App troubles
Many apps don’t play well with High Sierra, and you may have to upgrade them alongside macOS
Any softwa re update can result in glitches. The solution is almost always to upgrade to the newest version of the app in question. Some older apps, however, aren’t being updated, so you’ll need a replacement. Before you do that, see “Keep old apps running” on page 26.
Older versions of Apple’s own pro apps are not compatible with High Sierra. This includes Final Cut Pro X (10.3.4 and earlier), Logic Pro X (10.3.1 and earlier), and associated tools, so get the latest versions. You should also update to GarageBand’s latest version.
Although Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio were superseded some time ago, many continue to use apps bundled with them, such as Soundtrack Pro, Cinema Tools, and DVD Studio Pro, but none of these work in High Sierra.
FileMaker Pro 15 and 16 are the only versions certified to work on High Sierra, though there are some issues — see bit.
ly/flmkrhs; older versions haven’t been tested. AutoCAD 2015 and earlier are not compatible; versions 2016 and newer are, with the latest updates applied.
Microsoft Office 2011 isn’t supported, but 2016 and Office 365 are, though there are reported problems. Microsoft says update Office 2016 to version 15.38 or newer.
Creativity and games
Adobe Acrobat 2017 and Acrobat DC are compatible but there are some issues, which Adobe promises to fix in a future release. Earlier versions, such as Acrobat X, aren’t compatible. Adobe Bridge CS5 and earlier will not work; you’ll need to upgrade to CS6. Photoshop Elements 10 and earlier won’t work. Photoshop CS4 is incompatible; CS5 and 5.1 have some problems, but Photoshop CS6 and CC seem to work fine. Adobe warns however that even 2017 versions of Illustrator and InDesign might have problems; it is working on updates. With all Adobe apps, you might need to install the legacy version of Java 6 from bit.ly/java6se.
If an app is vital to you and there’s no High Sierra-compatible upgrade available, it’s possible to run it using an older version of macOS within a virtual machine. We’ll explain this technique later.