# Illustrator Mac/Windows file compatibility



## bauhsoj (Apr 20, 2005)

A friend of mine is taking classes at a college that uses only Macs. She needs to be certain that if she uses Illustrator 10 on my Windows XP PC that it will be compatible with the same version of Illustrator on Mac OS X.

Someone from her class reports that it won't work. Could this be something else or is Adobe really still using seperate Mac/Windows formats for the same program?

Thanks!


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## v-six (Sep 12, 2004)

On a daily basis I go between Adobe CS on a PC and Adobe CS on a Mac. It's not an operating system problem. Theoretically, the only thing that you should be worrying about is fonts that are present on one system and not on the other.


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

Exactly. As long as the file that the programs output use the same extension and format you're good.


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## bauhsoj (Apr 20, 2005)

I just realized that she has to use Illustrator 10 but I have Illustrator 12 (CS 2).

Will this cause compatibility problems if version 10 of Illustrator tries to read the version 12 file? Has there even been any changes to the fille format between these two versions?


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## v-six (Sep 12, 2004)

Some of Adobe's stuff is only partially backwards compatible. Often you'll need to go to the adobe website for a patch in order to open older versions. I'm not sure with Illustrator, but it's definately a problem with InDesign.


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## bauhsoj (Apr 20, 2005)

I just found out that she has Illustrator 11, not 10. However, that matters little considering when I burned the project she was working on onto a CD-RW using Nero the CD-RW wouldn't work in a Mac. Anyone have any idea why? I have never heard of this happening before because I was under the impression that Macs had the ability to read all Windows discs.


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

Was the disc finalized? Open sessions don't work well across all machines.


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## Inactive (Apr 11, 2005)

i have often used CD-Rs successfully with mac users. i don't know that there is a difference with CD-Rs and CD-RWs once they are written to, but there might.

i never use CD-RWs, they're too slow and how often do you get a disc back to re-use anyway.


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## bauhsoj (Apr 20, 2005)

ebackhus said:


> Was the disc finalized? Open sessions don't work well across all machines.


That may have been the problem. Will have to try it next time she needs it. Thankfully her professor accepted the printed work without the digital copy. :sayyes:


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## bauhsoj (Apr 20, 2005)

freddyhard said:


> i never use CD-RWs, they're too slow and how often do you get a disc back to re-use anyway.


I never use CD-RWs either. I told her to just take one of my 250 MB USB pen drives but she says that her professor doesn't like them because he considers them to be unreliable. I find that a bit odd seeing as CDs can be scratched and broken far easier plus you can sometimes have to worry about them not working in every CD-ROM drive.


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