• Archicad 10
• Project Migration
• Data loss saving back to AC9 format

What is lost if I save an AC10 project in AC9 format

In ArchiCAD 10, the only previous version for which you can save your Project is ArchiCAD version 9. This article examines what data will be lost if you save a file in ArchiCAD 9 format.

As a general rule, any data specific to ArchiCAD 10 will be lost when saved in ArchiCAD 9 format. This is because the data structure used in ArchiCAD 10 simply has no equivalent in earlier versions. For example, in ArchiCAD 10, you can create a Double-Slanted Wall (a wall with both sides non-vertical). In ArchiCAD 9, only walls with vertical sides were possible. So it is not possible to create the same elements in the previous version.

To save a Project in ArchiCAD 9 format, choose File\Save As… and select ArchiCAD 9 Project (*.pln) from the Save as type list. Then specify a file name and click Save to save it.

As the next step, a Warning Dialog appears to inform you of the expected data loss.

The following is a list of data in ArchiCAD 10 which have no equivalent in ArchiCAD 9, so you can not expect them to appear in the file saved in the previous version.

1. Slanted, Double-Slanted and Complex (Profiled) Walls: They will become simple Straight vertical Walls (these Wall types are not available in ArchiCAD 9). Their width, length and height values will be retained.

2. Slanted Column and Columns with a Complex Profile: They will be converted into Simple vertical Columns (these Column types are not available in ArchiCAD 9). Their width, depth and height values will be retained.

3. Slanted Beams and Beams with a Complex Profile: They will be converted into Simple horizontal Columns (these Beam types are not available in ArchiCAD 9). Their width, height and length values will be retained.

4. Wall Openings in Polygonal Walls: They will not be saved, only the Polygonal Wall will be saved with no holes in it (in ArchiCAD 9, Polygonal Wall cannot have Wall Openings in them).

5. Sill of Wall Opening Settings: this setting has no equivalent as such in ArchiCAD 9. The Windows/Doors will be in their correct vertical position in ArchiCAD 9.

6. Wall Priorities and Composite Structure Skin Priorities of Walls, Slabs and Roofs: They are not carried through (there are no Composite Structure Skin Priorities in ArchiCAD 9).

7. Walls, Columns, Beams and Roofs spanning multiple Stories: They will not be displayed on all those Stories in ArchiCAD 9. Also, their Floor Plan Display and Projection will not be carried through (in ArchiCAD 9, these options do not exist).

8. Zone Relations of Walls: They will be converted according to the following Table:

As you can see, the Reduce Zone Volume ArchiCAD 10 option is not available in ArchiCAD 9. This is converted into the Zone Boundary option.

9. Windows/Doors placed into Walls spanning multiple Stories: They are displayed in ArchiCAD 10 on the Story where their Sill height is located (e.g. If the height of Story 0 is 3000 mm, and a Window is placed into a Wall spanning Stories 0 and 1, with a Sill height of 3000 mm or more, it will not be visible on Story 0, only on Story 1). When this is saved as ArchiCAD 9 PLN, the Window/Door will always be placed in their enclosing Walls.

10. Fill Types: Fills linked to the Project Origin, plus Fills linked to the Fill Origin will be converted properly. Distorted Fills are not available in ArchiCAD 9. So any distorted Fill will be converted to a Fill linked to its Fill Origin. This means that the direction of the X axis of the Distorted Fill direction axis vectors will be retained, but not its relative length. Also, then direction and lengths of the Y axis of this vector will not be retained.
Since Linear Gradient Fills and Radial Gradient Fills do not exist in ArchiCAD 9, any such Fills of an ArchiCAD 10 Project File will be converted to Solid Fills in ArchiCAD 9.

11. Drawings placed in ArchiCAD 10: Since ArchiCAD 9 did not offer the possibility to place external Drawings (e.g. PDF, PMK, PLT files or any image File) on the Floor Plan or other Model Windows, any such Drawing of ArchiCAD 10 will be lost in the saved ArchiCAD 9 file.

12. Images placed with the Figure Tool: The maximum size of any image in ArchiCAD 10 is 32767x32767 pixels. The maximum size of any image in ArchiCAD 9 is 4048x4048 pixels. When there is an image placed in ArchiCAD 10 that is greater in size than the maximum available in ArchiCAD9, the image will be converted to the greatest possible size available in ArchiCAD 9 (e.g. 6144x4608 pixel image in ArchiCAD 10 was converted to an image 4048x3036 pixels in size in the ArchiCAD 9 file). The file format of the image will be retained, and also its size in the program – which means its resolution will be modified proportionally to its decrease in size.

13. Size of PhotoRendering Window: The 4048x4048 limit of ArchiCAD 9 is true for the PhotoRendering Window, too. If the PhotoRendering Window was set in ArchiCAD 10 to a size greater than this, it will be proportionally decreased so its greater dimension will be 4048 pixels, with its other dimension decreased accordingly.

14. Pen Sets: ArchiCAD 9 Project Files can have only one Pen Set. So the Pen Set that was in effect for Model View at the time of saving in ArchiCAD 9, will be transferred to the ArchiCAD 9 file. Pen Sets set for Layouts will not retained in ArchiCAD 9, since no Layout Book-related information is retained.

15. AutoText items: Most AutoText items of ArchiCAD 10 will not be saved back into ArchiCAD 9 (AutoText as a feature did not exist in ArchiCAD 9). However, since the Project Info of ArchiCAD 9 and the Book Info of PlotMaker 9 were both made part of the set of AutoText items available in ArchiCAD 10, some items of the Project Info Dialog do get saved back into ArchiCAD 9. These are included in the following table:

16. On-Screen Display Options and Model View Display Options: On-Screen Display Options and Model View Display Options are saved back as much as possible (options not available in ArchiCAD 9 will not be saved back).
What was Display Options Combinations in ArchiCAD 9 is Model View Options Combinations in ArchiCAD 10 meaning that On-Screen Display Options are not saved with these combinations.

All saved Model View Options Combinations of ArchiCAD 10 will be saved as Display Options Combinations in ArchiCAD 9. The following rules apply:

Options for Construction Elements panel:

• • Show Beams as settings: will be saved correctly to the Beams field of ArchiCAD 9
  • Show Column Symbol settings: will be saved correctly to the Column Symbols field of ArchiCAD 9
  • Show Section Markers settings: will be saved correctly to the Section Marker field of ArchiCAD 9
  • Show Mark-Up items settings: will be saved correctly to the Mark-Up Items field of ArchiCAD 9
  • Door Options/Window Options settings: the state of the Door Options field will be saved into the Doors & Windows field of ArchiCAD 9 in case of each Model View Options Combination. The settings will be transferred the following way:
  

  Door Option in ArchiCAD 10	Doors & Windows Options in ArchiCAD 9
  Show On Plan	Show On Plan
  Show On Plan + With Markers	Show with Dim.
  Show Opening Only	Hide On Plan
  Show Opening Only + with Contours	Reflected Ceiling
  Hide on Plan (no equivalent in AC 9)	Reflected Ceiling

  
  

  Options for Fills & Zones panel:
  • Fill Background settings: will be saved correctly to the Fill Background Color field of ArchiCAD 9 according to the following table (the name of one of the options has changed):
  

  Fill Background Option in ArchiCAD 10	Fill Background Color Option in ArchiCAD 9
  By Element Settings	By Element Settings
  Transparent	Transparent
  Window Background Color	Drawing Background

  
  

  • Cut Fill Patterns settings: will be saved correctly to the Cut Fills field of ArchiCAD 9 according to the following table (the names of most of the options have changed):
  

  Cut Fill Patterns Option in ArchiCAD 10	Cut Fills Option in ArchiCAD 9
  Show Cut Fill Contours Only	No Fills
  Show Cut Fill Contours Only + Show Skin Separator Lines	Separators Only
  As In Settings	Vectorial Hatching
  Solid	Solid w/o Separation Lines
  Solid + Show Skin Separator Lines	Solid

  
  

  • Drafting Fill Patterns settings: will be saved correctly to the Cut Fills field of ArchiCAD 9 according to the following table (the names of most of the options have changed):
  

  Drawing Fill Patterns Option in ArchiCAD 10	Drawing Fills Option in ArchiCAD 9
  Show Drafting Fill Contours Only	No Fills
  As In Settings	Vectorial Hatching
  Solid	Solid

  
  

  • Cover Fill Patterns settings: will be saved correctly to the Cut Fills field of ArchiCAD 9 according to the following table (the names of most of the options have changed):
  

  Cover Fill Patterns Option in ArchiCAD 10	Cover Fills Option in ArchiCAD 9
  Show Cover Fill Contours Only	No Fills
  As In Settings	Vectorial Hatching
  Solid	Solid
  Empty	Vectorial Hatching

  
  

  • Zone Background settings: will be saved correctly to the Cut Fills field of ArchiCAD 9 according to the following table (the names of most of the options have changed):
  

  Zone Background Color in AC10	Show Cover Fill Pattern in AC10	Show Zone Stamp in AC10	Zone Polygons field in ArchiCAD 9	Zone Stamps field in ArchiCAD 9
  Category Color			Category Only	Hide
  Category Color	X		Fill Pattern on Category	Hide
  Category Color		X	Category Only	Show
  Category Color	X	X	Fill Pattern on Category	Show
  Cover Fill Background			Solid Background Colored Fill	Hide
  Cover Fill Background	X		Cover Fill	Hide
  Cover Fill Background		X	Solid Background Colored Fill	Show
  Cover Fill Background	X	X	Cover Fill	Show
  No Background	X		Fill Pattern Only	Hide
  No Background		X	None	Show
  No Background	X	X	Fill Pattern Only	Show

  
  

  On-Screen View Options of ArchiCAD 10 will be saved as part of each Display Options Combinations in ArchiCAD 9. Since in ArchiCAD 10, there are no On-Screen View Options Combinations, each Display Options Combination of the resulting ArchiCAD 9 file will contain the same settings in case of the options resulting from On-Screen View Options of ArchiCAD 10. The conversion works the following way:
  

  • Clean Wall & Beam Intersections setting: will be saved correctly to ArchiCAD 9.
  • Walls & Beams Reference Lines setting: it has no equivalent as such in ArchiCAD 9 so it does not get transferred.
  • Roof Pivot Lines setting: will be saved correctly to the Roof Pivot Lines field of ArchiCAD 9.
  • True Line Weight + Bold Cut Lines setting: will be saved correctly to the Line Weight field of ArchiCAD 9 according to the following table:
  

  True Line Weight option in ArchiCAD 10	Bold Cut Lines option in ArchiCAD 10	Line Weight field in ArchiCAD 9
  OFF	OFF	Hairlines
  ON	OFF	True Weight
  OFF	ON	Bold Cut Lines

  
  

  • Vectorial Hatching setting: it has no equivalent as such in ArchiCAD 9 so it does not get transferred.
  • Section Depth Outline setting: will be saved correctly to the Section Depth field of ArchiCAD 9.
  • Detail Boundaries setting: will be saved correctly to the Detail Boundary field of ArchiCAD 9.
  • Drawing Frames setting: it has no equivalent as such in ArchiCAD 9 so it does not get transferred.
  • Master Items on Layout setting: it has no equivalent as such in ArchiCAD 9 so it does not get transferred.
  • Fill Handles setting: will be saved correctly to the Fill Handles field of ArchiCAD 9.
  • Textbox Handles setting: will be saved correctly to the Text field of ArchiCAD 9 according to the following table:
  

  Textbox Handles option in ArchiCAD 10	Text field in ArchiCAD 9
  OFF	Text
  ON	Text with Handles

  
  

  • Figure Handles setting: will be saved correctly to the Figures field of ArchiCAD 9 according to the following table:
  

  Figure Handles option in ArchiCAD 10	Figures field in ArchiCAD 9
  OFF	Without Handles
  ON	With Handles

  
  

  • Spline Handles setting: it has no equivalent as such in ArchiCAD 9 so it does not get transferred.
  

17. View Map and Publisher Sets:
View Map: The whole of the View Map of ArchiCAD 10 will be converted into a View Set named ‘View Map’ in ArchiCAD 9. All folders and View of the ArchiCAD 10 View Map will be included in that View Set of ArchiCAD 9.
Publisher Sets: In case of Publisher Sets created from Views: the whole Publisher Set will be correctly converted to ArchiCAD 9 format. In case of Publisher Sets created from Layouts: the folders of the Publisher Set will be created, but no Publisher items will be contained in them (since Layouts – the sources of these items – are not saved when converting into ArchiCAD 9 format)

18. Layout Book: No part of the Layout Book is saved in ArchiCAD 9 (that is a function available of PlotMaker 9).

19. Work Environment Profiles: Work Environment Profiles are not backward compatible, they are stored outside the Project File and are not carried back to ArchiCAD 9 format.

20. LCF Files: they have no equivalent as such in ArchiCAD 9 so they do not get transferred. In the Library Manager Dialog of ArchiCAD 9 LCF files will be removed from the list of loaded libraries.

21. Library Parts: As default, ArchiCAD 10 Library Parts are not compatible with earlier version Library Parts. These include all types of Library Parts that use the GDL (Geometric Description Language) portion of the program: Windows, Doors, Skylights, Wall Ends, Library Objects, Lamps, 3rd-party Objects (such as StairMaker stairs), Zone Stamps, Door/Window Markers, Labels, Drawing Titles, Detail Markers, Section Markers, Property Objects or any other type of Library Objects.

However, there are two things you can do, if you know you want to save your ArchiCAD 10 Project in ArchiCAD 9 format.
The first is to use the Library Parts of the ArchiCAD 9 Library in ArchiCAD 10. If you do not modify these Library Parts in ArchiCAD 10, they will retain their AC 9 version (if you modify something and save it in AC10, it will become an AC 10 version Library Part – at which moment it becomes incompatible with ArchiCAD 9), and will display correctly when the Project File is saved back as ArchiCAD 9 Project File.
The second is to use the standard ArchiCAD 10 Object Library. Then, when the Project File is saved as ArchiCAD 9, open it in ArchiCAD 9 and load the standard ArchiCAD 9 Object Library with it. Most Library Objects that are included both Libraries will be displayed correctly, even if their name is different (e.g. ‘W1 Casement 10’ in ArchiCAD 10, ‘W1 Casement’ in ArchiCAD 9). This is possible because their Global Unique Identifier (GUID) is the same. (Read more about the GUID at http://www.archicadwiki.com/GUID). Of course it is possible that a Library Object was developed between ArchiCAD 9 and ArchiCAD 10 so it might not look the same in the two versions.

22. Schedules (Door/Window etc. Lists): Schedules in ArchiCAD 10 are based on the new Interactive Schedule Add-On. Since this is not backward-compatible with ArchiCAD 9, these schedules do not get transferred to ArchiCAD 9.

23. List Schemes: List Schemes of ArchiCAD 10 are basically the same as in ArchiCAD 9. Therefore, all List Schemes will get saved correctly in ArchiCAD 9 format. When you modify List Schemes in ArchiCAD 10, a new LISTSET.TXT file (a file containing all definitions of the List Schemes) will be created and loaded with libraries. This will load in ArchiCAD 9, too, enabling you to use the same List Schemes in ArchiCAD 9.
The Calculation Database is also saved in ArchiCAD 9 format, since it is composed of TXT files which are backward-compatible.

24. Link Properties to Criteria: Criteria defined in ArchiCAD 10 for linking Property Objects to elements will be correctly saved as ArchiCAD 9 format, since these criteria are stored in a TXT file named LISTCRIT.TXT. However, if the matched Property Objects are version 10 objects, they will be not used in ArchiCAD 9.

25. Hotlinked Modules: data coming from Hotlinked Modules placed in ArchiCAD 10 will be saved and included in the converted ArchiCAD 9 Project File. These Hotlinked Modules will be shown in the Hotlink Manager of ArchiCAD 9, but will have no link to their source files. However, in the Hotlink Manager, you can use the Save As… command to save these included Hotlinked Modules as Module (*.MOD) files and switch the Hotlink to point to these files.

26. Hotlinked Module Settings: These settings are not part of the Work Environment settings of ArchiCAD 10. In ArchiCAD 9, these can be set in the Hotlink Manager Dialog. Because of this, this setting is not carried over into the saved ArchiCAD 9 file.

27. DXF-DWG Translation Setup: DXF-DWG Translators are not backward compatible, they are stored outside the Project File and are not carried back to ArchiCAD 9 format.

28. Merge Setup: They are saved correctly back to ArchiCAD 9 and can be used similarly there.

29. Publisher Contacts: They are not carried back to ArchiCAD 9. However, you can save all your contacts from the Contact Dialog in ArchiCAD 10. Then, when you open the file in ArchiCAD 9, you can open the Contacts file in the Publisher Contacts Dialog of ArchiCAD 9 and restore this information.