Upgrade from 6.x Pro License to 7.x Free

I have eM 6 Pro. I want to upgrade to eM 7.x for testing; however, whenever I do it only gives me the option to either upgrade my license or to work offline.

“This version of eM Client is newer than what your current license permits”

What I want to do is use a single account free license so that I can play around and test 7.x for a few days to see if I can get over a few of the dumber interface changes (i.e. menu rolled up to top left) or not and to test how bad having to enable gmail’s “All Mail” folder screws up my accounts on other platforms (I really don’t want All Mail on mobile, for example).

Running in offline mode just won’t cut it…and from what I can tell, because I am a customer using a previous version of your product, I am being treated worse than “never were customers” who want to test your product. 

From what you have written, it appears that you have already made up your mind about version 7. However, so you have a fair chance at changing your mind, you can simply deactivate your license, and activate a Free License instead. That should work fine as long as you don’t have more than 2 accounts configured. This can be done in Menu > Help > License.

Also, please be aware that as you already have a paid license, you can make use of your VIP Support entitlement to get assistance directly from eM Client. I am sure that you will find that they are more than happy to help you.

Appreciate the response.  I will try and  disable the license and I’m sure that will solve the problem.

I have not made up my mind.  When 7 first came out, the “All Mail” folder requirement was a deal breaker, as that screwed up my phone’s email client.  I think I have a work around now, so even though I am not happy about this requirement from eM, it may not be the deal breaker it once was. 

As far as UI issues, well, that is just part of this new trend everyone seems to be going to whereby they are sacrificing functionality for the sake of simplicity. I am sure eM’s analytics shows the vast majority of users rarely, if ever, go into the menus, driving a decision to move the menu bar into the title bar, recovering ONE WHOLE LINE more of text while only irritating those few of us who do use the menu bar.  By far and away not the worst decision I’ve seen (example, Acrobat Pro’s UI is completely unusable for form making in the most recent version). As companies continue down this form-over-function route, it is a matter of testing out the changes and seeing which can be gotten used to vs. which require moving on. My initial reaction to eM’s changes is that I can probably get used to them…

Thanks again, 

  • john