Compatability Issues. The latest version of Compass has many new features that increase your ability to handle large cave systems and better organize the data. Some of the new features will cause problems with older versions of Compass. In other words, if you use certain new features and attempt to edit or process the data with an old verison of Compass, you may have problems. Here are things to be aware of:

• 1. Grouping Folders. If you use Grouping Folders and try to compile the project in an old version of Compass, you may get errors. This is because files grouped in a folder are processed as a unit, whereas in older versions, they would processed separately. For example, Grouping Folders allow you to forward reference a survey station. That means that you can connect a shot to a station that appears in a later file. Earlier versions of Compass don't allow this kind of forward connect between files and you will get an error.
• 2. Prefixes..Prefixes are used to handle situations were two different station have the same name. If you process a file that uses prefixes in older versions of Compass, it won't be able to differentiate between the different versions and will display spurious connections between different part of the cave..
• 3. Lost Information.. The newest version of Compass has many new data items, including prefixes, folders, multiple types of comment and new flags. If you make changes to a new project or data file in an old version of Compass, those data items will be lost..
• 4. General Compatability..In spite of these caveats, most things are still compatable::

a. Any old file is completely compaitible with the new version of Compass.a. Any old file is completely compaitible with the new version of Compass.
b. If you don't use folders, prefixes or the new comments, new version files will work fine in old versions of Compass.
c. If you don't edit or modify projects or data files in an old version of Compass, you won't lose data.