# Project Export, What Version?

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [December 15, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543 "2020-12-15T21:00:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jonathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@Jonathan](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Jonathan)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/1 "2020-12-15T21:00:30Z")

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I have a project that I exported from a version 8 gateway, but I dont remember what exact version. If i unzip the project is there somewhere I can look to tell me what version I was running at the time? I am trying to import the project and it tells me it cannot because of it being a different version.

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**Author:** ![dkhayes117](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/dkhayes117/32/68344_2.png) [@dkhayes117](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/dkhayes117)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/2 "2020-12-15T21:11:52Z")

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I know that in project resource exports (xml) you can open them with notepad and see the version number, not sure you can do that with .gwbk files

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**Author:** ![Jonathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@Jonathan](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Jonathan)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/3 "2020-12-15T21:14:23Z")

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i have a project.json file but all it has is this

```auto
{
  "title": "",
  "description": "",
  "enabled": true,
  "inheritable": false
}

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dkhayes117](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/dkhayes117/32/68344_2.png) [@dkhayes117](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/dkhayes117)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/4 "2020-12-15T21:17:41Z")

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You may just have to restore the export on a development gateway to see what version it is.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jonathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@Jonathan](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Jonathan)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/5 "2020-12-15T21:19:24Z")

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Are you saying just start installing version of ignition until it lets me import?

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/6 "2020-12-15T21:21:20Z")

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Are you trying to import this into a 7.9 or prior Ignition?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jonathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@Jonathan](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Jonathan)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/7 "2020-12-15T21:23:28Z")

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I just tried it again on version 8.0.16 and it imported this time. Not sure what the problem was before.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![r123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@r123](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/r123)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/8 "2026-01-21T16:59:18Z")

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So is there a way to tell what version a project export came from?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/9 "2026-01-21T17:20:03Z")

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8.x project export zips don't contain any metadata about what version they came from, somewhat regrettably.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![r123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@r123](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/r123)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/project-export-what-version/41543/10 "2026-01-21T17:37:34Z")

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Surprisingly I've seen this in a few different HMI packages over the years.  
It seems something that wouldn't be too complicated to add I don't know why it often gets omitted.

A colleague thinks that the export is from 8.3 something and I just try to import it into an 8.1 VM and it did so without any warnings.

That being said I'd much rather have things like pop up windows in designer remembering their size and location and or being able to do a case sensitive search with wild cards etc. 🙂