AC must be able to open all files since v4.5!

[Anonymous]

Archicad must be able to open all its own files, regardles of which version they have been created with! Situation now is absurd!

Today I tried to open an old file, which turned out to be v5.0! IT IS IMPOSSIBLE! I probably need v7 to open it , but I do not have it! At that time I used AC in the firm I worked!

I had a colleague once, who always saved every drawing he made with AC in dwg format! We used to mosk him but now I can understand he was RIGHT!

[Karl Ottenstein]

I agree that we need either (a) this functionality, or (b) more clarity from GS on which versions can open which files [a simple table], and free downloads of the intermediate versions required to 'leap frog' an old file into the current version.

Right now, the only info I'm aware of is in these Wiki articles:

http://www.archicadwiki.com/TechNotes/Converting%20old%20ArchiCAD%20project%20files?highlight=%28con...

and

http://www.archicadwiki.com/Archicad%2010/Project%20Migration/Convert%20ArchiCAD%207.0%20and%20older...

If anyone has more info - particularly a matrix showing what opens what, that would be useful. (It is a little frustrating that in the Open dialog, AC does not indicate which versions it will open - you just have to try and see if it succeeds or fails. Save As is another story, as the possible version formats are listed.)

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Installing an old version just to be able to open an old file is ridiculous!

I remember a similar problem I had with Autocad files some years ago! We were using a several versions old installation of Autocad and received a file, made with the newest one! We could not open it! Then a friend of mine showed me a very small program whish downgraded the file to our version! It did it on its own and it did not even need to open Autocad!

[Djordje]

Of course it should!

7 could open all the way back to 5.

9 can open 7, that I am sure of.

It gets complicated after that ...

[Djordje]

It is here:

http://www.archicadwiki.com/ArchiCAD%20versions

[Karl Ottenstein]

Djordje wrote:
It is here:

http://www.archicadwiki.com/ArchiCAD%20versions

Thanks, Djordje!

Karl

[Djordje]

I forgot that I have posted it:

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=22106



Well maintained, but the production year lowers the price 😉

[Anonymous]

One of the world leading architectural software is expected to have self respect to its own history. Each new version should be able to open everything since Archicad 1 (!) to the current version. People working more than 15 years now must keep 4-5 versions or more installed on their computers in order to open very old projects or consecrate special time to convert and re-save them.
Similar is for saving. Sometimes it happens to work together with subcontractors who - for their own reasons - didn't upgrade to the last version. And the graphical information must be transmitted to them - even with lost of functionality and new generations objects and elements transformed in non - editable static, but readable and printable 2d and 3d entities. This backward compatibility should be allowed especially in archive (pla) format.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, this sounds like a good idea,

Just the other day we needed to open a file created in ver 8, i had to reinstall a version of 9 that we found in our shed, opened the file with ver 9, save that, then open nine with ver 12, then uninstall ver 9.

I'm sure the previously mentioned ver. 5 proved much more difficult to open, but it seems that this is an issue with a lot of people!

[David Maudlin]

As others have mentioned, it is a good idea to keep the older versions installed for opening old projects. I have versions 7 to 12 installed. And hard drive space for these older versions should not be an issue on any current computer systems (the ArchiCAD 7 application folder occupies 243 MB on my laptop).

David