SQL Server Reporting Services – Opening an RDL in Older Version of Visual Studio Opens as XML

In order to fix this issue, you need to remove a few lines of code from the XML.

    1. Replace xmlns with:
      <Report xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/reporting/2008/01/reportdefinition" xmlns:rd="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SQLServer/reporting/reportdesigner">
    2. Remove only the Report Section header and footer tags (leave the child elements)
      <ReportSections>
      <ReportSection>
      
      ..................................