Removing Old Software

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Today’s Question: My hard drive is filling up with programs and I really need some space. I have the latest 2019 versions of Adobe Photoshop and Bridge. Looking at my program list I still have Bridge and Photoshop 2018 installed. Is it perfectly safe to uninstall those older versions?

Tim’s Quick Answer: As long as the latest version of the application is working properly, including any plug-ins and configuration settings, it is perfectly safe to uninstall the older version of the application.

More Detail: When Adobe releases a major update to one of their Creative Cloud applications, it will install an additional copy of the software alongside the previous version. For minor updates the existing installation is simply updated, without creating an additional copy of the software.

Once the latest version of a Creative Cloud application is working correctly and configured to your preferences (including the installation of plug-ins if applicable), you can most certainly remove the older version of the application to free up space on your hard drive.

I recommend uninstalling using the Creative Cloud application. On the Apps tab of the Creative Cloud application you can first locate the application that has more than one version installed. To the left of the application name you will see a triangle icon, which you can click to expand (or collapse) the list of different versions of the application that are currently installed.

For example, you might have a version 20 of Photoshop (the CC 2019 version) as well as a version 19 (the CC 2018 version). To remove the older version, first click on the popup arrow to the right of the “Open” or “Update” button for the application version you want to uninstall. From the popup that appears choose “Manage” followed by “Uninstall”. In the confirmation dialog that appears, you can choose to remove the application preferences as long as the latest version has been configured completely.

At this point the Creative Cloud application will begin uninstalling the selected older version of the application, freeing up hard drive space in the process.