"Cannot open file created from a different version of Publisher" error message when you open a publication in an earlier version of Publisher

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This article was previously published under Q302838

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SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to open a Microsoft Publisher publication, you may receive an error message similar to the following:

Cannot open file created from a different version of Publisher.

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CAUSE

This behavior can occur if you attempt to open a Publisher file in an earlier version of Publisher than the version in which the file was saved.

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To work around this issue, save the publication in the format of an earlier version of Publisher. Because later versions of Publisher have features that are not available in earlier versions, some formatting may be lost when you do this.

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MORE INFORMATION

Note that Microsoft Publisher 2000 is the first version of Publisher that is able to save files in the format of the preceding version: It can save files in Microsoft Publisher 98 format, as well as in Publisher 2000.

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