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This topic provides guidance on issues that may arise when upgrading PowerDesigner.

Note If you are upgrading from a previous version, you must regenerate your PowerDesigner license keys at SAP Service Marketplace (SMP) at https://support.sap.com/licensekeyInformation published on SAP site.
  • Unification of installs - Previous versions of PowerDesigner were provided as an English language installer and a separate French language installer, and the French version was called PowerAMC. From v16.6 onwards, both the English and French versions are called PowerDesigner and a single installer is delivered, which allows you to choose the installation language.
    Note When upgrading from a version of PowerAMC, the installer will uninstall PowerAMC and install PowerDesigner, while preserving all your options and preferences. If both PowerDesigner and PowerAMC are present, the installer will only update PowerDesigner.
    Note Upgrading from 32-bit PowerAMC to 64-bit PowerDesigner is not supported. You must first upgrade to 32-bit PowerDesigner and then upgrade to 64-bit.
  • Upgrading the repository - You should always upgrade the repository proxy and PowerDesigner Web if they are deployed in your environment. See Upgrading the Repository.
  • Upgrading to 64-bit PowerDesigner - See Upgrading from 32-Bit to 64-Bit PowerDesigner.
  • Repository branches - Prior to v16.1, the repository browser only supported displaying a single branch at a time. When you upgrade an existing repository to v16.1 or higher, all branches will become, by default, visible for all users. You may wish to simplify viewing the repository by deleting documents and branches that are no longer used, by using permissions to hide certain branches from users or groups who have no need of them, or by migrating active models to a new repository (see Post-Upgrade Cleanup for a Repository Containing Branches).
  • Office add-ins - Though PowerDesigner v15.x and v16.x can be installed together on the same workstation, after the installation of v16.x, the add-ins supporting importing from MS Word and Visio will only function for v16.x.
  • License Server - In general, you can serve licenses for clients using PowerDesigner v15.x and v16.x from the same SySAM license server. However, if you want to support heterogeneous versions of the Data Architect package (which is only available as an upgrade to v16.x and not as a new purchase), you will need to install a second license server on another machine and plan to serve the licenses associated with each version from a separate server.

  • Resource Files - DBMS and language definition files and other resource files provided with PowerDesigner are constantly evolving. If you have not edited the resource files delivered with a previous version of PowerDesigner, then the upgrade to the latest version will happen silently.

    If you have previously edited a definition file or other resource file, then it will continue to work after the upgrade, but we advise you to use the Compare tool on the resource file list to review the differences between your file and the new file and, if appropriate, merge them to obtain bug fixes or new features.

    If you have stored standard resource files from a previous version in the repository then they will not automatically be updated. You should check in the newly-delivered versions manually to ensure that all users benefit from them (see Core Features Guide > Administering PowerDesigner > Deploying an Enterprise Glossary and Library > Deploying an Enterprise Library > Sharing Resource Files via the Library).

    Note To comply with recent Microsoft recommendations, from version 16.5 onwards, PowerDesigner no longer allows you to save modifications to resource files inside the Program Files folder, and will propose an alternative location if you try to do so, adding the selected directory to the list of paths for that type of resource file. If you have previously created or modified resource files inside Program Files, your files may no longer be available, as Windows Vista or Windows 7 actually store them in a virtual mirror at, for example, C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Sybase\PowerDesigner 16\Resource Files\DBMS. To restore these files to your lists, optionally move them to a more convenient path, and add their location to your list using the Path tool.