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Zogmrbill4-Participant
4-Participant
April 27, 2026
Question

Upgrade Creo 6 to latest version (12?)

  • April 27, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 19 views

I am the IT guy , not a user of CREO. For no apparent reason, our company has stayed on Creo 6 for a long time and it is beginning to cause some issues. The download isnt even on the site directly. Seems to be lack of support for newer PCs, etc. I only anticipate more problems. 

 

Question is: How much trouble is it going to be to upgrade to 12 from 6 in terms of people learning the new software and problems opening files? Can the 2 co-exist on a PC in case there were a problem. 

4 replies

D
DavidBigelow17-Peridot
17-Peridot
April 27, 2026

Quite the Jump.. but not impossible.  There will be new UI things and processes that change a bit, some things will be more convenient, others will be confusing.

 

If your group is using a lot of mapkeys - expect those to require attention. (even more so if you are using trail files to support any automations).  If you have any Toolkit or JLINK applications, those will require attention also as some of the key regeneration functions changed that will break current functionality.

Dave

    S
    23-Emerald III
    StephenW23-Emerald III
    23-Emerald III
    April 27, 2026

    Its a pretty big Jump. We went from 4 to 6 to 8 and then 10 becuase of Windchill PDMLink version compatibililty with Creo version so we only had incremental upgrades.

    Its not a completely different software at all but some workflows and process will change a little. Any integration or customizations will likely need a redo since its such a big jump. If you have any of those, I susgest a upgrade test prior to rollout. If not, then your users will have a learning curve, but the basics are still the same.

      Z
      Zogmrbill4-ParticipantAuthor
      4-Participant
      April 27, 2026

      any issue with installing both on a machine and having the option to go back to 6 if we hit a big snag? I don’t know this software at all. But I have done my share of upgrades of all sorts of platforms. 

      D
      DavidBigelow17-Peridot
      17-Peridot
      April 27, 2026

      No issue - other than your license server will likely need to be installed to the Creo 12 version with that license - Creo 6 should work with that… (crossing fingers for ya).

      The licensing can be a real pain to install and get configured - expect a call to PTC at some point depending on your configuration and setup to get things working… (this should be simpler and more obvious of a process in my view - but never seems to get easier). 😠

      Dave

        S
        23-Emerald III
        StephenW23-Emerald III
        23-Emerald III
        April 27, 2026

        You can usually have 2 releases on the same machine BUT you can’t open anything from the new version on the older version. NOT backwards compatible at all. You would need to “test” prior to changing to avoid those sorts of catastrophes

        R
        remy21-Topaz I
        21-Topaz I
        April 28, 2026

        If not already you can go through this article targetted at exactly that type of project: upgrading to 12.4 : https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS439116

        two important takes here :

        1. Creo is retro-compatible : Creo 6.0 files will be opened correcly by Creo 12.4. It is one of our warranties. in the improbable situation opening fails, file a case and Tech Support will assist you swiftly. Opening 12.4 files in Creo 6.0 does not happen, naturally.
        2. Creo 12.4 can be installed alongside Creo 6.0 with the same license management (as long as the latter is upgraded to 12.4). It’s up to you to manage the co-existing. See how the move will happen within your team, for how long ? how to manage file versioning and so on.
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