Under which Visio version should I release my stencil?

[Colleen]

I own legitimate, standalone copies of Visio 2000 and Visio 2007.

2007 is loaded onto a desktop. 2000 is loaded onto a laptop. Both computers
run Vista.

I have just created a collection of stencils in Visio 2007. They work
beautifully in the 2007 environment.

I want to release the stencils to be used with the most versions of Visio,
so I want them to be backwards-compatible.

I installed the Visio 2007 stencils onto the laptop. Visio 2000 did not
recognize the Visio 2007 stencils, which was disappointing but expected.

So I returned to my Visio 2007 version, "saved the stencils as" Visio 2002
format (the earliest version "save as" offered), and loaded them on the Visio
2000 computer. Happily, the Visio 2002 stencils worked perfectly in Visio
2000. I do not have Visio 2002, so I can't test the stencils there, but I
assume they work in that environment. So if I release the 2002 version, I
will be able to serve customers with versions of Visio 2000 and later.

My question is: Is there any reason why I would want to release the 2007
version instead of the 2002?

Colleen
in snowy Aurora, Illinois

 

[John... Visio MVP]

I own legitimate, standalone copies of Visio 2000 and Visio 2007.

2007 is loaded onto a desktop. 2000 is loaded onto a laptop. Both
computers
run Vista.

I have just created a collection of stencils in Visio 2007. They work
beautifully in the 2007 environment.

I want to release the stencils to be used with the most versions of Visio,
so I want them to be backwards-compatible.

I installed the Visio 2007 stencils onto the laptop. Visio 2000 did not
recognize the Visio 2007 stencils, which was disappointing but expected.

So I returned to my Visio 2007 version, "saved the stencils as" Visio 2002
format (the earliest version "save as" offered), and loaded them on the
Visio
2000 computer. Happily, the Visio 2002 stencils worked perfectly in Visio
2000. I do not have Visio 2002, so I can't test the stencils there, but I
assume they work in that environment. So if I release the 2002 version, I
will be able to serve customers with versions of Visio 2000 and later.

My question is: Is there any reason why I would want to release the 2007
version instead of the 2002?

Colleen
in snowy Aurora, Illinois

Visio has always been able to open older version, but never been clariviant
enough to open future versions. So a Visio 2007 stencil will not open in
VIsio 2002. For some of the versions, the file format did not change, so you
could open a newer stencil in the previous version.

(Note to self: I should add a page to Visio.MVPs.org to indicate when file
formats changed and what was new)

Two possible reasons to create a Visio 2007 stencil are:
1) There will be a delay as Visio loads a stencil from an older version.
2) You can use some of the new features available in later versions.

So when are you creating the Visio 2010 version. ;-)

John... Visio MVP

 

[Colleen]

Visio has always been able to open older version, but never been clariviant
enough to open future versions. So a Visio 2007 stencil will not open in
VIsio 2002. For some of the versions, the file format did not change, so you
could open a newer stencil in the previous version.

Of course, makes sense.

(Note to self: I should add a page to Visio.MVPs.org to indicate when file
formats changed and what was new)

(That would be helpful!)

Two possible reasons to create a Visio 2007 stencil are:
1) There will be a delay as Visio loads a stencil from an older version.
2) You can use some of the new features available in later versions.

So when are you creating the Visio 2010 version. ;-)

:-D

Do you know of any reason why I shouldn't release BOTH version of the stencil?

Might be a little more confusing for the recipient...but it would be worth
the trouble. I went to a lot of effort to give each shape a set of keywords
for searching (for 446 shapes across five stencil files), but those keywords
will not appear in a version I release saved-as 2002.

Speaking of that search...I can't get it to work. NO shapes ever appear in
my searches, even thought I KNOW they're there, and I have "Everywhere" and
"Or" checked in the Tools, Options, Shape Search pane. Got any suggestions???

John... Visio MVP

Thank you, sir!

Colleen