Well, due to me not being able to locate my 6 year old serial number for
Studio MX so that I can install the Studio MX 2004 upgrade I bought 4 years
ago, I am officially without Freehand.

So, I gotta buy a new copy. Seems dumb to buy a new copy of Freehand at this
point. If I purchase the latest AI, can I easily open up all my FH10 and 11
files? Or will there still be issues?

Any other software contenders I should consider that can open FH11 files?

-Darrel

> Well, due to me not being able to locate my 6 year old serial number for
> Studio MX so that I can install the Studio MX 2004 upgrade I bought 4 years
> ago, I am officially without Freehand.

If you have bought/registered FH online the information sould be still be available at Adobe's site. If you remember your login information that is.

> Any other software contenders I should consider that can open FH11 files?

Illustrator can, according to open dialog box, open FH files from version 7. Gradients and some effects will be lost in translation, though.

Corel Draw ... unlikely ... ?

Anyway, download demo(s) first.

Jukka

PS I just used Photoshop filters including KPT5 with vector object in Illustrator. That's kinda cool me thinks.

> Well, due to me not being able to locate my 6 year old serial number for
> Studio MX so that I can install the Studio MX 2004 upgrade I bought 4 years
> ago, I am officially without Freehand.

If you have bought/registered FH online the information sould be still be available at Adobe's site. If you remember your login information that is.

> Any other software contenders I should consider that can open FH11 files?

Illustrator can, according to open dialog box, open FH files from version 7. Gradients and some effects will be lost in translation, though.

Corel Draw ... unlikely ... ?

Anyway, download demo(s) first.

Jukka

PS I just used Photoshop filters including KPT5 with vector object in Illustrator. That's kinda cool me thinks.

> If I purchase the latest AI, can I easily open up all my FH10 and 11
files?

That, of course, depends entirely upon the specific content of the files.
(Same would be true of opening just about any program's native files in a
competing program.)

> Or will there still be issues?

Of course there will be issues. Any object native to FreeHand that does not
have an AI equivalent will present an issue. (Same would be true going the
other direction.) Multi-page FH files will be cumbersome; Illustrator still
only allows one page (Artboard) per file.

JET

> If I purchase the latest AI, can I easily open up all my FH10 and 11
files?

That, of course, depends entirely upon the specific content of the files.
(Same would be true of opening just about any program's native files in a
competing program.)

> Or will there still be issues?

Of course there will be issues. Any object native to FreeHand that does not
have an AI equivalent will present an issue. (Same would be true going the
other direction.) Multi-page FH files will be cumbersome; Illustrator still
only allows one page (Artboard) per file.

JET

If you registered, call tech support. If they have your serial number on
file, they may ask you to send proof of who you are and give you your serial
number.

Opening FH11 files in AICS3 is splitting-headache territory for me.

If you use text on paths in FH, it never translates properly. FH live text
on a circle imports as a mish-mash that's difficult, if not impossible, to
edit.

If you Convert Text to Outlines as you import, you must have the font active
on your system or the text will be lost. AI doesn't allow you to select an
alternate font as you import.

AICS3 doesn't honor FH word and letter spacing, so FH self-expanding text
boxes are usually overflowing in AI.

Here's a message you get upon import of a FH file.

Following items cannot be preserved upon import:
- Custom, Pattern and PostScript strokes
- Custom, Lens, PostScript, Tiled and Textured fills
- Contour, Logarithmic, Rectangle and Cone gradients
- Bevel, Emboss, Blur, Glow and Sharpen effects
- Feather and Gradient Mask Transparency effects

Multi-page FH documents have to opened either as one big page that includes
objects on the FH pasteboard, or in separate documents as individual pages,
losing pasteboard objects.

FH Graphic styles are lost.

FH Brushes are lost. Brushes are expanded, but symbols survive.

FH multiple strokes are expanded into separate objects. FH vector effects
are expanded and no longer editable.

FH Paste Inside objects will be converted to AI clipping masks which
display, behave and select differently from Paste Inside objects.

I could go on, but translation from FH to AI is by no means seamless.

Judy Arndt

If you registered, call tech support. If they have your serial number on
file, they may ask you to send proof of who you are and give you your serial
number.

Opening FH11 files in AICS3 is splitting-headache territory for me.

If you use text on paths in FH, it never translates properly. FH live text
on a circle imports as a mish-mash that's difficult, if not impossible, to
edit.

If you Convert Text to Outlines as you import, you must have the font active
on your system or the text will be lost. AI doesn't allow you to select an
alternate font as you import.

AICS3 doesn't honor FH word and letter spacing, so FH self-expanding text
boxes are usually overflowing in AI.

Here's a message you get upon import of a FH file.

Following items cannot be preserved upon import:
- Custom, Pattern and PostScript strokes
- Custom, Lens, PostScript, Tiled and Textured fills
- Contour, Logarithmic, Rectangle and Cone gradients
- Bevel, Emboss, Blur, Glow and Sharpen effects
- Feather and Gradient Mask Transparency effects

Multi-page FH documents have to opened either as one big page that includes
objects on the FH pasteboard, or in separate documents as individual pages,
losing pasteboard objects.

FH Graphic styles are lost.

FH Brushes are lost. Brushes are expanded, but symbols survive.

FH multiple strokes are expanded into separate objects. FH vector effects
are expanded and no longer editable.

FH Paste Inside objects will be converted to AI clipping masks which
display, behave and select differently from Paste Inside objects.

I could go on, but translation from FH to AI is by no means seamless.

Judy Arndt

> That's strange. I can still download Macromedia Studio MX 2004 (with reg
> #) purchased Dec 2, 2003. My oldest online order available is Flash 5,
> purchased Sep 21, 2000.

Well, this is a corporate purchase. So *I* didn't purchase it. Alas, Adobe
can't seem to search their own DB by any field other than email address for
some inane reason.

> This will not help now but I have a long text document with all the reg
> numbers of all the programs I've ever bought.

Yea, it is my fault for not being more organized. Still, you'd think Adobe
could manage to work with me on this one.

If it weren't a corporate purchase, I'd have it installed already via other
means. ;o)

-Darrel

> That's strange. I can still download Macromedia Studio MX 2004 (with reg
> #) purchased Dec 2, 2003. My oldest online order available is Flash 5,
> purchased Sep 21, 2000.

Well, this is a corporate purchase. So *I* didn't purchase it. Alas, Adobe
can't seem to search their own DB by any field other than email address for
some inane reason.

> This will not help now but I have a long text document with all the reg
> numbers of all the programs I've ever bought.

Yea, it is my fault for not being more organized. Still, you'd think Adobe
could manage to work with me on this one.

If it weren't a corporate purchase, I'd have it installed already via other
means. ;o)

-Darrel

> Well, this is a corporate purchase. So *I* didn't purchase it. Alas, Adobe
> can't seem to search their own DB by any field other than email address for
> some inane reason.

It is clearly BS not DB.

Maybe they could donate one Illustrator arrow tool to search another database field.

Jukka