HOW TO
Instructions provided describe how to use a sample script to batch save map documents in ArcGIS 10.x as earlier document versions of ArcGIS.
After migrating to another version of ArcGIS, older map documents are upgraded to the installed version the next time they are saved. To share the map documents with older ArcGIS clients, use the Save A Copy command from the ArcMap File menu to save each map document.
However, if there are many map documents involved, a Python script tool can be used to batch convert them. Apply the following process to avoid opening each document.
Below is a sample Python script for saving map documents as earlier document versions of ArcGIS.
Note: The following procedure only provide conversions up to version 10.3.
import arcpy, sys, os, string mxdList = string.split(arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0), ";") outloc = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1) version = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(2) suffix = "_"+ version.replace(".", "") for item in mxdList: item = item.strip('\'') mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(item) base = os.path.basename(item) base = os.path.splitext(base)[0] + suffix + os.path.splitext(base)[1] mxd.saveACopy(outloc + os.sep + base, version) arcpy.AddMessage(os.path.basename(item) + " has been converted")
Note: Using the version '10.1' option from version 10 does not work. The function can only save to the current or previous versions.
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