# Making the jump to RW6 **URL:** \ **Category:** RapidWeaver Classic\ **Created:** [July 20, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531 "2015-07-20T12:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DarthPearce](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/darthpearce/32/252_2.png) [@DarthPearce](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/DarthPearce)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/1 "2015-07-20T12:50:09Z")
Hi all, after quite a while away from developing websites I’m back at the screen and have a few to develop. I’m tempted to upgrade to RW6 but wanted to make sure I made the transition as smooth as possible and had contigency if anything went wrong. As I understand it I can convert all of my old RW5 projects into RW6. Can I make a copy of each project first, upgrade them but still have a copy of the old ones which I can use on RW5 on the same mac? I also wanted to check whether there was anything I had to do with all of my stacks purchases or will they all just work on 6 and in 5 if I have to go back to it? ---
**Author:** ![nikf](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/nikf/32/10_2.png) [@nikf](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/nikf)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:28pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/2 "2015-07-20T13:28:39Z")
You’ll need to open and save your projects in RW 5.4.1 before they’ll open in RW6. But. After that, RapidWeaver will create a copy of your file, upgrade it to the RW6 format, and save as a separate document. If you’re concerned about RW6 reading (and that’s all we do: read) the document, you can create a copy. But that’s not necessary. In terms of migrating stacks etc, RW6 will copy over your RW5 addons - however your plugins will only be copied if they have a RW6 version inside of them. So. Check your plugins are up to date, and then you’ll be good to go. Full guide: [http://realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/upgrade](http://realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/upgrade) —N ---
**Author:** ![nikf](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/nikf/32/10_2.png) [@nikf](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/nikf)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/3 "2015-07-20T13:34:50Z")
Oh, and to note: RapidWeaver 5 and 6 are separate apps. That means that once your addons are copied to RW6, any updates for addons will be installed for RW6 only. ---
**Author:** ![DarthPearce](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/darthpearce/32/252_2.png) [@DarthPearce](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/DarthPearce)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/4 "2015-07-20T14:47:47Z")
Thanks Nik, so effectively I could still run RW5 and open up the RWSW files to work in the old environment? Can the add ons be manually updated for RW5 if necessary? I suspect that once I’ve made the jump, much like changing to a next gen console, that I won’t really find the need to go back to RW6 but I’d like to have that security blanket if I find issues with RW6 with a deadline looming. ---
**Author:** ![nikf](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/nikf/32/10_2.png) [@nikf](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/nikf)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/5 "2015-07-20T15:03:29Z")
RapidWeaver 6 opens and converts to a .rw6 file format. So there’s no way to take a RW6 project file back to 5, I’m afraid. —N ---
**Author:** ![DarthPearce](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/darthpearce/32/252_2.png) [@DarthPearce](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/DarthPearce)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/6 "2015-07-20T15:19:39Z")
I understand once the file is converted to a .rw6 there’s no using it on RW5 but as I understand it there will still be a .rwsw file which I can open and use in RW5? I know the rwsw will be out of date once I’ve started work on the RW6 version but I still have the option of using RW5, with all of the old plugins / add ons and the original rwsw files don’t I? ---
**Author:** ![nikf](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/nikf/32/10_2.png) [@nikf](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/nikf)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/7 "2015-07-20T16:11:25Z")
Oh, absolutely. We only ever read _in_ information or projects from RW5 (not that you’d need to revert to RW5, of course). ---
**Author:** ![DarthPearce](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/darthpearce/32/252_2.png) [@DarthPearce](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/DarthPearce)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/8 "2015-07-21T16:21:56Z")
ok, I’ve purchased RW6, followed the upgrade guide but didn’t get any prompts or anything to show me which snippets, themes etc have been copied over. I only have 5 themes on show. Is this because I installed a few of the beta versions of RW6 but never really had the chance to use it? How do I get it to act as a new install or am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![DarthPearce](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/darthpearce/32/252_2.png) [@DarthPearce](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/DarthPearce)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 11:06am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/9 "2015-07-22T11:06:52Z")
Any help would be appreciated. Process worked fine on my Macbook where I’d never installed RW6 before but on my main machine I can’t see how to start the upgrade process again… ---
**Author:** ![DarthPearce](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/darthpearce/32/252_2.png) [@DarthPearce](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/DarthPearce)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 11:12am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/making-the-jump-to-rw6/531/10 "2015-07-22T11:12:16Z")
Sorry all, think I may have found what I’m looking for now…!