CALSoft 6 allows you to open files created with most older versions of CALSoft. But first, let’s look back into history at the progression of the different CALSoft versions:
- CALSoft 1 (DOS Version) - the very first version of CALSoft, introduced in 1985
- CALSoft II (DOS Version) - introduced in 1992, the file format extension was .csc
- CALSoft Windows - introduced in 1996, the file format extension was .csw
- CALSoft 32 - introduced in 2002, the file format extension was .c32
- CALSoft 5 - introduced in 2009, the file format extension was .chp and .ctd (depending on whether the test was HP or TD)
- CALSoft 6 - introduced in 2020, the file format is the same as CALSoft 5 (.chp and .ctd)
As noted above, the file format from CALSoft 5 has not changed in CALSoft 6. Therefore, any files created in CALSoft 5 will have the .chp (Heat Penetration) or .ctd (Temperature Distribution) extension. CALSoft 6 can open those files without the need for any conversion.
CALSoft 6 also allows users to open older CALSoft Windows files (.csw) and CALSoft 32 files (.c32). When CALSoft 6 opens these older files, they are actually converted to a new file with the .chp or .ctd format.
Files created with the very old DOS versions of CALSoft (CALSoft I and II) cannot be opened by CALSoft 6. The file format has changed significantly over the past 35 years.
Note that when you SAVE a file in CALSoft 6, you can only save the files in the current format of .chp (for a Heat Penetration test) or .ctd (for a Temperature Distribution test). You are not allowed to go backwards and SAVE a file into the older CALSoft 32 (.c32) file format. You can, however, export any file to a CSV format if you wish.
(See the "Export" part in this article on how to export data to a CSV format for HP)
(See the "Export" part in this article on how to export data to a CSV format for TD)