You can save a drawing created with AutoCAD LT 97 in a format compatible with AutoCAD LT for Windows 95 and AutoCAD LT for Windows 3.1 (Release 1 or Release 2). This process creates a drawing with information specific to AutoCAD LT 97 stripped out or converted to another object type. As the drawing is exported, a log lists changed or lost information. Note that the Windows 3.1 format is equivalent to the AutoCAD Release 11 and Release 12 format.
If you use the current release of AutoCAD LT to open a drawing created with a previous release, and you do not add any information specific to the current release, you can then save the drawing in the format of the previous release without loss of data.
PostScript fonts are displayed at seven tenths (7/10ths) their actual size in Windows 3.1 format but are displayed at full size in Windows 95 format. Thus, in Windows 95 the fonts are displayed at approximately 1.4 times their original display size. To convert the fonts back to their original size, use PSUPDATE.
If you need to keep a drawing created in a previous release in its current format, either mark the file as read-only, or load it into AutoCAD LT 97 and use the File Type options in the Save As dialog box to save it in its current format.
Because saving a drawing in an earlier release format may cause some data loss, be sure to assign a different name to avoid overwriting the current drawing. If you overwrite the AutoCAD LT 97 version of the drawing, you can restore the overwritten version from the backup file (filename.bak) that is created during the saving process.