How can I use 2018 files in Inventor 2017?

[Anonymous]

We are running 2017, and working with a vendor who is working in 2018 and sent us some files, which we aren’t able to open in 2017….

Is there any way for them to save in an older version?

There seem to be a lot of older posts about previous version compatibility but I'm not sure if anything new has been developed.  

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We are running 2017, and working with a vendor who is working in 2018 and sent us some files, which we aren’t able to open in 2017….

Is there any way for them to save in an older version?

There seem to be a lot of older posts about previous version compatibility but I'm not sure if anything new has been developed.  

Thanks!

[JDMather]

Are you on Subscription?

If you install the updates for 2017 - you should be able to open the part and assembly files from 2018 in 2017 (but no feature tree).

If you are not on Subscription - then you will have to have them save as STEP (*.stp).

[pball]

If you install the 2017.4 update you will get a new feature where you can open, view, and use 2018 files. You will not be able to edit them but using them for reference in an assembly will work.

Otherwise your vendor would have to send you step files or another neutral cad format you could import.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-lt/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2018/ENU/I...

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi Garret,

With Inventor 2017 Update 4, you will be able to link 2018 files into 2017. This is called FutureCAD workflow, similar to AnyCAD. When you "open" the 2018 iam or ipt file, Inventor 2017 will create a new iam or ipt file with a link to the 2018 files. If there is any update in the 2018 files, the 2017 files will be notified and you will be able to update it in 2017. This enable users working on two different releases (2017 and 2018) to share files.

This is not like saving 2018 files back to 2017. Nor is it like opening 2018 files in 2017. 2017 cannot edit 2018 files.

Many thanks!