4 to CS6 at a cost of $199. I could have saved that money if I subscribed to the Creative Cloud early on, but chose not to do so because the monthly cost of the Creative Cloud was $49 per month.

To be clear, I have owned Photoshop and Lightroom for several years. The latest Lightroom is v4.3, I believe.

The downside is real enough in that the lastest versions of the CS are not 100% backwards. The big change here is that Adobe (as well as Apple and others) is now looking to the future and supporting only 64-bit machines to access more memory. In the case of PC's, Adobe is still supporting 32-bit machines, but they do not do the same with 32-bit Mac's.

Speaking only for myself, I think the benefits far outweigh the yearly cost of the Creative Cloud as opposed to purchasing the apps outright and upgrading as necessary. Over time those costs add up as well. In a year I will have a much better understanding of the pro's and con's of this concept.

All of this came about because I found a need for the 3D capabilities of Ps CS6 Extended. That inquiry lead me to a membership in Creative Cloud because that was the only way I could have access to the Extended version without paying for it outright. There was no way I was going to pay $999 for that upgrade.

I will also add that the original cost of the Creative Cloud was $49 (plus tax) per month. As I mentioned above, I saw that and felt that that was too much so I never gave it a second thought. However, I changed my mind when the price dropped to $29 per month. The price change was a game changer for me.

Thanks again.