Vectorworks LEGACY Operating System Compatibility List

I use an old version of Vectorworks 12.5 running on Mac OS 10.6.8, which I still use from time to time when working from home and useful in these Covid times. The iMac that I run it on is an 2.4GHz Intel Core Duo, and I am planning to upgrade the OS as the machine still works perfectly well. Does anyone know the latest operating system that VW12.5 will operate on on? I can upgrade the iMac as far as El Capitan.

 

Any help gratefully recieved!

 

S Dyson UK

Just for confirmation, I have looked at the legacy list that Vectorworks show on the website, but unfortunately it does not go back as far as version 12.5 which was the version preceding 2008. S Dyson

@S Dyson - even though the chart doesn’t go back as far as version 12.5, since version 2008 is shown as being only supported up to macOS 10.6, it’s safe to assume that would also be the case for version 12.5.

Edited February 21, 2021 by rDesign

I use Vector Works 2009 and have just updated my MackBookPro 2011 to OS X El Capitan and SSD discs. Is VW 2009 still compatible with the new updated system?

I use an old copy of Vectorworks on My MAcPro 5.1. My current system is 10.12.6 Sierra.  The Mac Pro has an interesting setup. 

I can put 4 different Hard drives in a Mac Pro, and because of that I can run different versions of the MAC OS. When I need to do drawings and

I pull up one of my other operating systems on a different hard drive and boot from that system which then runs the different software .

To do this you just need to create a boot disk on the mac and match the Vectorworks software to the OS you have

H,

 

I need to open some Vectorworks drawings from 2003. So far I have recovered a Vectorworks 9.5  install however this isn't opening the drawings. Any Idea where i could find an install that will do this? I am using a 200 iMac running Mac OS 9.5 and Mac OSX so would like to try the install on this I doubt I will get anywhere with a current MacOS on my Macbook Pro!

 

Thanks Kevan

 

 

9.5 came out in 2002 - but so did version 10, so it's possible your 2003 drawings are from v10 and won't be readable with v9.5.

 

There was a lot of craziness going on in the Mac switch to Intel.

If you open the file (or better a copy of the file so you don't mess up the original) in a text editor, somewhere in the first line will be a text string something like. VW17.xx.xx.  We can use that to tell you the version of VW that the file was saved as.

 

Actually I just checked an old file.  If it is VW10 it should say Vectorworks 10 in the first line of the file. Vectorworks 9 for that version.

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by Pat Stanford
Updated version info.

2 hours ago, Pat Stanford said:

If you open the file (or better a copy of the file so you don't mess up the original) in a text editor, somewhere in the first line will be a text string something like. VW17.xx.xx.

 

 

Is it really the version it was saved with ?

Or are there 2 VW versions noted ?

 

AFAIK,

when I had to enter VW files the last time in an Editor,

the VW datum in file was pretty outdated - as it seems to

save the VW version which was used to initially create that

file. And I had migrated my File Templates over many years

of VW upgrades ....

Edited August 8, 2022 by zoomer

It appears that the version is listed twice, and it appears that upgraded files show the original version of the file and the last version the file was saved in.

 

Here is the beginning of the header line in a file that I started in VW12 and was last saved in VW2017.

 

∏î VW12.0.1 VW22.0.3

 

I believe the numbering is:

VW9	VW9
VW10	VW10
VW11	VW11
VW12	VW12
VW13	VW2008
VW14	VW2009
VW15	VW2010
VW16	VW2011
VW17	VW2012
VW18	VW2013
VW19	VW2014
VW20	VW2015
VW21	VW2016
VW22	VW2017
VW23	VW2018
VW24	VW2019
VW25	VW2020
VW26	VW2021
VW27	VW2022

 

OK tried that, one of the files says N Vectorworks 9.5.1 another says N VectorWorks 9.5 another says N  VectorWorks 9, none will open with the 9.5 install I currently have. Other files don't have anything like VectorWorks in the header but are titled as the detail drawings. I don't know what they could be as we were only using Vectorworks back then! What was the situation pre VectorWorks ( with header info?

 

Thanks Kevan

 

Thanks

Can you post or email me one of the files that say VW and one of the "detail" files to take a look at?

Ok I can't post either file as they are showing as unsupported file types. Can you send me an email address I can send them to?

 

This project was developed over 3 or 4 years so it is likely the drawings were created and opened with different versions of VectorWorks over that period!

 

Thanks

Another issue I  have is the VW 9.5 install says it needs a dongle. We were running 4 seats of VW back in the day but I don't know where the dongles are assuming they have not been thrown out. This install in demo mode is refusing to recognise any of the files even with 9.5 headers!

 

I just added .MCD extensions to all the files and they opened in VW2022.

 

Try that and see if they won't open in your VW12.5 version.

 

If not let me know and I can try and install an old version that will let me export them back to 12.5 format. Currently VW can only export back 5 versions.

7 hours ago, Kevan Shaw said:

Ok I can't post either file as they are showing as unsupported file types. Can you send me an email address I can send them to?

The forum accepts ZIP files, so archive the files using ZIP format and then post the ZIP file to the forum.

Pat

 

Thanks! the .MCD extension works wonders! All I need now is to figure out how to print from VW9.5 without a dongle. I can't find the ones we had or a record of how we tied the serial numbers to the dongles even if they do turn up!

 

Regards Kevan

Lost hardware I can't help with. 😉

 

Good luck.