How to find the format of a DWG or which version of AutoCAD was used to save it

Autodesk Support

Oct 8, 2023


Products and versions covered


Issue:

How to determine the DWG format of a drawing or which version of AutoCAD was used to create/save it.

Solution:

There are a couple ways to determine which specific DWG format the file is currently in.

Upon opening a DWG file in AutoCAD, the command line will show the current format of the DWG file.

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Alternately, open a DWG file in Notepad. The first six characters will show the DWG version code.

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For a list of version codes, see Drawing format version codes for AutoCAD.

To see which version of AutoCAD created or last saved the file (indistinguishable), there are also a couple of methods.

Hovering over a DWG file within Windows Explorer should display a tooltip that shows a "Created With:" value.

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Alternately, opening the DWG file in Notepad will also display which version last saved the file.

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Use the Find feature in Notepad and search for a u t o c a d (include spaces between the letters).

Products:

AutoCAD Products;


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