Hi Cndamyr, You can install Sage 50 Pro 2015 with Sage 50 Premium 2016 on the same computer but not Sage 50 Pro 2016 with Sage 50 Premium 2016.

Cndamyr, you also be aware that you cannot easily downgrade your dataset from Premium to Pro. Most people will start a new dataset and just carry over the chart of accounts with balances, basically start a new company. However, there are people who can manipulate the dataset to change it from Premium to Pro provided that none of the Premium only features have been used. There is a cost and it does take time. Unfortunately, I do not know of anyone who actually does this manipulation but they may respond here so that you can contact them directly.

Since we installed Sage 50 Premium 2015 back in June last year it ran updates and such - does that now mean I cannot put a newly bought version of Sage 50 Pro onto that computer (we were planning to do that for Jan 1st 2017 actually)?

Right! Thanks for that! I was wondering if the company file would be "backwards compatible" so to speak, but I guess not... After just a little over a year in business it is still early enough to sort of start over I suppose.

Candamyr,

You should be aware that Jason's suggestion for signing up for the Partner program does get you the Accountant's Edition but there may be some inherent flaws in that idea.

First, the Partner program costs more than just version of Pro from Staples. Second, you are required to renew the program every year at the Partner program pricing or your version of the software is limited to read-only because you would be on a subscription. Third, the problem of your file being in Premium still exists. And lastly, if, as it is indicated in your original post, you are just doing bookkeeping for one company, you do not qualify. Even if you did bookkeeping for multiple companies, the Partner license prohibits you from installing it on your client's computers. Therefore when you were not there, they would not have access to their data.

It is possible to downgrade a file, I've done a few, but depending on how many of the Premium features have been used (eg. multiple price lists, multiple customer shipping addresses, etc.) the difficulty increases. Sometimes it is better to just start a file over and therefore take time to redesign your chart of accounts, remove old customer and vendors, etc.

You can install 2017 Pro on a computer with 2015 Premium. There is no problems with that. I have every version going back to 2004 on my computer right now. You could keep your old file in 2015 until you move to 2017 and start a new file, while keeping your old data for look up under 2015.

I would also move the data file to your currently used computer and stop going across the network for the file if no one else needs to use it. Just create a folder like c:\Sage50Data and put your datafile there. If they need to do lookups on their copy of Premium, then you can copy the file over to their computer once a day or once a week depending on their needs. You wouldn't do that if you move to Pro because you wouldn't have the licence but you can for Premium.