Saving as an Older Version

[jsr13]

If you must remain in the prior version, then all consultants must agree to remain.

That would be nice, but do you recall that it is usually the architect who hires the consultants (structural, civil & MEP) and not the other way around? We cannot dictate to them. Do you see the problem here?

If you need a new family, build it in the older version, then open and saveas to a new library in the newer version.

Create, saveas, copy to multiple folders, open in multiple versions, and save.
If you want to talk about moving forward, that sounds kind of cumbersome and antiquated to me.

Let's really talk about moving forward. Why doesn't Autodesk create a utility to save families UP? Part of it could operate similar to the conversion routine for AutoCAD: pick the files and the version to SaveAs. You could set options to save the upgraded versions of the family file to multiple locations. Ex.: save the v2008 version to Folder A, save the v2009 version to Folder B, save the v2010 version to Folder C, etc.

If you really want to talk about moving forward, then do it. If we do it your way with the multiple installs, then we are still left with a very tedious process. If you improve the car but don't design better tires, you shouldn't have wasted so much money on the car.

[Scott D Davis]

If you really want to talk about moving forward, then do it. .

Exactly. You are on subscription....upgrade when new versions come out. Although the Arch hires the consultants, it doesn't mean you can't communicate with them. Talk about when (or IF) the upgrade should happen during the project. Upgrading keeps you from having the multiple installs/library problems. There is an upgrade utility on the Revit install disk.

[captjim]

Yes, this does mean you can run versions side by side, and you may have multiple libraries. But it's really not that tought to manage as I used to do it in practice all the time. If you need a new family, build it in the older version, then open and saveas to a new library in the newer version.

I am currently also doing it all the time, and I can tell you it's stupid. Here's how the work flow goes:
1. Working in 2009 and get a need for a family, make it in 2009, think it would be useful in 2008, open 2008 & make it again, in 2009 realize it needs a tweak so fix it in 2009, open 2008 and fix it again, etc, etc. Get a cup of coffee while I wait for the other version to open, get another cup of coffee while I wait for 2009 to make the conversion.
2. Working in 2008 and realize a family needs a tweak so fix it in 2008, open 2009, get a cup of coffee, open and convert it to 2009, get another cup of coffee. Close 2009 for performance issues. Realize it needs another tweak . . .
I drink a LOT of coffee, and spend way too much time re-doing work that has already been done. We're not talking about the new cutting edge stuff that one version can do and the other can't, we're talking mostly about the plain vanilla stuff that Revit has been able to do for many versions.
Maybe it is an issue with programming time but it doesn't seem like it would be hard to saveback all the similar kinds of things and generate an element ID list of all the things it dropped.
Yes we should move forward rather than backward, but this smacks of being a marketing issue rather than a technical issue, and it's costing us way too much.

[Peter Davies]

Hi guys, my 2 cents worth.

We have 35 struct, 10 MEP and 4 architecture licences and face all the issues mentioned in this thread. We use the migation tool Scott mentioned when we build our new version libraries. This works real well from our perspective. We have run 2 builds of revit to service existing jobs and clients with no problems to date.

If a new family is created that will be useful for more than just one build, we create it in the earliest version, and do as you say above. If we make many new familes that would be useful in many versions we use the migration tool.

What we have found is that this happens very rarely, as most new families we create are project specific, so are used in whatever version the project is in.

As an example, for a bridge project in RS2009 I've created a beam family using a swept blend. If I had to create the beam in 2008 I would have had to have made it some other way, thank god this bridge is in 2009

http://bimandbeam.typepad.com/bim_be...iew-wit-1.html

[cheryla]

I think that this is making a mountain out of a molehill. I would LOVE to back save to 08. We use 09 at my office, and I have 08 on my computer at home and on my laptop. When I want to take work home with me or on business trips, it's simply not possible. I tried last week, and lost a lot of hours because I couldn't open 09 files in 08. I didn't have anything fancy; just a modeling issue. We didn't have anything advanced in the file; just the basics. Maybe in 2010... I hope!

[Steve_Stafford]

For health reasons, don't hold your breath. It is extremely unlikely that there will be any saving back to earlier versions. Nor would that would be a productive workflow because it would have to result in the destruction of data.

Just for comparison sake, Inventor is Autodesk's 3D manufacturer design tool and it has never nor likely will ever have a Save Back feature either. In fact the wishlist's for Inventor and Revit have some striking similarities.