topic Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT in AutoCAD Forum

Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

aj_email_2010 — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 11:41:50 GMT

Strange occurrence with compatibility of drawings.......

We have 4 users on a project, 3 of them are using CADv2016 and one is using CADLTv2019 - all have their file save format set to v2013-v2017 within the options.

User with CADLTv2019 was asked to do some minor amendments to a few drawings. Only a few paperspace items were changed and then a couple of items such as north arrow symbol size and re-setting the zoom level of model-space was done.

The drawings were saved by the CADLTv2019 user ..... but now the users with CADv2016 get xref errors, showing the notice "incompatible version" in the xref manager list.

1st question...

Why are the xrefs being amended in CADLTv2019 when the drawing is saved?

2nd question...

Why isn't CADLTv2019 saving in the v2013-v2017 format when asked to do so?

Thanks for any answers given.

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

S.Faris — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 11:55:14 GMT

Read this to know more on Backward compatibility of 2018 format : Error: "This drawing contains custom objects that are not supported in previous versions" when saving in AutoCAD

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

aj_email_2010 — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 12:14:22 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

I was previously aware that the file format had recently changed and that v2018 and v2019 would now be creating their own objects that would not be backward compatible with earlier years.

However, the problem I seem to have is that when no objects have been created in CADLT2019, just by saving the DWG as v2013-v2017, it seems to have created incompatible entities - namely it seems to have done something to the xref files within the drawing.

Should the software be doing this?

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

RobDraw — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 12:19:12 GMT

@aj_email_2010 wrote:

Should the software be doing this?

That is what happens. Objects will be saved as the newer format. AutoCAD warns the user of this. "Save As" to previous versions does not convert these objects. The file needs to be exported to a previous format.

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

S.Faris — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 12:22:27 GMT

using command EXPORTTOAUTOCAD or DXF conversion are the best possible solutions.

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

RobDraw — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 12:24:37 GMT

@S.Faris wrote:

using command EXPORTTOAUTOCAD or DXF conversion are the best possible solutions.

Disagree. Best practice says to make sure everyone working on a project uses the same version.

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

S.Faris — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 12:58:12 GMT

In this case they have already messed up the file, So that is not going to do any good I believe. I was just providing a solution for the problem they are in. The one you mentioned is the best practice and not the solution if am not wrong.

Sorry I'm not a native English speaker,so kindly pardon my English.

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

aj_email_2010 — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 13:37:17 GMT

Cheers.

Seems I did have a misunderstanding with the "save as" function.

From the replies given I now understand it to be that even if v2013-v2017 file format is selected, a 2019 version of AutoCAD will still save in a non-compatible format with v2013-v2017. Which begs the question as to why they have this 'back-dated format' in the list of file types under "save as" ?

I think the solution to this will be to instruct our I.T. to remove all versions of CADv2018 and v2019 from our software list to avoid the problem happening again.

I think this is a huge failing from AutoDesk, what they seem to have created is AutoCAD v1 and AutoCAD v2, whereby one is not compatible with the other. As our projects are on v1, we will have no need for v2.

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

pendean — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 13:57:06 GMT

"Best practice says to make sure everyone working on a project uses the same version."

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

RobDraw — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 14:04:56 GMT

@aj_email_2010 wrote:

From the replies given I now understand it to be that even if v2013-v2017 file format is selected, a 2019 version of AutoCAD will still save in a non-compatible format with v2013-v2017. Which begs the question as to why they have this 'back-dated format' in the list of file types under "save as" ?

I think this is a huge failing from AutoDesk, what they seem to have created is AutoCAD v1 and AutoCAD v2, whereby one is not compatible with the other.

A while back, .dwg format changes happened every three years and it was common knowledge that the "save as" to a previous format would not work and files needed to be exported or converted using Drawing TrueView. That common knowledge has been lost in recent years because of the long gap in format changes.

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

aj_email_2010 — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 15:30:49 GMT

Thanks for the replies everyone. Much appreciated.

Just a final question from me.... what is the purpose of CAD v2018/v2019 having the "save as" function and including the v2013-v2017 file format as an option when the software is unable to properly 'save as' to that file format?

Re: Xref compatibility when saving from 2019LT

RobDraw — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 15:45:22 GMT

@aj_email_2010 wrote:

Thanks for the replies everyone. Much appreciated.

Just a final question from me.... what is the purpose of CAD v2018/v2019 having the "save as" function and including the v2013-v2017 file format as an option when the software is unable to properly 'save as' to that file format?

Out of the dozens of times I've had this conversation, no one else has ever seen the uselessness of that function.