Using DWG Trueview to Convert the AutoCAD File Format

August 17, 2015

As a CAD Designer/Manager (the older guy in the office) I frequently get the request saying “Sam, can you convert this drawing I don’t have AutoCAD 2016?” My answer is simple, “Sure, I can do that”. Then I ask the user “Have you ever tried DWG TrueView?” They usually seemed puzzled as DWG Trueview has been labeled as a drawing viewer for .DWG files but what people do not realize that it also contains a built in drawing convert program.

Figure 1: DWG Trueview 2016 Splash screen

Approximately every three years AutoCAD changes the .dwg file format and older versions of the software are incompatible with the new versions. Table 1 shows the File format the the AutoCAD Release that is compatible with that format. I bet it’s safe to say we can expect a file format change in March of 2016.

Table 1: AutoCAD file format

A few years ago some of us remember Autodesk had a separate program named DWG True Convert. The purpose of that was to simply convert .dwg files between different formats. Since DWG Trueview 2010 Autodesk has included DWG Convert within DWG Trueview. With Autodesk DWG Trueview 2014,2015 and 2016 DWG Convert can be found on the quick access toolbar or on the Home tab of the Ribbon as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: DWG Convert on the Ribbon

Converting a file can be completed in 3 simple steps as shown in Figure 3.

1. Add your file (you can add more than one) to the DWG convert window.

2. Select the format you would like the files to be converted to.

3. Hit the convert button.

Figure 3: Convert your drawing file.

Like magic! Your files have been converted to the new format. Remember, it’s always good practice to backup your files prior to doing any converting.

Registration for Autodesk University 2015 begins in 10 days! I hope to see some old friends and meet some new ones this year at #AU2015!