cannot open previous version visio file in visio 2019

Thanks Scott. Some of our mutual friends pointed out that it could be a trust issue. So, certain File types can be blocked. Using Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings....

You can control how the various File Types are handled. So, anyone with older files still have a chance to open them.

I just chatted with John about this question and need to correct his suggestion that perhaps support for older files has been dropped -- it has NOT!

I just opened a couple of vsd files using Visio Plan 2, which is a superset of Visio 2019, and it worked fine. Here's my version info:

Just after I typed the sentences above, it occurred to me that perhaps there is a difference between Visio 2019 and Visio Plan 2 for older files. I doubted that was the case but to prove the point, I fired up a VM with Visio 2019 and opened several vsd files without any problem. This is my version info:

It does look like my version of 2019 is newer than yours, so it would make sense to update your copy of Visio just to be sure.

Beyond that, try opening this file -- it's a dead simple flowchart -- to see what happens. If that opens and your files don't perhaps there's an issue with the files.

The problem is that Visio changed from a proprietary file format, VSD, to a new file format VSDX (actually a new family of file formats) a few versions back. To be able to open the old files, you will need one of the earlier versions that could open VSD and VSDX files and convert. I will check to see if I can get more details on which version you will need.
It seems the ability to open VSD/VSS/VST files has been dropped.

Hi Shashi D Char,

Thanks for your valuable feedback and sharing updates with us and I really appreciate your effort and your precious time doing. First, please accept my apologize (its my humbly request please don't mind) because you meet such an issue and I understand it effort on your daily work.

And I appreciate your kind words.

It seems issue happened to all old Visio file. If you don’t mind and if it is convenient for you, could you please send your one of Visio file to me so that I can look from my side, and I will check this behaviour and help you to fix and verify the result with you.

If there is confidential information, then you can send it to me in Private Message

I appreciate your understanding and stay safe!!

Best Regards

Waqas Muhammad

Waqas,

Thank you for the below reply with suggestions

so far i have re-installed the visio 2019, also tried the repair option too, below are some screenshots of the version info

I am unable to open any 2003-2010 visio file, it tries to open and crashes it does not show any error code

This was working fine before sometime in Feb 2022, i was able to open older files etc,

I have tried changing the file to *.vsdx format too, no luck