Visio 2002 is useless with Visio 2003 docs

I am unable to open Visio 2003 docs in Visio 2002. I get the error message
that says 'this file cannot be opened because it was created with a newer or
unrecognized version of Visio....' I've already been to the Help and
Support site and read Article ID 870571 which states that the author or
originator of the 2003 file must save it as a 2002 file - but what if I am
the 2002 customer? I only have 2002 on my machine. Am I supposed to ask the
originator to revise their file to accomadate a defect in 2002? What if this
file was sent to me by a customer, or individual that I do not have the
luxury of expecting they will modify the file to accomadate last years
version. What happened to the big push for 'interoperability'? Its simply a
rip off and poor execution of the 2003 release.

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=7e9e8...-f3c3-4

"a defect in Visio 2002"? Sorry, but the Visio development team are not
psychic. When Visio 2002, they had no idea what Visio 2003, or Visio 2007
would be like. All versions of Visio can read all previsou versions, but not
the other way around.

If you can not get the original creators to convert, you could ask someone
else to do the conversion.

John... Visio MVP

Need stencils or ideas? http://visio.mvps.org/3rdparty.htm
Need VBA examples? http://visio.mvps.org/VBA.htm
Visio Wishlist http://visio.mvps.org/wish_list.htm

"ERWatkins" <ERWatkins DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7E9E8E67-F3C3-4B13-BC7E-D68657F1CDB4@microsoft.com...
>I am unable to open Visio 2003 docs in Visio 2002. I get the error message
> that says 'this file cannot be opened because it was created with a newer
> or
> unrecognized version of Visio....' I've already been to the Help and
> Support site and read Article ID 870571 which states that the author or
> originator of the 2003 file must save it as a 2002 file - but what if I am
> the 2002 customer? I only have 2002 on my machine. Am I supposed to ask
> the
> originator to revise their file to accomadate a defect in 2002? What if
> this
> file was sent to me by a customer, or individual that I do not have the
> luxury of expecting they will modify the file to accomadate last years
> version. What happened to the big push for 'interoperability'? Its
> simply a
> rip off and poor execution of the 2003 release.
>
> ----------------
> This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
> suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
> Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
> this
> link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
> click "I Agree" in the message pane.
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=7e9e8...-f3c3-4