File support

[Vivian Phan]

Dear all,

I am using Stata v13. However, I cannot open one .dta file. Here is an error message.
".dta too modern
File ...... is from a more recent version of Stata. Type update query to determine whether a free update of Stata is available,
and browse http://www.stata.com/ to determine if a new version is available.
r(610);"

I am trying to get it updated but it doesn't help. How can I open this?
Thank you.

[Clyde Schechter]

Since the only version of Stata since version 13 is version 14 (and 14.1 and 14.2) you are probably confronting a Stata 14 data set. Stata 13 is not capable of reading those, and updating to the final version of Stata 13 does not change that.

Probably your best bet is to go back to the person who gave you the Stata 14 data set and ask him or her to re-save it as a version 13 data set. The -saveold- command with option -version(13)- specified will do that.

Alternatively, consider purchasing version 14.

[Phil Clayton]

One other option would be to use Stat/Transfer to convert it to a Stata 13 dataset.