Is it possible to save an Inventor 2020 file so that Inventor 2017 can open it?

[FeelGoodGirl]

Hello,

I'm afraid I already know the answer, but maybe someone has found a work around.

Within the company I work for, we use now different versions of Inventor. One group of people is still working with Inventor 2017 and some have already been transferred to Inventor 2020. This is of course not a good idea. It is not possible to switch all users to 2020. Of course, exchanging files is now a problem. This is now done via a STEP file. Is there a possibility for the 2020 user to save the file as an older file? So that the 2017 user can also open the file?

[Xun.Zhang · Accepted solution]

Hello @FeelGoodGirl,

There is no way to save a file in a lower version, sorry for that.

However, once install 2017.4 and it allow you to open the 2020 file directly with the technology of Anycad for Inventor.

Refer more below -

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2020... 

Else, neutral format is helpful as well.

Hope it helps!

[FeelGoodGirl]

I was already afraid of this answer.

You are talking about a "neutral format". What is that?

[j.palmeL29YX]

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@FeelGoodGirl wrote:

... a "neutral format". What is that?

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You can save (export) e.g. as .stp, .igs, .sat or other formats and then open this in older versions. .
But you will get dumb objects (without of modelling history). 

[FeelGoodGirl]

Thank you.

Conclusion. I hope we all move to the same version soon.😅