Using 'GCD' files

[Anonymous]

I am a new poster here, and somehow I am realy confused ; I have quite a few copies of various Corel Cadd/Visual Cadd versions and I have lots of Visual Cadd drawings , most from 1992 - 2000.  Now, I am having problems with post 2010 AutoCad drawings which I can't seem to open with Visual Cadd.  Would a let's say 1997 AutoCad LT help me convert the new AutoCad drawings into 'GCD' files, which I can open with my Visual Cadd ?  If the question looks out of place I apologize.

[rkmcswain]

You should grab DWG TrueView which includes a conversion tool to convert DWG files from one version to another.

Re:
http://download.autodesk.com/esd/dwgtrueview/2017/DWGTrueView_2017_Enu_64bit.sfx.exe

[john.vellek]

Hi Atlasboy,

Welcome to the Community Forums!

@rkmcswain beat me to the punch as I was going to  suggest the same solution to move drawing formats to older versions. I have attached for your reference an AKN Article that shows the file formats utilized by various AutoCAD releases. I hope you find this useful.

[john.vellek]

Good morning Atlasboy,

I am checking back to see if these posts helped you with your problem. Please add a post with your results so other Forum users can benefit.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button on the posts that help resolve your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

John,

  Many thanks for your reply ; I'm not sure that I am at the correct forum here as I believe you guys have better things to do than answer an unusual request as mine for non-AutoCadd problems..  Now, having said that here is what happens :

1.  I have lots of old ( 1992-2000) Generic Cadd files which can be used with the modern Visual Cadd program, no problem.

2.  I need to incorporate some 'modern' .Dwg files into those older files.

3.  The program 'Visual Cadd', while being a very good program does not open some modern .dwg, and even some older .dwg files.  If that program would work properly, I would have no problems.

4.  A program named 'General Cadd Pro' would probably take care of this matter, but I do not want to spend another $700.00 to get it.

5.  Why I came onto the Autodesk forum is that someone told me that Autodesk purchased Gerenic Cadd in 1992, and that some older versions of AutoCadd LT would read .Gcd files, and what I need to do is get modern .Swg files converted into .Gcd readable files.

6.  That's where I am at. I guess my question really is ' Is there ant AutoCadd program out there which can read .Gcd files ' ?

     Ralph

[Anonymous]

Sorry, my Item 5. contained a reference to .SWG files, that is a typo, it should read 'DWG.

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

HI Atlasboy,

This is the workflow I suggest:

Autodesk TrueView (and Trueconvert) is free and allows a user (without any CAD program) to not only view but also convert even the newest AutoCAD format files to older versions. This would allow you to convert dwg files to appropriate dwg versions that Visual CAD can utilize.

Then, continue to use Visual CAD to convert the old Generic CAD files into dwg format. That way, eventually you will have a single and uniform file format.  Then you can decide when and how to get onto a more current application platform.

I hope this answers your question.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

[TNDrevecky]

I'm assuming he's talking about importing the GCD files directly into AutoCAD, versus trying to find an outdated or unavailable program to covert it over to a DWG. I'm running into the same problem. The TrueView does nothing for me either.

[john.vellek]

Hi @TNDrevecky,

You are correct that the Generic Cad files will not import directly into AutoCAD. That is why I suggested continuing to convert the files in the original application as work proceeds until all the files are converted.

[pendean]

Friend, help yourself if those GCD files are so important to you http://www.generalcadd.com/gctips.htm

You might need these tips to get it to work https://www.howtogeek.com/228689/how-to-make-old-programs-work-on-windows-10/