it may be old news, but i came across this today. taken from Cadalyst Newsline: News and Productivity Tips for CAD Users 10/20/03. Volume 8 No. 42 8. TIP FROM AUTODESK: FIND A FILE'S PARENT AUTOCAD VERSION To determine the version of AutoCAD that created a particular DWG or DXF file, open the file as a text editor (save DXF files in ASCII text format first). The first six bytes of a DWG file identify its version. In a DXF file, the AutoCAD version number is specified in the header section. The DXF system variable is $ACADVER. Here are the version identifiers for the various releases. Note that more than one release uses the same identifier when the drawing format remains fully compatible. AC1018: AutoCAD 2004 AC1015: AutoCAD 2002, 2000i, 2000 AC1014: AutoCAD Release 14 (Release 14 sample drawings use AC1013) AC1012: AutoCAD Release 13 AC1009: AutoCAD Releases 12, 11 AC1006: AutoCAD Release 10 AC1004: AutoCAD Release 9 AC1002: AutoCAD Release 2.6 AC1.50: AutoCAD Release 2.05 ===== phrostie Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of DOS and danced the skies on Linux silvered wings. http://pfrostie.freeservers.com/cad-tastrafy/ //www.freelists.org/webpage/cad-linux __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com