There’s nothing like the release of a new operating system to put apps to the test. Unsurprisingly, some Rocket Yard readers have reported that specific apps are not playing well with High Sierra. Here’s our current list, and please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the post with information on any apps you may have that don’t work properly with High Sierra installed. (Related: Common Problems During and After macOS High Sierra Installation)
Apple Apps
Would you believe that some Apple apps need to be updated to a new version to work properly with macOS High Sierra? While the iWork apps (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers), built-in apps (Mail, Safari, etc…) and iLife (iMovie, Photos, GarageBand, etc…) apps are working well with High Sierra, the Pro apps need to be updated to the latest versions. Here are links to the Mac App Store where the latest version can be found:
Adobe Apps
Adobe suggests that any Creative Cloud versions of its apps be updated to the latest version (this is generally a good practice anytime updates are available). Most ‘CC apps’ should run smoothly with High Sierra, but some issues have been reported, in particular with Illustrator CC 2017 and InDesign CC 2017.
Illustrator suffers from multiple issues, one of which can cause installation and application launch failures; others have workarounds. InDesign suffers from cursor corruption issues, which may vary in frequency or severity depending on hardware. Photoshop has an issue related to Full Screen usage but Adobe has already supplied a file that can be downloaded and installed to fix it. For all Adobe-related issues, please visit their official support pages for the latest information.
For CS6 and earlier versions of the suite, the best information we have is that they are not officially supported with 10.13. They may install and work properly or they may not, but in any case no updates are likely to be provided.
Microsoft Office
As noted in an earlier report on macOS High Sierra, Office 2011 is not supported in High Sierra. While some of the apps may still work, there is a good chance they will not based on the information we’ve seen. Note also that Microsoft will no longer support Office 2011 after October 10, 2017, so if you would like to continue using an officially supported version, your only option will be to upgrade to Office 2016 (version 10.35 or higher — current version as of this writing is 15.38).
You can check the version number for Office 2016 by opening any of the apps (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc…) and selecting the “About Excel/Word/…” item from the app menu (see screenshot at right).
Microsoft Auto Update was also reported as having some issues.
Summary of Apps with Verified Compatibility Issues as of 9/27/2017
- Wacom tablet drivers: 10.13-aware drivers not available until late October. This could impact many Creative Suite users.
- Adobe Illustrator CC 2017 (serious – fix likely to require application update)
- InDesign CC 2017 (variable – fix likely to require Apple update)
- Photoshop CC 2017 (minor – Adobe fix available now)
- CS6 and earlier suites: as far as we know, none are officially compatible with 10.13. No further fixes or updates likely.
- Affinity Photo – should work but no official statement yet
- Affinity Design – should work but no official statement yet
- Final Cut Pro X – 10.3.4 or later
- Motion – 5.3.2 or later
- Compressor – 4.3.2 or later
- Logic Pro X – 10.3.1 or later
- MainStage – 3.3 or later
- Apps from previous versions of Final Cut and Logic Studio are not compatible. They include: DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Color, Cinema Tools, WaveBurner, Studio Instruments, Studio Effects, Apple Loops, Apple Loops Utility, Impulse Response Utility
- Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) 4 – limited support only
- CCC5 – fully supports 10.13; this version should be used in a mixed volume (HFS+ and APFS) environment.
- Disk Warrior 5 – Will run on the OS but APFS volumes not yet supported. (Disk Warrior 4 stopped working with 10.11).
- MS Office 2011 – not supported and MS will end all official support 10/10/17.
- MS Offie 2016 – versions 15.35 and later only
- FileMaker Pro – if you are using version 14 or earlier, check with FileMaker before upgrading to macOS 10.13.
- 1 Password – version 6 or later
Other Apps Reported to Have Issues as of 9/27/2017
- Airfoil for Mac
- Audacity
- Audio Hijack
- Autodesk AutoCAD 2017
- Bear
- beaTunes
- Civilization V
- CodeWeavers CrossOver (and any apps that use it)
- DiskWarrior 5.0 (does not support APFS; should work properly on any High Sierra device that has not been converted to APFS)
- FileMaker Pro 11.0.4 and earlier
- Firefox
- Intego Backup Manager Pro
- Intego FileGuard
- Intego Internet Security Barrier X6
- Intego NetBarrier X5/X8
- Intego Personal Antispam
- Intego VirusBarrier 10.7.3/Express/Plus
- Loopback
- Mailplane
- Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
- McAfee Endpoint Security for Mac
- nvALT
- OnyX
- Path Finder
- Snapz Pro X
- Sophos AV
- SuperDuper!
- TechTool Pro
Users Who Might Want to Think Twice Before Upgrading
- All users heavily dependent upon Wacom tablets for their work or computer use
- Illustrator CC 2017 users
- InDesign CC 2017 users
- Users of earlier versions of Creative Suite (CS6 or earlier) who don’t plan on changing that setup
- MS Office 2011 users who don’t plan to upgrade to a free office suite, G Suite, or Office 2016 15.35 or later
- Carbon Copy Cloner v4 or earlier users who don’t plan to upgrade to version 5.
- Disk Warrior users
- Anyone using older versions of the Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio who doesn’t want to move up to Final Cut Pro X apps or Logic Pro X apps.
As noted earlier, please let us know if you run into any compatibility issues with your favorite Mac apps by leaving a comment below. In addition, if you hear about a new version of any of the apps listed here that resolves High Sierra compatibility issues, please comment as well.
• OWC Dan contributed to this article
Seems you forgot to include Garageband version 10.3.3
Since I upgraded to High Sierra from Sierra my internal Garageband Controls(Smart Controls) freeze and most are unchangeable.It is very frustrating.
I;m considering an downgrade back to Sierra!
Thanks
Presto Page Manager–all of the files are random (formerly alphabetical) –out of order and if you put them in alphabetical order, they just return to random order once you switch file—anyone have any info?
Is Mohave 10.14.3 compatible with the Printshop 2? I am having problems.
Using a Mini (2018) with Mojave and a mix of your Mercury Elite Pro Quad (using my disks, direct connected to TB3) and two externals disks (1 HDD and I SSD via a Lenovo powered USB 3.0 seven port hub. Everything works fine until shut-down when I dismount all disks followed by a Quit of all running apps and system shut down command. System seems to shut-down but then re-boots by itself. Upon log-in, I get a system crash notice that the Mac crashed in shut-down, but it was not visible to me as it happened while the screen had gone dark. I have been sending crash reports to Apple.
BTW, The Mercury Elite fan is **annoyingly loud** and usually cycles loud and soft about 1 per 3 sec or so, although right now it is steady on for the first time that I have noticed since installing it about 2 weeks ago.
my safari browser keeps getting hijacked by bing ever since an auto update from high sierra to mojave tried to download, but my computer wasn’t able to complete that download and now safari doesn’t work at all.
cloning a 1.8TB disk on my iMac running MacOS 10.13.6 using Intego Backup Manager Pro version 1.3 took over 29 hours wher the destination was a brand new Porche Design 4TB LaCie desktop drive. The speed achieved was a small fraction of the speed potential of the interface and I can’t explain the slowness except to imagine the problem is with software somewhere. I have checked all the settings in the OS and in the Application and can find no setting that would create this problem.
It took me over 29 hours for Intego Backup Manager Pro version 1.3 to create a bootable 1.8TB backup file from a 27″ late 2015 iMac with a 3.1TB disk onto a LaCie Porche Design 4TB desktop drive. data transmission rates were quite robust at first but petered away and became notably less than the capacity of the interface. Periodically the script would try to quite which in itself did not stop transfer of information. I’d tell it not to quit and the message would disappear as transfers continued. I don’t know why this dialogue kept reappearing every few hours, or maybe less.
I had a brand new 500 GB SSD installed in my late 2012 Mac mini by authorized Apple repair shop, and it came back operating perfectly BUT Micromat TechTool Pro 9.6.2 reports “Reallocated Sectors Count (5) ” right away. I’m backing up regularly but wondering if the problem is the drive or TechTool Pro??
How do I access the information in Quicken Essentials which doesn’t work with High Sierra
I regret having upgraded to High Sierra from El Capitan. I did this primarily to resolve issues of spinning beach balls and general slowness on my iMac 27″ Late 2012.. We did a clean install of High Sierra without upgrading to Sierra as an intermediate step.Now, I am having issues with my 122 GB photo library not completely loading in High Sierra’s Photos. Apple cannot help except to submit a ticket to their engineering dept. I am so upset as I have spent hours and hours getting everything to run more smoothly in High Sierra and things have indeed improved; however, once I opened up Photos, I feel like I’ve returned to Tech Hell. Please advise.
You say “Office 2011 is not supported in High Sierra. While some of the apps may still work, …” Many users in other forums claim Office 2011 does continue to work find if already installed. I would like to have some updated information if possible since your posted info about this is quite old, and some of the information seems to be incorrect… as a user just reported that Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are not working and your earlier informataion indicated they wold work.
I have no issues with Office 2011 working under High Sierra 13.3.3 on my Late 2012 Mac Mini (2.6 GHz Intel Quad Core i7). In fact, Word, Excel and PowerPoint run faster than Office 2016 (I don’t use Outlook).
Thanks John! That is very encouraging news. Can I assume that you have APFS formated on your Mac Mini and ask if you erased the hard drive first and made a clean install (or more probably) did an upgrade from within your former OS/X version? I have a late 2012 Macbook Pro 2.7 GHz Intel Quad Core i7 with 16 GB Ram currently running Sierra
Even though Office 2011 is no longer supported, it is still available to download anew if you have your original product key and can submit that on the proper page of the MS website. I had to download and reinstall to get it to function. I did this just last week.
Well I upgraded to HIgh Sierra last week since I had to take my computer in for repair and I thought they might do it if I didn’t, and am pleased to report that Office 2011 for Mac continues to work with no problems, just as it did under Sierra.
Presto Page Manager–all of the files are out of order, no longer alphabetical and If I rearrange they dont stay there.
After updating to High Sierra 10.13.3 Pages, Numbers, and Keynote is not working!!!!!
Snapz Pro X crashes on app start up.. actually won’t launch at all
I’m considering buying a new Mac with High Sierra installed and wondering if it would work with Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop CS6?
Anyone has any experience with this?
Thanks
Don’t know about Illustrator CS6, but Photoshop CS6 is working fine and without any problems on my 27″ iMac (2017) with High Sierra…
Any reported compatibility issues with Draftsight 2018 for Mac? I’m thinking of upgrading from Sierra to High Sierra but I’m wary as I use Draftsight a lot.
Thank You.
So far….
Filemaker Pro 11
Quicken 2007
Booksmart
Pages and Numbers will not save to a remote drive
Wacom Tablet
Which pretty much covers my most used programs.
Is there a way to go back to El Capitan without Time Machine backup prior to the update to Sierra?
I am pretty sure you have to go to to the Genius Bar and they can (I know because I did this with an old MacBook Pro from around 2010) and they can install any version they want or you ask them to… after of course formatting the hard drive, so you would lose all data you don’t have backed up. In my case they installed Mavericks because they said anything newer would run slow.
Quickbooks 2014 doesn’t work with Sierra. Is there a patch?
Filemaker 13 and 15 both crash when doing searches that fail. I have one file that no longer will load it keeps saying it needs to repair but stays in the loop and never loads. Does 16 work with High Sierra?
I had to reinstall Sierra just to get everything working again
Cannot connect charter.net Mail to Mac High Sierra even in safe mode even with charter help line and Apple help line!
Filemaker Pro 13 crashes continuously on High Sierra. Also v13 cannot be upgraded and must be replaced with new v16. An expensive problem
Same problem here. Should be a cheaper upgrade price.
My Panasonic HC-770 camcorder does not open with Photo. I selected the other options – no good. I had to use iMovie. Any one have an idea?
Did you try Image Capture ?
Is it possible that my new HP4650 isn’t compatible with high sierra?
– mySQLWorkbench crash under High Sierra.
– Razor SQL crash under High Sierra .
Under the heading: “Summary of Apps with Verified Compatibility Issues” I would expect apps with verified compatibility issues… The apps below and in particular the versions mentioned, do NOT have these issues. Versions prior to the versions mentioned here, do have issues. So please add “install version” before the version numbers
Final Cut Pro X – 10.3.4 or later
Motion – 5.3.2 or later
Compressor – 4.3.2 or later
Logic Pro X – 10.3.1 or later
MainStage – 3.3 or later
OnyX 3.3.9 for macOS High Sierra 10.13
Causes Kernel Panic Restart on completion of REBUILDING LAUNCHSERVICES
Upgraded and now Pinterest won’t work on Firefox.
I asked Canon yesterday, they replied they won’t support for old series printer like MP560 series in High Sierra. so DISAPPOINTED!!
A bit confusing: on one hand you say some Apple apps, like FCPX and Motion must be updated to the latest version before being compatible with High Sierra, on the other hand under “Apps with Verified Compatibility Issues” you name the same apps and their latest versions. In the latter part you should state that the apps with a lower version than the ones mentioned have a compatibility issue
My CanoScan 5600F stopped working.
MP Navigator EX does not start.
Me Too! My old printer only support 3.0 but after updated to High Sierra, unexpected error occur
After reading this I found my version of MP Navigator EX (for a CanoScan 8800F scanner) was 1.05, and dated 2013, the same year I bought the MacBook Air I’m still using. After a lot of searching, I have come to realize that the 8800, expensive in its day (and still a fine device) won’t work on Sierra, much less on High Sierra. So I’ll stick with Yosemite on my Air until I get a new laptop, with all the new external devices it will require. Those will not include a scanner from Canon.
This may be a little late, Eddie, but you were not alone.
I had EXACTLY the same problem with BOTH items!
At first, you tend to doubt if something has gone wrong, but in the end, you realize it’s just another hoax of the big brand names, applying nasty, consumer abusive planned obsoleteness techniques.
I have an 8000+ DVD personal movie database that I began many years ago (FMaker 4.0). As MacOS changed, I bought new versions of Fmaker and now have the database in Fmaker Pro 12.0.05…I found out moving to High Sierra was a BIG mistake. The d/b will not sort without shutting down. I cannot add/edit a field anymore. I can view in alpha and sort in alpha, but I cannot sort on media field (each DVD is numbered!). I will NOT use another Fmaker software update or buy a newer version. I’ll put them in an Excel spreadsheet and work with that if push comes to shove!!
Slingtv not working
Hi Steve,
Thanks for putting together such a great list! I work with the 1Password team and wanted to ask what compatibility issues you had found when using 1Password in High Sierra?
We have done extensive testing and found it to be working exactly as it should. Please do let me know :)
Thanks again!
Will
That was very helpful. Thank you!
Font issues on Sierra Mail app – question posted earlier. Any response?
The MAIL app has been converting all text messages into italic fonts. Apple’s support community has no fix for this, with complaints going back to earlier OS versions and continuing to the present. I have found come work-arounds, but they’re clumsy. Any ideas?
Definitely going to wait a while before taking this leap. There will be bug fixes in subsequent releases.
So . . . does anything old work on High Sierra?
What about “NEAT.COM?”
Their technical support has WARNED all of it’s users DO NOT UPGRADE YOUR IMAC or you will loose your scanning capability!
Their software engineers are working frantically to update their driver!
My question is…WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU IDIOTS SENDIN OUT THIS ASSININE UPGRADE without compleating the protocols with your partnering intities?
As much as I am HOOKED on you folks and will always be I would caution you to complete your coding and driver tasks before future releases of any IOS upgrades!
I agree… Jobs would NEVER have put this out without making sure it was COMPLETELY compatible especially with partnering entities. WE don’t need new operating systems every year just better bug free o/s. I have a new system but with a fusion drive I’m concerned.
HDHomeRun crashes during play and even after SiliconDust updated for High Sierra it continues to crash when quitting the App. VLC Player also has similar issues! Have also crashed Final Cut a few times with the current 10.3.4 Version.
As of November 3, Silicon Dust Mac app still crashes the computer. Not just the app. The whole computer.
I’ve had this exact same problem. HDHomeRun crashes after about 20 seconds. Every time it’s launched.
So from what I am reading, between the issues with Apple, Adobe and Microsot products, about 95% of the target market should avoid the upgrade. On top of that, the main benefit of APFS only applies to SSD drives which are only on the newest machines.
I will wait quite a while before I attempt this upgrade.
I also confirmed after an hourlong conversation with Apple support yesterday that users of Apple Mail 11 have serious compatibility issues with Microsoft Exchange Server. Mail, which worked great with Sierra, has real issues for people with large numbers of emails and folders on Exchange Server under High Sierra. Apple support just said “Go talk to Microsoft about it…” : (
What about printers/scanners? Any word on whether hp, Epsom, cannon, etc will be updating those? I wish they would update their users. VueScan, scanner software, will be updating, I hope.
My message app will no longer accept anything from Google, I am working on fixing that.
Blurb BookSmart software will not launch, stops at loading interface. Worked only one hour before fore doing the High Sierra update
Updated java to 2015-001 to get Blurb to launch
Garageband has major issues with any 3rd party purchased plugins. I use Toontrack for most of my plugins. None of them are recognized and there is no patch! Frustrating.
Check to see if the Plugins are 32 bit … If they are, then that is most likely the problem and you would need to go back to ToonTracks for a solution. Might pay to do an Plugin uninstall and then reinstall beforehand to see if that makes any difference. Good luck! I understand your frustration.
Blurb Booksmart online application will not open since installing High Sierra on iMac. Apple referred me to Blurb.com. Awaiting reply…
Having the same problem – blurb booksmart won’t open. Please let me know if you find a solution.
Updated java to 2015-001 version to fix the problem with Blurb not opening
I updated the java and blurb still will not work
Has anyone been able to make blurb book smart work after High Sierra?
This may be the biggest hardware and software compatibility challenge since OS X 10.7 Lion left PPC apps behind. It should be noted that only (compatible) SSDs are upgraded to APFS automatically. Though they could be upgraded during beta testing, Fusion Drives (like the one in my iMac) are not compatible with APFS in the release version of 10.13. While regular hard drives can be upgraded to APFS, this does not happen automatically when High Sierra is installed (fortunately in my opinion). Disk Utility can upgrade a HDD to the new file system, but there are still enough unanswered questions to make such an upgrade problematic. Caveat emptor. Let’s wait and see what early adopters have to tell us. Their pioneering efforts are always appreciated by more cautious souls like me.
Though some may want to blame developers for not having their software ready for High Sierra, you should note that Apple itself is one of those developers. All their professional media production apps are no shows. Irony much?
ongoing bug with WeatherCat Twitter plug in Sylvester and High Sierra…settings were wiped out upon upgrade and now can not restore or configure
Also ToDo List and Calculator Pro
Does anyone remember those early original Apple Loop packs for Garageband and Logic? I bought them all. I think I remember that some of them were integrated into future updates of Logic over the years but I never tracked those. Were they? If not, will installing Apple Loops or 3rd party loops no longer work in High Sierra?
Chronos SOHO Organizer 9 incompatible
I lost all my game progress on Hidden City Mystery of Shadows when upgrading. Two other games (Virtual City and Letter from Nowhere) were OK.
The OWC Aura SSD in a Mac Pro is not compatible with macOS 10.13 per your earlier announcement email and should be added to this list even though it is not an App.
Hi Ron,
Thanks for your comment. We are preparing a separate article for OWC hardware that is impacted by macOS 10.13. It will be available soon.
Dan
Yeah, that’s a serious show stopper for most OWC customers on MacPro.
WOW! I was just contemplating upgrading to SSD. I never dreamed that some upgrade would make a drive of any type obsolete. Is it just this one SSD in one machine or is it more?
I also had an issue with iMovie 10.1.7 crashing on my MBP 17″ 2011 which I reported to Apple. Issue _could be_ related to HEVC incompatibility with SATA external drives where my video libraries are stored. As of now i cannot use iMovie with macOS 10.13.
I assume you work on an external monitor as I do. The work around is to start imovie from the laptop and then it will work with the cover closed on an external monitor.
What about Mac Mini ? I have same iMovie crash issue on my MacBook Pro and Mac Mini
xtraFinder doesn’t work as well.
TotalFinder does work.
But I really wish developer would update xtrafinder :(
Path Finder 7.6 (new as of yesterday) – is said to work with 10.13. I’ve not tested this…
There’s no excuse for incompatibilities on the part of most of these vendors; what were they doing during the past three months of High Sierra beta releases?
I Totally agree. That is the whole purpose of the multiple Beta Releases. I think High Sierra had 8 0r 9 if I remember correctly.
A more basic question is why Apple released a new OS version, on a radically new file system, without giving the full technical documentation for the FS to its community of developers, well in advance. Without that documentation, it’s not possible for a developer to ensure that its apps will work properly, especially utilities like DiskWarrior. In fact, Apple still hasn’t released the documents. In the case of DW, you flat-out *cannot* repair the directory of an OS on the APFS. DW can’t recognize the drive, so it won’t even appear in the app’s list of drives. Pls. see: alsoft.com/diskwarrior/highsierraapfs.html. Anyone who’s comfortable installing HS under that condition is a much braver soul than I.
An even MORE basic is why the hell do we need changes in file systems? This frequent, forced obsolescence is maddening!
Finale PrintMusic
Finale SongWriter
SuperDuper recently got a upgrade that should handle High Sierra, although I can’t check. I’ve got other apps that are troubled, so I’m holding back. And given the serious issue with iTunes 12.7, I may just freeze my upgrading for a while.
If you go to SuperDuper they link to their Blog which if you go clear to the bottom has a link to their Beta 3.0 which is (according to them still a work in progress) that will work with the new file system. I have not tried it fully since it may require reformatting my backup SSD to the new file system format and my current backup may help solve some recovery from other compatibility problems.
SuperDuper v2.9.2 claims to support High Sierra and APFS. shirtpocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
How about an article on hardware (for instance third party SSD drives) with known High Sierra compatibility issues?
According to the Alsoft site, Disk Warrior does work on all but APFS drives. Hurr.Harvey impeded their development. A onetime kext permission needs to be set in security/privacy sys. prefs.