# Readind qza file from old qiime2 version

**URL:** https://forum.qiime2.org/t/readind-qza-file-from-old-qiime2-version/7279
**Category:** User Support
**Created:** [December 4, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/readind-qza-file-from-old-qiime2-version/7279 "2018-12-04T19:44:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![lmanchon](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/lmanchon/32/3177_2.png) [@lmanchon](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/lmanchon)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/readind-qza-file-from-old-qiime2-version/7279/1 "2018-12-04T19:44:45Z")

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--Hi,

is there a way to read a qza file generated using '2018.11' version from '2018.6' version ?

thank you --

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### Author: ![thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/readind-qza-file-from-old-qiime2-version/7279/2 "2018-12-04T19:55:28Z")

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### Author: ![thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/readind-qza-file-from-old-qiime2-version/7279/3 "2018-12-04T20:17:29Z")

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Hey there @lmanchon!

> [@lmanchon](#):
>
> is there a way to read a qza file generated using ‘2018.11’ version from ‘2018.6’ version ?

For context, 2018.8 saw a change in the Archive format (so that we could save checksums in QIIME 2 outputs). QIIME 2 has a backwards compatibility guarantee --- any _older_ Artifacts are able to be read into a more recent version of QIIME 2. What you are proposing though is the opposite, you want to read a newer Artifact into an older release. We don't make any guarantees for "forwards compatibility" at present, so no, there is no way for you to read a newer Artifact into an older release (this makes sense, right? How can the old version of the software know about or understand the new version?).

The simplest solution is to install 2018.11 (you can keep that alongside 2018.6, if you want).

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### Author: ![thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/readind-qza-file-from-old-qiime2-version/7279/4 "2018-12-04T20:17:32Z")

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### Author: ![lmanchon](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/lmanchon/32/3177_2.png) [@lmanchon](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/lmanchon)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/readind-qza-file-from-old-qiime2-version/7279/5 "2018-12-04T20:29:35Z")

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Ok thank you.There could have been an idea to get around the problem (i know in some tools you can, by modifing some headers)

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### Author: ![system](https://forum-qiime2-org.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/3X/2/1/21af5fe23cb6f4579467c66a9ed94e55274ca7bd.svg) [@system](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/readind-qza-file-from-old-qiime2-version/7279/6 "2019-01-05T02:29:39Z")

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