Saving in 2008 vs. 2010 format

Long story short, my company has about 10 licenses of AC. We can't upgrade five of them (due to the fact that the serial numbers were apparently fraudulent, and the company where we bought these is now in a class action lawsuit from Autodesk), but the others we upgraded to 2011. There are really only 4 of us that actually EDIT and use AC... the rest, well, I'm not sure why they even have a license, but they like to look, apparently.

So the question is, what is it going to affect if we have to save in 2008 for all the people that aren't upgrading? I don't really care so much about functionality, as the people that we will need to make a 2008 version of these drawings for don't know what they're doing.... but are there objects that won't load?

Lord I hope that made sense... my brain is a little fried today.

The only thing I can think of is Annotative objects and you can read up on that in help under SAVEFIDELITY. I don't use annotative objects, and I save everything in 2007 format to avoid compatibility issues with the other companies I exchange drawings with.

I do the same and save in Acad 2004 format. There doesn't seem to be any problems! There is a new software out that is free called 'Draftsight' which is like Autocad LT but a little more limited with not having dynamic blocks. This can save files in Acad 2010 if required!

http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/free-cad-software/

Hope this helps

The only thing I can think of is Annotative objects and you can read up on that in help under SAVEFIDELITY. I don't use annotative objects, and I save everything in 2007 format to avoid compatibility issues with the other companies I exchange drawings with.

2008 has annotative objects, should not effect that, 2008 also has dynamic blocks. I am sure you will not see any problems saving to 2008 from 2010. Like Grant I have to save to 2004 format and I have not noticed any problems.

can't you tell the "non users" that they are being upgraded to true view?

Oh, I skipped several releases before 2011 and tend to forget that some of the features that are "new" to me have actually been around for a few years. Thanks for the correction.

I would love to not even let them open drawings. I would rather print them PDF's that they can't screw up... but that's just me.

I don't think annotative objects will be an issue. It's good to know we won't miss anything.

I would love to not even let them open drawings. I would rather print them PDF's that they can't screw up... but that's just me.

 

I don't think annotative objects will be an issue. It's good to know we won't miss anything.

Give them TrueView, as Dave suggested. It's a free download from Autodesk. It will allow them to look and print all they want, but they cant change anything with the exception of saving down to a different version. They can zoom and orbit and even take measurements using osnaps, but can't change anything. You can put that on as many stations as you wish, and set your 5 questionable status licenses aside until it's worked out.

I have officially suggested we do that. Unfortunately, my boss has an inveterate prejudice against TrueView, cause when we installed it, everything opened in it when you double-clicked. It wasn't until he told Windows to associate DWG files with TrueView that they started opening in CAD. Yup, that wasn't a typo... apparently Bill Gates is dyslexic.

We'll see if he goes for it.

Now, for those of you still paying attention, I have another problem. I just installed my copy of 2011 last night. And I have no ribbon. I don't mean it's not there, I mean it's there, and it's blank.

Help.

Nevermind. It's there. Apparently this is a known glitch, and if you switch workspaces, and then switch back to the one you want, it'll come back. I actually found help on the AutoDesk forums! Holy crap!

I have the ribbon set to "minimize to panel titles" , but I have noticed a lot of little glitches here and there when switching workspaces. I do not switch workspaces anymore.

I don't either... but apparently you have to in order to make the ribbon work with this glitch. Blech.... I'm downloading my subscription copy of 2012 right now!

SWL: One more... why does my grid default to on when I open new drawings? It annoys the crap out of me.

Grid settings are saved in the drawing, therefore your template file has the grid turned on.

Ah... thanks. That's just wierd. I'd never had that problem til I switched to 2011 and 2012... must have defaulted to a new template. I don't ever select one, I almost ALWAYS start new files from existing drawings, not templates.

I can't say as I care for the ribbon. I set it to "Autocad Classic" and a lot of the glitches including the jerky cursor went away. Even LT does that. With the ribbon on, it did all sorts of hinky stuff. Switched to a classic view, works great.

I'm not a fan of the ribbon either. I used to have all my toolbars customized to have only the buttons I used (which isn't many, since I mostly use keyboard commands), and the ribbon takes WAY too much navigating. But, I'm giving it a chance. I figure it's got a month before I shelve it permanently.

...and 2012... must have defaulted to a new template. I don't ever select one.

Yep, each version will default to the template(s) in it's own support directory. "Drawing1" is the name given to drawings opened from templates. You can simply switch to your own template, or turn off the grid and re-save "Drawing1" as acad.dwt (or whatever template files is specified in Options > Files > Template Settings > Default Template Filename for QNEW)

Yep, each version will default to the template(s) in it's own support directory. "Drawing1" is the name given to drawings opened from templates. You can simply switch to your own template, or turn off the grid and re-save "Drawing1" as acad.dwt (or whatever template files is specified in Options > Files > Template Settings > Default Template Filename for QNEW)

I still have not figured out for the life of me WHY Autodesk has the default template set to GRID on startup. There is probably no more than 10 people in the world still using the grid.

Depending on your orientation, the default template is usually acad.dwt or acadiso.dwt. I used to have the Grid turn off through the ACADISO.LSP, that way if you open ANY drawing it will turn off the grid.

As far as workspaces are concerned, I set everything up the way I like and saved a custom SLW210 workspace and lock everything down.

I should do that... and one of my projects today will involve typing up a set of instructions that go with a new lisp everyone in the company will be receiving, on how to force it to load when you start autoCAD... maybe I'll just put in a little macro to turn off the grid... and wipeout fields.