Future version policies

[matt]

I've run into a situation recently where I was able to read a future version part in SW. Can someone explain to me the new policy and when it changed? This is the drawback of taking a sabbatical - you miss a few things here and there, and sometimes they even turn out to be important. Like this one.

[matt]

Ok, google is your friend.

Here is a bit from Trimech:

The last service pack of an earlier release can open files from the next year’s SOLIDWORKS. For example, you could use SOLIDWORKS 2019 SP5 to open and work with SOLIDWORKS 2020 files. We call this Future Version Files. You can still create parts, assemblies and drawings with a future version but in a limited function. You can measure, take mass properties and look at your future version part file, but you can’t add new features. Bummer. However, you can take those future version part files and add them to your assembly. You can create mates and suppress/unsuppress them. You can also create drawings and create BOMs.

But this leaves out a key piece of information. When did this functionality start? Was 2019 the first version that did this, or was that just an example?

[Frederick_Law]

Yeap SP5. Work like dumb solid.

[matt]

ok, again, my friend, google sends me to Hawk Ridge:

In 2014 sp5 SOLIDWORKS introduced a way to open parts and assemblies in a read-only state 1 version previous to the version it was saved in. That means you can open a 2020 part or assembly in 2019sp5 or a 2021 file in 2020sp5. This is only available in the sp5 version of each year and it has limited functionality.

Thanks, everyone, google is making this easy.