How do I downgrade or export in different document version?

[vitaprimo]

I pulled Designer from another Mac; a much earlier version with the triangular icon. This Mac is an app repo of sorts, not allowed to connect to the Internet to make it easy to roll back from sneaky automatic updates (much faster and leaner than Time Machine 🤏) .

Designer has the um, feature(?) of updating the document's version upon opening it in a newer build, I think--I don't know what triggers the update. I am not using new techniques or tools or doing stuff substantially different so it would warrant a version bump but that's another post, I guess.

I'm using document syncing/versioning as well but it doesn't matter if edits have been done as these would be lost. I only use two Macs, one of them only for quick edits or throwaway converts/exports (+ headless app store machine) but I'm so used to the UI I can hardly tell when there's been an update if I don't catch there's a new splash screen, most of the time I don't, it doesn't help that I never quit it after closing it too--it rivals the Finder.  How do save/export a document in an earlier version and disable this version-change behavior for future updates?

Thanks !

[vitaprimo]

Oh man! That sucks. Are vectors included in the PDF? Is it decomposable? I tried SVG and Adobe's formats but it exports in way too many layers. EPS sounds like a nice option but I'm zero familiar with it.

[Ron P.]

I think Serif should seriously consider backward version saving. There are competitors, like Paintshop Pro that has had this ability for decades. I just checked my current version, PSP 2020, and it provides the option to save to prior versions going clear back to PSP5 😯

That said, since like other apps that are forward compatible, opening an older version in a current one is no problem. However, for those that are using the app professionally and may have collaborated on projects, this could be very important. A few years/versions later, you're sent a file that was created in said earlier version for changes. That person then needs the file back, BUT does not have the current version. Being able to save the file to the earlier version would make working together much easier, less headaches.

[IanSG]

3 hours ago, Ron P. said:

That said, since like other apps that are forward compatible, opening an older version in a current one is no problem. However, for those that are using the app professionally and may have collaborated on projects, this could be very important. A few years/versions later, you're sent a file that was created in said earlier version for changes. That person then needs the file back, BUT does not have the current version. Being able to save the file to the earlier version would make working together much easier, less headaches.

That's backwards compatibility - forward compatibility would be the ability to open V2 files in V1.  But I'm curious about how often forward compatibility is a requirement - staying with an older version while the new one is debugged makes sense, and I'm familiar with financial systems that remain unchanged seemingly forever, but do "creatives" realy let their toolkits get years out of date and still expect to be able to work cooperatively?

[Ron P.]

I got my terminology backward(or forward)??? 😄