Im running an Indie license on windows10.
I would like to share my hip file with users who only have an Apprentice license.
When I do a file->save as and add .hipnc extension to the file name it is saved as a .hiplc
Is there a workaround for this?

I believe there should be no problem to give them the .hiplc file, have you tried?

When they open it up Houdini should switch to apprentice version automatically.
Of course it doesn't work the other way round.
If you open a .hipnc with Indie, Houdini would switch to apprentice.

Open the scene in Houdini Apprentice before saving it.

Now that I have thought about it a bit, I realize this topic may be an unintentional attempt to undermine Houdini licensing.

I'm lucky enough to have an Indie license.

I'm building some custom sop vop networks content with an Indie license.
There is no feature limited to the Indie license that is in use.
I just wanted to be able to share this content with the apprentice community.

Since the Indie licensed file->saveas or file->export does not allow saving a hipnc there is probably a good reason.

WillA
Since the Indie licensed file->saveas or file->export does not allow saving a hipnc there is probably a good reason.

The reason is there's no reason to do that unless you specifically want apprentice licensing restrictions to apply to anyone opening the file, even when they have a full or indie license.

WillA
Now that I have thought about it a bit, I realize this topic may be an unintentional attempt to undermine Houdini licensing.

As has been mentioned here already, you can already open any Houdini file in Apprentice, so you don't need to save out an Apprentice version from Indie.

Apprentice can only save out to .hipnc, so the .hiplc will remain unchanged. You also cannot open a .hipnc in Indie without downgrading the session to Apprentice.