I’ve been using the latter a lot and just recently the files are opened in read-only mode. Saving the file is not possible and the file can only be saved under a new name or in a different folder.
I have a feeling this is a new problem and should be resolved.
I have two PC’s one still has Rhino 5 on it. I keep some files as V5 since they contain T-Splines objects with symmetry and other stuff I did not install in Rhino 7 or 8. I also have a number of V8 files already.
The perfect solution would be Windows opens the file with whatever version the file is. So Windows would try to open a V5 file with Rhino 5, a V7 file in Rhino 7 and V8 in Rhino 8.
If that is not possible on Windows level, couldn’t this be done within Rhino?
When a V8 file is double-clicked, Rhino attempts to open the file in V7, shows an error and instead of just OK offer a second option to open the file in Rhino 8? This would close the Rhino 7 instance and open the file in Rhino 8.
In the Rhino settings, the user could set which files should be opened in which version when there is more than one Rhino installations.
A similar message could be set up for old file versions. Opening a V5 file would prompt a warning and the options to open in either Rhino 5, 7 or 8 or whatever is installed.
Not sure if I was clear enough. I thought this could be an option in just Rhino 8. Maybe it requires a place where the user can specify which versions of Rhino are installed. The open with would always try to open the file with the latest version installed but then show options if the file is from a previous version.
You might like to try my minimalist RhinoFeeder utility. You configure it (via an ini file) to say which Rhino you want to open each 3dm file version and then change the app association for .3DM files to RhinoFeeder. Thereafter double clicking does what you ask. You can still right click to make a manual Rhino selection if you want to override the default behaviour.
This is v.2 of the app - it’s just been improved since the original version which can be found kicking around in a few old discourse posts. if you try it, please let me have feedback.