st: Confusion regarding compatibility of Stata 11 & Stata 12 datasets

[Dave Ewart <davee@ceu.ox.ac.uk>]

In Stata 12, the documentation for 'help save' states:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

    save [...]

    saveold saves the dataset currently in memory on disk under the name
    filename in Stata 9/Stata 10 format.  Stata 11 has the same dataset
    format as Stata 10, but Stata 11 is smart enough to read Stata 12
    datasets.

    If you are using Stata 12 and want to save a file so that it may be 
    read by someone using Stata 9 or Stata 10, simply use the saveold 
    command.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above is a little confusing, especially since I have observed
evidence against "Stata 11 is smart enough to read Stata 12 datasets".
Prior to receiving Stata 12, we found our up-to-date installation of
Stata 11 was unable to read the datasets of Stata-12-using colleagues.

That suggests that Stata 12 uses a different dataset format to Stata 11.

Is it therefore possible for Stata 12 to save in Stata 11 format?  I
suppose this may not be necessary if 'saveold' can be used to save in
Stata 9/10 format, unless there are compatibility issues.

Can someone clarify the position regarding the various dataset formats,
or point me to some documentation, please?

Thanks,

Dave.

-- 
Dave Ewart
davee@ceu.ox.ac.uk
Computing Manager, Cancer Epidemiology Unit
University of Oxford / Cancer Research UK
N 51.7516, W 1.2152
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