opening dwg drawing created in Autocad 2014

[PaulSinnott1828]

I cannot open a drawing file sent to me created in Autocad 2014. I have Architecture 2009 software and my PC operating software is Windows Vista Home Premium. It there a way that I can save /convert and open this file without having Windows 7 or 8 ?

[Keith.Brown]

The problem is not your operating system but rather your version of of AutoCAD Architecture.  2009 is two file formats behind the current file format.  You will need to save the 2014 file down to a 2007 file format in order to open it.  In order to do that you will need to either ask the person that created the AutoCAD file to save it down to 2007 for you or you can download DWG TrueView which will allow you to open and save the file down to a previous version.  However the current version of TrueView which is 2015 requires at least windows 7 as an operating system.  You might be able to find the 2013 version of TrueView which will probably install on Vista AND open up a 2014 file and allow you to save down to the 2007 format.

[David_W_Koch]

Note also that even if you can get the file saved down to the 2007 format, on opening the file in ACA 2009, you will be informed that there are future objects in the file, and all of the AEC functions in ACA 2009 will be disabled.  There is no way to save an ACA file to a previous file format and have usable AEC objects.

You could ask the person creating the file in ACA 2014 to EXPORT the file to the 2007 format, but that will explode all of the AEC objects to vanilla AutoCAD objects (lines, arcs, etc.).  In that file, there will be no future AEC objects, so your ACA 2009 AEC functions will not be disabled.  But there will not be any Walls, Doors, etc. in the file.  If you only need the file for use as a background for your work, that may be acceptable.  (The Display Configuration and view direction active at the time of export will affect the contents of the file.  If you need a plan view to work over, then you will likely want the export to be done from the Top view direction, with the appropriate Display Configuration set current.  If you want a 3D model, then the view direction should be anything other than one of the orthogonal view directions (Top, Botton, Left, Right, Front or Back).

Long story short, there is no sharing of AEC objects across file formats.  More recent AEC objects cannot go back, and while older AEC objects can go forward, it is a one-time trip.