Setting the default drawing file format for Saving
*Applies to: AutoCAD 2000, 2000i, 2002, 2004 and 2005*

In AutoCAD 2000 and up you can set the default saving format inside of AutoCAD.  This allows for AutoCAD to save the drawing to a specified version or release format.  An example for this would be, if you are working on a large project and need to save the drawings to AutoCAD R14 because other members of the team need to access the drawings and you are using R2000.  You could simply set the default Save as format to AutoCAD R14.  This would save time in needing to remember to change the format time when you save the drawing prior to exiting.  To change the default Save as option follow the steps below.

Step 1 -	Display the Options dialog box, Tools>>Options... or Options at the Command line.
Step 2 -	Click on the Open and Save tab to make it active.
Step 3 -	Towards the upper right corner of the dialog box you should see a drop down box called out as Save as:.  This drop down allows you select the desired file format when using the Save or SaveAs commands with in AutoCAD.
Step 4 -	Select the new Save As format and click the OK button located at the bottom of the dialog box.