Legacy Workbench Project Upgrade: In‑Place vs. Read‑Only Archiving

Project Upgrade Decision

When migrating an ANSYS Workbench project from an older release to a newer one, the software will automatically upgrade the project file. This process is one‑way and can modify solver inputs, meshing algorithms, and material libraries. The key question is whether to apply the upgrade directly to the existing project or to preserve the original as a read‑only archive for future reproducibility.

In‑place upgrade offers convenience and allows the team to continue using the same project path, but it risks hidden changes that may affect validated results. Archiving the legacy file ensures a reproducible baseline, yet it requires maintaining two separate project versions and can lead to confusion if team members work on different copies.

What factors should guide the choice between these approaches? How can one verify that the upgraded project remains numerically equivalent to the original? What best‑practice workflow can balance convenience, reproducibility, and version control?