AutoCAD Question

Several ways. Save it as .dxf if you have the ACLt 2008. Otherwise, see if you can download a free editor (DWG gateway) from SolidWorks. It did this for 2007 and should for 2008 as well (if they've caught up). If all else fails you, go on ENG-TIPS forum and check the autocad group there.

Dxf should work but he can't do that if he cannot ope the file at all.

It sounds like he is trying to open the newer lt file with an older standard version of acad. I have had many problems with back dating files in older versions, it rarely works in acad.

It could have functions the older version does not handle.

I would say to be sure, go their forum and get the experts view.

That's why I said if he had the ACLt 2008.

It's not new features so much as it is AutoCad's attempt to get you to upgrade every year. Everybody's pretty well ticked off at them for that, but...

I almost always just use the Solid Works editor to handle these files. It'll do everything you want. Apparently, Bentley does a similar editor.

Save it 2008 as a 2006 or earlier dwg or dxf file and then read it in as a 2006 file.

I don't personally know the software, but the products from Solidworks appear to work with most (if not all) versions of AutoCad, be also cheaper etc.. So that may be a better alternative rather than using an older AutoCad....just a thought!!

Checkout the solidworks web page.

Yes, AutoCad and AutoCad LT are both compatible with DWG Gateway.

Nope, wrong answer there TVP45, it is not compatible with LT, I just got through trying it on one of my engineer's machines and it fell over and complained that it is not compatible with LT.

Shucks!

OK, now try running it on a machine that has AutoCad regular on it but try to open an LT file. Do you follow what I'm saying?

R,

I just reread your previous post and I probably didn't answer the question you asked. DWG Gateway has to be installed on a machine that has a proper license of regular AutoCad; it looks for that. But, then it should open and resave AutoCad LT files OK. I didn't catch at first that you wanted to put it on a machine that had LT on it. You might have to buy an editor for what you want. Do you have any SolidWorks licenses?

Yeah, ok, I understand what you were trying to say now. Yeah we have a few SW licenses and DWGeditor does work like a champ. but we don't have enough licenses for all of the engineers to have a copy of it. it would be nice if SW would make it a free standalone program like they did edrawings, it would put ACAD LT out of biz.

Clearly SW is angling to drive ACAD into bankruptcy, or at least into a much smaller niche, they already get a piece of every ACAD and Inventor license through their ownership of Spatial Technologies. Don't you know Autodesk is shaking in their boots at the encroachment of SW into their domain.

Check with your VAR. I think you get several DWGeditor licenses for each SW seat. I could be wrong; I'm relying on a memory that's one part busted and one part inventive.

I have had similar experiences. I have Auto Cad LT2006.

One of my clients has Auto Cad 2000 and keeps getting nasty notes from Auto Desk that he should be upgrading and that they cannot continue to support his old version. I was able to read his files without any trouble, but he could not read mine so I saved them using version 2000 (one of the options of the 'Save As' key), e-mailed them to him and he was able to read them without any problems.

Another client has Auto Cad 2008 (full Architectural version) and could not open my files (which strikes me as a ridiculous situation...I would expect newer versions of any program to be backward compatible). As an experiment, I saved it in version 2000 format, sent it back to him and he had no problem reading it...whoopee!

So the moral of the story is that Auto Cad 2000 is better than any of the newer versions which have become too complicated. They have forgotten the old motto KISS (keep it simple, silly).

Our friend is probably getting ACAD Lt2008 files from some where, which he is trying to open in ACAD2006. Then how he can save those as ACAD 2006, when he can not open those.

He can only request the source to save the files as ACAD2006 and send to him, then open those.

All examples in reverseway are irrelevent.

One option is to ask the source to re-submit in a 2006 format. A second option is to send the files to a friend with ACAD2008 and have him return them in the ACAD2006 format. Either way, it is a pain in the neck...a pain which is perpetrated by, guess who...Auto Cad!

You've hit the nail squarely on the head. After 2000, the only new features available to AutoDesk marketing were "bells and whistles". I've dealt with a lot of machine shops that froze at 2000 simply because it worked well, was relatively stingy with memory, and there was no learning curve anymore. I learned to send .DXF files and I always told them about the DWG editors. I too have 2006 and I don't expect to ever again upgrade.

Sadly, it appears SolidWorks is going the same route, adding memory hungry bells and whistles rather than perfecting a fairly mature product.

I've never used AutoCAD LT I use AutoCAD 2008 Electrical, but I imagine that it's the same for every AutoCAD, just click "Save As.." and look at the formats, you will see autocad 2000 and 2004 save it with any of those formats and you should be able to open it with your AutoCAD 2006.

The newer versions of software always recognize old formats, but old versions mostly don't, like Microsoft Office 2007 what used to be .doc now is .docx and .xls is xlsx, you can open old Office files but not viceversa.

This is what we do ,we ask the guy who sends files in Auto cad 2008 or 2008LT version to convert his files to Auto cad 2000 version and resend the files that solves our problem we cannot go o upgrading our system whatever up grades Auto cad does every year Its pretty expensive to up grade the software along with hardware every year.i am just shearing my experience.

crm

As far as I know the way to solve this is to get back to the one who gave you the files and ask for a file saved in your version.

Autodesk has a great backward compatibility but some addons create stuff that can't be converted, the full verison is also much more powerfull than the LT version. (the reason that you can't open files from a full version on an LT)

You entered the world of engineering software, and you're just at the bottom of the stairs, (but already on the ground floor) you will get really ennoyed when moving up. More and more is going to be solved by your own intelligence.

Hi

We often get files in a variety of formats. To get around this we have downloaded from Solidworks a program called DWGgateway. It claims to open any DWG version and can save in any DWG version. It's an embedded program so you won't have to open it, it will be on the top line of your AutoCAD screen. Our current software is AutoCAD 2002 and works well for us without having to upgrade thus far.

Hope this helps. By the way, this program is free.

I was unaware of this program, it is quite interesting. I have downloaded it and am installing it now. I have one question however. Will it work with ACAD LT? There are a number of engineers in our company that have LT for simple layout work and interface with clients and we often have the problem of incompatible versions coming from our clients.

if you had files from AC LT, then open them in autocad with "recover" command

This command is in file menu/drawing utilities & browse to subject file.

I have the same problem. Autodesk has a free program Tru View that allows you to view the latest versions of AutoCad but after viewing it cannot be saved for use in AutoCad. If all you want to do is view the file this works but is otherwise useless. I agree with one of the other commenters that these later versions of AutoCad are too complex and are only used to force owners of earlier versions to upgrade even though the later versions have features most people will never use.

Mike Morgan

ability@ameritech.net

All you need is the free program "DWG True Convert" that will convert drawing to any dwg format. Thiss program is included in the latest version of "DWG True View"

Another option is buy CADopia. It is under $200, and will not only open all files back to AutoCAD v.2.3 (IIRC), it will let you edit (or creat new) files using AutoCAD commands just as well as AutoCAD for 2-D work. You can download a free 30-day trial. The 3-D versions are more expensive, but still a LOT cheaper than AutoCAD.

A few commands are slightly different than AutoCAD. Changing a fillet radius, for example, involves going into a "Properties" screen that lets you make change all aspects of the fillet. And the grips are handled differently. Overall, for my money, it a much better value.

Incidentally, I've been told that SolidWorks uses CADopia for it's 2-D module, so some of you may already have it.

There is a convertor in Adobe, use the free trial version, more than 30 days will cost you.