Introduction

This article contains information about the backward compatibility between Déjà Vu X3 and previous versions of Déjà Vu. If you are going to use Déjà Vu X3 to work on projects, translation memories or termbases created with previous versions of Déjà Vu, or if you want to use older versions of Déjà Vu to work with files created in Déjà Vu X3, we recommend that you read this article.

Compatibility with Déjà Vu X2

Live Preview

Déjà Vu X2 does not support Déjà Vu X3's new Live Preview functionality; it is not able to display formatting (e.g. bold, italic or underlined text) in the grid, and it is not able to create projects that support this feature. This means that a project created in Déjà Vu X2 will not support Live Preview even if that project is opened in Déjà Vu X3.

To summarize:

• If you create a project in Déjà Vu X3 and open it in Déjà Vu X2: for most file types, this will be completely seamless. If the project contains Office documents that were imported using the new Microsoft Office Live filter and therefore contains Inline Formatting, Déjà Vu X2 will preserve this, but it will not show it. Instead, Déjà Vu X2 will display an extra set of tags to represent the information required for Live Preview. These special tags must be treated like any other tags.
• If you create a project in Déjà Vu X2 and open it in Déjà Vu X3: for most file types, this will be completely seamless. However, since Déjà Vu X2 does not support Live Preview and it does not support the new Microsoft Office Live filter, it will not create any of the information needed to support Live Preview. Déjà Vu X3 will open these projects, but no formatting will be directly displayed either in the grid or in the Live Preview window.

Going from Déjà Vu X2 to Déjà Vu X3

Déjà Vu X3 can work with any file created in Déjà Vu X2 seamlessly, since Déjà Vu X3 uses the same formats for all of its own files that Déjà Vu X2 uses. That means that you can open any project, translation memory, Termbase, XML filter definitions file or template that you have made in Déjà Vu X2 directly in Déjà Vu X3, without having to convert or import anything. Everything will just work.

Going from Déjà Vu X3 back to Déjà Vu X2

Since Déjà Vu X2 and Déjà Vu X3 use the same file formats for all their own files, you can use Déjà Vu X2 to work with files created with Déjà Vu X3. However, Déjà Vu X3 has features that Déjà Vu X2 does not have, so when you use Déjà Vu X2, the new features of Déjà Vu X3 (e.g. live preview) will not be available. This will not have any effects on the way you use Déjà Vu X2, except for one exception.

Déjà Vu X3 has a new filter for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, with new functionality not available in the Microsoft Office filters that come with Déjà Vu X2. If you create a project in Déjà Vu X3 and import Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents using the new filter, you will be able to open the project in Déjà Vu X2, but you will not be able to export those documents. This is because, in order to export the translated documents, Déjà Vu needs to use the same filter that was used to import them in the first place; since the new filter is not available in Déjà Vu X2, Déjà Vu X2 cannot use it, and therefore it can't export.

In this situation, you can complete all of the translation process in Déjà Vu X2, but you will need to use Déjà Vu X3 to export the translated documents.

Compatibility with Déjà Vu X

Déjà Vu X, Déjà Vu X2 and Déjà Vu X3 all use the same formats for their own files, so the same rules that apply to compatibility with Déjà Vu X2 apply to compatibility with Déjà Vu X.

Compatibility with Déjà Vu 3

Déjà Vu X3 cannot open files created in Déjà Vu 3. The formats used by Déjà Vu 3 are obsolete, and do not support the many new features of Déjà Vu X3. Therefore, they cannot be used. It is possible to convert some of Déjà Vu 3's files to the new format used by Déjà Vu X3, so it is possible to transfer the assets you have accumulated by working with Déjà Vu 3 and continue to use them once you transition to Déjà Vu X3. Contiguous operation, that is, using Déjà Vu X3 and Déjà Vu 3 together to work on the same files, is not possible.

Going from Déjà Vu 3 to Déjà Vu X3

Déjà Vu X3 has the ability to convert some of Déjà Vu 3's files. Translation Memories and Terminology Databases can be converted from Déjà Vu 3's formats to Déjà Vu X3's own formats, and thereafter be used in Déjà Vu X3 as normal. Projects and lexicons, however, cannot be converted. If you have information in a Déjà Vu 3 project or a lexicon that you wish to preserve and use with Déjà Vu X3, you must add this information to a Translation Memory or a Terminlogy Database in Déjà Vu 3, and then convert that to the new format in Déjà Vu X3.

Going from Déjà Vu X3 to Déjà Vu 3

There is no way to use Déjà Vu X3's files in Déjà Vu 3. Déjà Vu 3 is obsolete, and it cannot read any of the new file formats used by Déjà Vu X3.