I have a friend that is having trouble opening files that I send her. I'm using Autocad MEP 2012 and she has Architectural Desktop 2006. She can open them but can't make any changes to the files without getting a fatal error
message. She can't copy or paste either.
Thanks for the help.
Files saved in AutoCAD MEP 2012 will use the 2010 format. ADT 2006 uses the 2004 format. ACA/AMEP objects are not backwards compatible to previous file formats. When you SAVEAS to the earlier format, ACA/AMEP objects are not transformed into previous version objects.
You can turn PROXYGRAPHICS on, which would enable a previous release user to see the objects, but the presence of "future" objects will, at the least, disable the loading of the AEC modules in the older release, so editing is not possible.
Or, you can EXPORTTOAUTOCADnnnn, where nnnn is the year number of the format (2004 in your case), but that will explode all of the AEC objects in your file. The 2006 user should then be able to open the file and add new AEC objects, but will only have lines, cirlces and arcs (for a plan view; a 3D view should generate solids) for the AEC objects in your 2012 file.
In short, if you need to collaborate with someone and need to round trip AEC objects that both parties can edit, st the least you all need to be on the same file format, and preferrably all be using the same release.