AutoCAD 2018 Compatibility without Maintenance Plan

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 02:42:36 GMT

Hi,

Could anyone please clarify the forward/backward compatibility of AutoCAD 2018 – in particular if the Maintenance Plan is left to expire?

Would I still be able to save DWG files as previous versions of AutoCAD or will I only be able to save in 2018 DWG format? Would the ‘Saveas’ option still work as per normal?

Would I still be able to open DWG files created in future versions of AutoCAD 2018? My work is mainly in 2D and the AEC side of things don't really worry me.

Many thanks.

Re: AutoCAD 2018 Compatibility without Maintenance Plan

Mark.Lancaster — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 04:26:29 GMT

@Anonymous

AutoCAD DWG version or saving your DWG has nothing to do with your active or expired maintenance plan.

Anyhow let me try to answer your question about saving AutoCAD DWG forward or backwards.

The ruling for many years was that Autodesk changed the "DWG" version format every 3 years to protect its internal DWG database.

For example, when AutoCAD 2013 was released, a new "DWG" version was generated at that time. Meaning when a drawing was saved in AutoCAD 2013, AutoCAD 2010, 2011 and the 2012 version would not be able to open it up unless the save as version was changed to AutoCAD 2010 DWG version.

However when AutoCAD 2016 was released a couple of years ago we all assumed there would be a new DWG format, but that didn't happen until AutoCAD 2018. So any drawing created in AutoCAD 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 are still based on the same "DWG" version.

Drawings that are now created in AutoCAD 2018 now has a new "DWG" version and thus, AutoCAD 2013 to 2017 are unable to open it unless the drawing is saved back to AutoCAD 2013 DWG version. Now the release of AutoCAD 2019 is months away but the "DWG" version should still be based on the AutoCAD 2018 version and that should hold true for AutoCAD 2020 (over a year away for release).

Now any drawing that you create in AutoCAD 2018 or an earlier version of AutoCAD can still be opened going forward no matter what version it is. But if you want to go back in time, you have to select to save the "DWG" version that is compatibility with the AutoCAD version you're trying to use for that drawing.

Hope that helps..

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AutoCAD 2018 Compatibility without Maintenance Plan

Re: AutoCAD 2018 Compatibility without Maintenance Plan