"New" Element Property?

Question

I am having a bit of confusion as to what constitutes a "New" element in the element properties. Lines that were just created in a brand new file are considered "Not New," while a line from a file created nearly 2 months ago is still considered "New," even after it has been modified. I checked the help documentation, but there doesn't seem to be any indication in the element properties page as to how it's determined. I'm hoping to find a way to have another party make additions or changes to an existing file and then isolate the differences by whether they're considered "New" versus "Not New."

Jon Summers · Accepted Answer

Unknown said: Do you happen to know what can cause an object to have the "New" property when one created seconds ago on a new dgn file does not? 
 When you create an element many things may happen immediately afterwards, propelled by MicroStation internals about which we know nothing. If you were to place a primitive line element, say, with default symbology settings of a standard colour, line style in range 1..8 and width in range 1..32 then the element might end up as 'new'. But as soon as you do something marginally non-default then MicroStation may modify the element immediately and the 'new' flag is turned off. 
 What counts as 'marginally non-default'? I can't be sure, but it might be, for example, using a line-style that is not in the 1..8 range, or if a text element then a text style is added. Either of those would cause data attributes to be added to the new element, rendering it 'modified'. 
 As you've observed, 'new' doesn't inform us very much. It's a legacy flag that might have been useful in more innocent days (MicroStation/J) or earlier (IGDS).

Rene van den Brink · Answer

You can change this property by using the 'old' Analyze Elemtent tool 
See wiki article communities.bentley.com/.../33386.change-element-property-new-not-new

George A. Martin · Answer

Have you looked at the Design History utility in MicroStation?