TechNote

Use Camera Raw 5.x with Photoshop Elements 6 when you also have Photoshop CS3 installed (Mac OS)

Issue

After you install version 5.0 or later of the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in for Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 on Mac OS, you receive the following error when you try to open an image in Camera Raw using Photoshop CS3 on the same computer:

"Unable to use the Camera Raw plug-in. It is not compatible with this version of Photoshop."

Reason

Versions 5.0 and later of the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in are compatible with Adobe Photoshop Elements 6; however, Photoshop CS3 only supports Camera Raw versions 4.0 through 4.6.

Solution

Install Camera Raw 4.6 into the Photoshop CS3 Plug-Ins folder and the Bridge CS3 Plug-Ins folder, and install the latest 5.x version of Camera Raw into the Photoshop Elements 6 Plug-Ins folder.

1. Quit all Adobe applications.
2. In the Finder, navigate to /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Plug-Ins/CS3/File Formats/.
   
   Note: This file path refers to the Library folder at the root level of the startup disk volume, not the Library folder inside a user's Home folder.
3. Drag the Camera Raw.plugin file to the Trash.
4. Download Camera Raw 4.6 for Mac OS from www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4035.
5. If the Camera_Raw_4_6 disk image automatically opens when you have finished downloading the file, then go to Step 6; otherwise, double-click on the file you downloaded to open the disk image.
6. Copy Camera Raw.plugin from the Camera_Raw_4_6 disk image to /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS3/Plug-Ins/File Formats/.
7. Copy Camera Raw.plugin from the Camera_Raw_4_6 disk image to /Applications/Adobe Bridge CS3/Plug-Ins/File Formats/.
8. Download the latest version of Camera Raw 5.x for Mac OS from www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=106&platform=Macintosh.
9. If the Camera Raw 5.x disk image automatically opens when you have finished downloading the file, then go to Step 10; otherwise, double-click on the file you downloaded to open the disk image.
10. Copy Camera Raw.plugin from the Camera Raw 5.x disk image to /Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements 6/Plug-Ins/FileFormats/.

Additional Information

For more information about the Camera Raw plug-in, see the Camera Raw information page on the Adobe website.

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