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Opening PM5 files
I remember when InDesign launched boasting that it would support PageMaker files. Now I try to open them with InDesign or any program in CS5 Master Collection and getta-lotta-nada.
Can anyone provide guidance on how to open PM5 files?
Bob Kiger seminal author of “videography” [OCT1972-AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER]
http://www.videographyblog.com -
8 Replies
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I haven’t been using CS5 yet, but with CS4, 3 & 2 we’ve had no problems. Lots of our archive material is from PageMaker.
Tech-T Productions
http://www.technical-t.com -
Thanks for the try but I am specifically concerned about CS5
Bob Kiger seminal author of “videography” [OCT1972-AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER]
http://www.videographyblog.com -
I just remembered this bit from a couple weeks ago. A client came in with a file that had a .pmd extension. I banged my head for awhile trying to open it. Come to find out it was nor a page maker file. It was something like print master deluxe. Not trying to be rude, but are you sure it is a page maker file?
Tech-T Productions
http://www.technical-t.com -
Got any help, yet, Bob? I have hundreds of archival files in pm5 format. Occasionally I need to open one in cs5 and so far have to go back to an old machine running PageMaker.
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Stephen Kramer kindly asks “Got any any help yet, Bob?” The short answer is no. I chose InDesign forum to express my problems about accessing Pagemaker and other Adobe 1990 “legacy” applications that include Pagemaker and Freehand. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_PageMaker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macromedia_FreeHand
These assets included product designs still vital today including bicycle components, accessories, general merchandise and logo designs, vintage advertising and a finished autobiography of those times called “Down That Long Lonesome Highway”. Many of these assets were saved in .fh5 and .pm5 files and preserved on Bernoulli discs [to give you an idea of vintage] and later transferred to external hard drives, which I have in my possession.
Life had dealt me a series of unfortunate blows between 1990-1995 including the death of my wife and bicycle travelmate, a multi-million dollar lawsuit by a guy who rode one of my bikes into a rock wall and an unbelievable copy-cat scheme involving time-share companies and activity sales desks. By January 1996 I left my “legendary” downhill business behind and returned to Hollywood to reset my life.
I got intensely involved with Adobe products and bought just about everything they offered before CS products came along. High on that list was InDesign, which promised it was “setting new standards for professional layout and design” and effectively became the integrating program for earlier bitmap and vector based Adobe programs including “Pagemaker 6.5-7.0.” I felt comfortable, from 1996-2004, with Adobe CS programs and was invited to become a Beta Tester for CS2 Video Production Suite.
Today I am running CS5 Master Collection and am doing bicycle system business. The need to access the legacy PM5 and FH5 files is vital.
Videography Lab still has the old Pentium machines with XP Pro available for installation of my Pagemaker 6.5 CD discs. The Adobe website contains my registration of the project and supposed product installation serial number. It will not install telling me that the serial number is not correct. Call Adobe support! Both the CS2 and CS5 collections try to open the files and open a window saying “Adobe InDesign may not support the file format. A plug-in that supports the file format may be missing”.
So YES I DO NEED HELP and it no longer seems to come through Adobe Systems, which has one of the saddest “help systems” I have yet witnessed. I have been on phone support for hour after hours being told that they have no solution for me. They slur their talking points in robotic fashion. They have no power to escalate an issue to a person that does have the answers. They don’t track their own Case #s requiring endless repetition of the problem. If Adobe cracks in the next few years it will be the loss of quality in product integration and support IMO.Can anybody help?
Bob Kiger seminal author of “videography” [OCT1972-AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER]
http://www.videographyblog.com -
These assets included product designs still vital today…
The need to access the legacy PM5 and FH5 files is vital.
If these files are so important to your business, I would just purchase a new copy of the software. It would have been much faster than all of this.
https://www.amazon.com/Macromedia-FreeHand-Version-5-5/dp/B000GYUZNM/ref=sr_1_2?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1312383123&sr=1-2
$35 is cheaphttps://www.amazon.com/Adobe-PageMaker-6-5/dp/B0017RFSEI/ref=sr_1_9?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1312383408&sr=1-9
and $75 is a little pricey for what you are getting, but it sounds like it would be well worth it in your situation.Tech-T Productions
http://www.technical-t.com -
It probably will come down to buying another copy of software I already own. I’m sure you understand that there is a matter of principle here with Adobe and I wanted to let give them some feedback to see if they had quality control channels that I could reach.
Bob Kiger seminal author of “videography” [OCT1972-AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER]
http://www.videographyblog.com -
I am pleased to announce that after 7 go rounds via telephone support Adobe tech support “hero” … Anjaneai Srivastava, in Delhi found [by much research] an unlock code for my existing Pagemaker 6.5 program.
Now we will work together to unlock the legacy Freehand files which may pose a bigger problem because I did not keep the old CD installation disc, but their will be a workaround where there is a will to make it happen. Also to be tended to in the near future is the installation of Optima, Cooper and other custom fonts which I bought from Adobe Type Library back in the day.
One step at the time. Thanks to all who care about preserving legacy assets at Adobe and here at Creative Cow.
Bob Kiger seminal author of “videography” [OCT1972-AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER]
http://www.videographyblog.com
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