Why Scribus files cannot be saved as an older version?

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aa_gangchen

For most software, a newer version can open and edit the files created by an older version, AND you can save the files created by the newer version back to the older version if necessary.

This ability is important when you are working with several consultants, and some of them may not have updated to a newer version.

For Scribus, a newer version can open and edit the files created by an older version, BUT you cannot save the newer version back to the older version if necessary.

I am just curious about the reason for this difference.

Gang Chen, Author/Publisher, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
(http://www.greenexameducation.com)


a.l.e

hi gang chen,

while for many uses, saving the data in a format which does not support all the features may be ok, it's probably not the case for DTP.

when you create a design for print, you rely on the program to reproduce it as you defined it. when saving in older version of the format, "random" items will be removed or slightly changed.

you probably don't want that!

also, since scribus is a free software application (which is not used in a corporate environment), nothing hinders you from updating to the latest version of scribus if needed.

you can always run several version of scribus in parallel. you just have to be careful and not open with a newer version, the files you want to continue to edit with an old version. and scribus will warn you when doing so!

have a nice evening
a.l.e

Nermander

The reason is easy.

The newer versions of Scribus are based on new source code. It is not possible to re-use the save-code from earlier versions, and the developers don't want to spend time on writing new code to save in an older format.

Also the problem exists that newer versions of Scribus has features that can not be save into older format. How should those features be handled? For example older versions of Scribus only had paragraph styles, not character styles. So how should a character style be handled when saving to older format?

WalksIn2Trees

agreed... older formats should open and be converted to a newer format, but you wouldn't want the reverse... better to fire off an email to your contacts and  inform them that you "will now be using Scribus version x.xx.... so please update your installation accordingly"