Before you start, check the version of Safari running on your Mac. To display the version number, choose Safari > About Safari. If your Safari version is 11.0 or later, follow the steps in For Mac OS X 10.11, macOS 10.12, and later.
Previous story No longer OS X; meet macOS Sierra Next story Making screen recordings on OS X Yosemite and El Capitan Comments on macOS Sierra will snub Adobe's Flash Player Notify me of replies from other users. Adobe Flash Player articles on MacRumors.com. 162 and earlier are affected on macOS Sierra and OS X. Mac users should update to the latest Flash Player version through the built-in update. If you’re concerned about the security flows associated with your Adobe Flash Player, we’ll show you how to uninstall it from your Mac. Usually, uninstalling Flash can cause a bit of headache. But with CleanMyMac X, you can remove Adobe Flash Player in a few clicks. Having trouble installing Adobe Flash Player? Identify your issue and try the corresponding solution. For Firefox on any OS, see Enable Flash Player for Firefox. For Safari on Mac OS, see Enable Flash Player for Safari. For Google Chrome, see Enable Flash Player for Chrome. For Opera, see Enable.
Now that macOS 10.12 Sierra is available from the Mac App Store, you’re probably wondering whether your Adobe software will work in the new Mac operating system.
With every Mac system upgrade, information about compatibility is often not available on the first day the new system is available, and emerges over time. If you use your Mac to run a business or as a serious hobby, do not upgrade to Sierra until you’re prepared to recover if things don’t work out. (That applies to any operating system upgrade on any device.) Wait until you are confident that all of your software and hardware is compatible, then back up everything, then upgrade. With that in mind, here’s what I know so far about the state of Adobe software in Sierra.
The next section is about the Creative Cloud versions. If you’re looking for information about older versions, jump to:
Official statements and verified reports
The short answer is that the latest updates are the most compatible with Sierra. In most cases that means the CC 2017 versions, which are now available. Install them using the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application.
Adobe posted a general statement about application compatibility (macOS Sierra (10.12) compatibility FAQ | Creative Cloud), but for now it links to the Photoshop and Lightroom statements below. It also claims that other most Adobe applications do not require updates to be compatible, and that any problems can be reported using the Adobe bug reporting form.
This section is updated as new information becomes available.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
According to the system requirements for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC, it requires “macOS 10.12, 10.11, or 10.10” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra. This applies to the most recent version only, which at this time is Lightroom CC 2015.7/6.7 or later.
The Lightroom team posted a more specific Sierra statement (Lightroom and Sierra | macOS 10.12). It says “Adobe recommends that customers update Lightroom to the current version prior to updating macOS 10.12 (Sierra).” It lists a number of compatibility issues, especially with Lightroom 5 and earlier, saying:
To avoid these compatibility issues on macOS 10.12 (Sierra):
Adobe Flash Player
- Update to Lightroom 2015.7/Lightroom 6.7, or
- Remain on your current Mac OS X version and do NOT update to macOS 10.12 (Sierra) if you are running Lightroom 5 or earlier.
Earlier, “Lightroom Queen” Victoria Bampton published a blog post with similar findings about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom in Sierra (Lightroom and macOS Sierra Compatibility).
The Tone Curve may be difficult to control in Sierra. (Lightroom 6: Tone curve is Insensitive to MacBook Pro Touch Pad). Adobe said this was fixed in Lightroom 6.8 / CC 2015.8, but there are reports that variations on the problem still exist.
The panel and filmstrip areas may black out at times. This is apparently related to macOS graphics issues. macOS 10.13.2 should fix most of the occurrences, and for other versions the Lightroom team has attempted to work around the problem as much as possible. To best avoid the problem, Adobe says:
…make sure your macOS is updated to at least macOS Sierra 10.12 and at least Lightroom Classic 7.0 or Lightroom 6.13. The best combo to avoid this issue is being on macOS High Sierra 10.13 and Lightroom Classic 7.1 or Lightroom 6.13. The team has worked pretty hard with Apple to get this issue to stop appearing with macOS Sierra 10.12 and macOS High Sierra 10.13. Improvements were made in 10.12 and iterated upon for 10.13.
Adobe Photoshop CC
According to the system requirements for Adobe Photoshop CC 2017, it requires “macOS version 10.12 (Sierra), Mac OS X version 10.11 (El Capitan), or Mac OS X version 10.10 (Yosemite)” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
For Adobe Photoshop CC 2015, the Photoshop team posted a document (Photoshop and Sierra | macOS 10.12) which they update with known issues. Most are minor, except that some users have encountered a crash when printing. (Update: Adobe says the Sierra print crash is resolved for some users in macOS 10.12.1, and resolved for all users in Adobe Photoshop CC 2017.)
Adobe Flash Player For Mac Sierra Os Reviews
If you find a problem with Lightroom or Photoshop in Sierra, report it at the Photoshop Feedback site. If you run into a problem with other software such as Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, or After Effects, try posting about it in the Adobe Forums.
Adobe InDesign CC
According to the system requirements for Adobe InDesign CC 2017, it requires “Mac OS X 10.10, 10.11 or 10.12” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
There is apparently an InDesign CC 2015 startup crash on Sierra when using a RAID with Adobe InDesign CC 2015 (11.4.1). The solution is to roll back to 11.4. The details are in an Adobe Forums post (InDesign crashes after start since Sierra update).
Adobe Illustrator
According to the system requirements for Adobe Illustrator CC 2017, it requires “Mac OS X versions 10.12 (Sierra), 10.11 (El Capitan), or 10.10 (Yosemite)” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
Adobe Premiere Pro CC
According to the system requirements for Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017, it requires “Mac OS X v10.10, v10.11 or v10.12” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra. If you’ve been having problems with Apple Metal GPU acceleration, some were resolved in the Premiere Pro CC 2017.0.2 (11.0.2) update.
There have been some long discussion threads about Premiere Pro issues in Sierra on the Adobe Premiere Pro user forum. Probably the biggest verified problem is an issue related to automatic graphics switching in Premiere Pro on the 2016 MacBook Pro, which runs only Sierra or later. That specific issue turned out to be a macOS bug, fixed by Apple as mentioned in their release notes for macOS Sierra 10.12.3. If you still experience GPU-related problems, Adobe is asking users to report them so that they can be fixed.
I haven’t seen an Adobe statement about Sierra compatibility for Premiere Pro CC 2015.
Adobe After Effects
According to the system requirements for Adobe After Effects CC 2017, it requires “macOS X versions 10.10 (Yosemite), 10.11 (El Capitan), or 10.12 (Sierra)” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
According to the system requirements for Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, it requires “Mac OS X v10.9, 10.10, 10.11, or 10.12” so it claims to be compatible with Sierra.
Adobe PDF
Many Mac users prefer to view PDF files in Apple Preview instead of Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat. However, in macOS Sierra, Apple rewrote the PDFKit framework and this rewrite is apparently very buggy. Apple has been fixing these bugs, but some remain in macOS Sierra 10.12. An article by Mac veteran Adam Engst at TidBITS (Sierra PDF Problems Get Worse in 10.12.2) describes some of these bugs, which can result in data loss in some cases. In the article, developer Christian Grunenberg says makes a statement that has always been true to some extent, but even more so in Sierra:
Apple supports only a subset of the PDF specification, and that support has always been buggy.
For maximum compatibility and reliability with all PDF versions and features, you’ll want to work with PDF files in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat Pro, or a third-party application that does not rely on Apple PDFKit.
Update: Apparently the macOS 10.12.3 and 10.12.4 updates fix many, but not all, of the bugs mentioned in the TidBITS article. TidBITS has published an updated article, PDF Problems Continue in 10.12.4, but Primarily Affect Developers.
Older versions of Adobe software (CS3–CS6)
I have upgraded my test Mac to the release version of Sierra. So far, various versions of Adobe Creative Suite (CS) applications I tried (the oldest being Photoshop CS3) are at least able to launch in the Sierra beta. As in El Capitan and earlier, older Adobe applications are able to launch after you run the Apple installer for Java for OS X 2015-001. If you see the alert below, clicking More Info takes you directly to the Apple download page for Java for OS X.
Adobe software older than the Creative Cloud (CC) versions are not officially supported on macOS 10.12 Sierra. That doesn’t mean they won’t work; it just means that if those old versions have any new issues related to macOS 10.12 Sierra, there won’t be any updates to address them (that is, you’re on your own). After doing some quick tests, Adobe application compatibility with Sierra appears to be comparable to their compatibility with OS X 10.11 El Capitan, with very similar limitations and conditions to those we’ve seen with the past few OS X releases. If Adobe does what they’ve done in the past, they will not be testing most older (pre-Creative Cloud) software at a level that can confirm which specific features do and don’t work; you’ll have to do that testing yourself (see “How to test macOS 10.12 Sierra yourself” below).
Photoshop CS3 and up will run in macOS 10.12 Sierra after Java is installed.
With that in mind, here are a few things I’ve seen since trying out some older versions in Sierra.
Be prepared to uninstall and reinstall if needed. Adobe applications were already installed when I upgraded my test Mac to Sierra. After the upgrade, some older Adobe applications had licensing errors. I was able to fix these by uninstalling and reinstalling those applications, and the lesson here is to always make sure you have all of the information you need (such as license keys or registration numbers) to reinstall any of your key software.
“Installer Failed to Initialize” error. Some Adobe installers may fail to launch with the error “We’ve encountered the following issue. Installer failed to initialize. This could be due to a missing file. Please download Adobe Support Advisor to detect the problem.”
Unfortunately, Adobe Support Advisor no longer exists, but there is an immediate workaround that should get the installer going:
- Right-click (or Control-click) the installer and choose Show Package Contents.
- In the Install window that opens in the Finder, go to the Contents/MacOS folder, and in there, double-click Install. That will open the Terminal application, some lines of code will automatically run, and the actual Installer should successfully launch.
Make a note of this workaround, because any pre-CC installers are unlikely to be updated.
[Update: A few days after I posted this, Adobe published a help document that confirms this workaround: Installing Creative Suite on macOS 10.12 (Sierra)]
Adobe Illustrator CS4. When starting the application, you may see an “Error loading plugins” alert which mentions PhotoshopExport.aip and PhotoshopImport.aip. This has been a problem for several OS X versions, and there is no fix that I know of. You can only work around it by clicking “Don’t show again” in the alert.
Adobe Illustrator CS5. Illustrator CS5 may crash on quit; this problem also existed in El Capitan so try the solution offered at the Adobe forums (Illustrator CS5 crashing on exit), specifically the part about renaming
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager
to
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager.bak
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager
to
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5.5ServiceManager.bak
Registration servers, update servers, and activation servers. If you get a message saying that a registration or update server is not available in an old Adobe application, that won’t stop the application itself from working so it’s not much of a concern. A missing activation server may keep an application in trial mode, but I had no problems maintaining activation in the Adobe CS3 through CS6 applications I tried.
Adobe Creative Suite 2 (CS2) compatibility
This question comes up during every recent OS X upgrade: Some users moving up from older Macs running 10.6.8 or earlier to new Macs with the latest OS version may still be using the Creative Suite 2 (CS2) version of Adobe software, such as Adobe Photoshop CS2. As with the last several major Mac OS X upgrades, macOS 10.12 Sierra requires that software be written for the Intel processors that have been running Macs for over 10 years. CS2 applications were written for the PowerPC processors that ran older Macs. The last version of Mac OS X to run PowerPC software was OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.
There is no way to run Adobe CS2 software on macOS 10.12 Sierra. The only option is to use a newer version of the software.
How to test macOS 10.12 Sierra yourself
While online compatibility lists are useful, the advice of others can only go so far because it may not reveal problems related to the specific combination of applications and hardware you use. A better way is to test the new macOS upgrade yourself. But be careful: You want to test the new OS without compromising your current working production system, and you have to pay attention to licensing and activation issues. To understand how to do that, read another article I’ve written: How to test a macOS upgrade with your Adobe software
Other aspects of Sierra that may affect Adobe software
Flash
One upcoming change affecting Adobe software is that Safari 10 will disable the Adobe Flash plug-in by default. You can still enable it if you want.
APFS
Sierra will be able to use the newly announced Apple File System (APFS), which is being designed around security, reliability, and the ability to work across macOS, iOS, tvOS and watchOS. APFS will replace HFS+. From an Adobe user point of view, an interesting thing about APFS is that it is case-sensitive only. Currently, Adobe Creative Cloud applications cannot be installed on case-sensitive file systems on the Mac. It’s not yet clear how much of an issue this will be, because APFS cannot be used on the startup disk in the currently available build of Sierra. Apple says APFS will not become the default for Apple products until some time in 2017. Presumably, by the time APFS becomes the standard, Adobe will have ensured compatibility…at least for the latest versions of its installers. Whether older versions of Adobe software can be installed on an APFS volume will be a question until it can be tested.
Wondering what Sierra is all about?
For the most in-depth Sierra review you’ll probably find anywhere, read the macOS 10.12 Sierra review at Ars Technica. As with every major release of the Mac operating system, the Ars Technica review not only evaluates the visible features that Apple promotes, but goes under the surface to explain changes to some of the underlying technologies in macOS and how they affect your Mac experience.
This article was originally posted on June 16, 2016 but has been updated throughout the macOS 10.12 Sierra public beta and final release.
Got a message that says you have to update Flash Player on Mac? Don’t promptly click the update button. If you are not careful, you can accidentally install adware or malware instead of Flash Player. And that’s not what you need, right?
In this article we’ll show you the best way to check for Flash updates and also give you a comprehensive guide to update Adobe Flash Player for Mac safely. Plus, we’ll tell you how to uninstall it from your computer completely.
What is Flash Player?
For years, Adobe Flash Player has been one of the most popular plug-ins used by web browsers to reproduce videos, web ads, and interactive animations. But now its position is rocked by some security concerns and safer alternative solutions.
Google Chrome and Firefox contain the built-in version of Flash running in the sandboxed mode. This method is safer than running Flash as a plugin. What about Safari, it disables Flash Player by default starting from macOS Sierra. The point is that Apple wants you running on HTML5 — the newer and safer way of browsing the web. It supports the same multimedia elements as Flash but without any security issues.
However, the reality is that you still may need the Adobe Flash Player on your Mac. Many websites will not work if you uninstall it completely. Live streams like BT Sport can only be delivered in Flash, so if you are the BT Sport customer, you’ll want to keep the Flash Player. In addition, a great number of gaming and education sites use Flash and until they implement the HTML5 standards, you’ll need the Flash Player.
Why watch out for Flash updates on Mac?
Adobe is always trying to push its technology further and release the Flash updates to enhance the user experience and security. However, attackers still find the ways to trick you into downloading adware and malware through the popups. That’s why you should know how to protect your Mac against the malicious attacks when you’re trying to update your Adobe Flash for Mac.
Fortunately, it’s easy to make sure that you are installing the real Flash for Mac and are not exposed to the vulnerable software. All you have to do is to be careful and don’t trust the automatic updates.
How to update Flash Player on Mac (if it’s already installed)
Instead of downloading anything from a popup, follow simple steps to check whether you really need to update Adobe Flash on Mac.
- Go to the Apple menu and click System Preferences.
- In the bottom left corner, choose Flash Player.
- Choose the Updates tab.
- Click the Check Now button.
- If an update is available, click Yes to update. If no updates are available, you have the latest version of a Flash Player for Mac installed.
Easy enough, right? Make sure to invest some time and check if you do need to update Flash. Otherwise, downloading a false software package may harm your computer.
How to install Flash on your Mac safely
If Flash is not installed, which is by default on all new Macs, here’s a step-by-step guide to install it safely.
- Visit the Adobe Flash Player page.
- Click the Download now button.
- The installer will download to your computer. If you’re using Safari, the file will go to your Downloads folder. If you’re using another browser, it may ask where to save the file.
- Open your Downloads folder and find the .dmg installer file.
- Double-click the Install Adobe Flash Player file.
- You will be asked if you really want to install Adobe Flash Player. Read the message carefully to make sure that it’s the file you just downloaded. Click Open to proceed.
7. Agree to terms and conditions by clicking a checkbox.
8. Click the Install button.
9. In the window that appears, type your username and password.
10. Click the Install Helper button.
11. Click Allow Adobe to install updates (recommended).
12. Click Done.
That’s it. It’s also recommended to relaunch your web browser after installing Flash.
How to uninstall Flash completely
If you’re concerned about the security flows associated with your Adobe Flash Player, we’ll show you how to uninstall it from your Mac.
Usually, uninstalling Flash can cause a bit of headache. But with CleanMyMac X, you can remove Adobe Flash Player in a few clicks. Just follow these simple steps:
- Download CleanMyMac X and launch it.
- Go to the Extensions in the sidebar.
- Click Preferences Panes and then checkmark Flash Player.
- Click the Remove button.
As you see, uninstalling Flash with CleanMyMac X is as easy as pie. Moreover, the whole process won’t take more than five minutes. Try it out to uninstall Flash Player on Mac completely.
That’s it! Follow the tips above and don’t let the tricky popups and websites take advantage of you. This way you’ll stay up-to-date safely.