Save as AutoCAD 2007 from Civil 3D 2010

[thomboy]

I have one of the few computers in our office with Civil 3D 2010 installed.  The majority of my co-workers are using AutoCAD Civil 3D Land Desktop Companion 2009.  In the options dialog box I have file save set to "Save as: AutoCAD 2007 Drawing."   When someone opens a drawing that I've worked on in Civil 3D 2010, using Companion 2009, they get the following message:  "Autodesk Land Desktop cannot initialize because this drawing contains objects from a newer version. Refer to the readme file for more information on this issue."

I have tried exporting to AutoCAD, etransmit with AEC objects exploded, export as a .dxf, no matter what I do, the drawing retains these objects which render the file useless if you don't have Civil 3D 2010.  We have "check web for Live Enablers" checked in the options dialog box.  The read me files didn't offer any insight.  Is there a way to back save a drawing in Civil 3D that will be fully functional in Companion 2009?

[Sinc · Accepted solution]

No, there isn't.  Civil 3D is not backward compatible.  You have to use "Export to Autocad 2007" to get a drawing you can open in LDD 2009, but doing that will remove all Civil intelligence from the file.

And you should not set C3D 2010 to save to 2007 format...  Keep it set to 2010 format.  "Save As 2007" is essentially an option for Vanilla Autocad users only.

[thomboy]

Thank you for the reply. At least now I can quit looking for a solution, there isn't one  We haven't had any training on Civil 3D 2010 yet, I'm sort of the guinea pig in the office.  What constitutes a vanilla user?  Are those the ones that are reluctant to try anything new or different? (I already set my save as option back to 2010.)

[Jeff_M]

'Vanilla' is a reference to plain ole AutoCAD, whereas Civil3D and LDT are 'Verticals' (built on top of AutoCAD)