Opening InDesign CS3 documents in CS4

I am hoping someone from Adobe can help me with this question. Here is the scenario:
I work on the support team in a prepress environment where we get hundreds of client supplied InDesign files weekly. Some clients supply their files in InDesign CS3 and some supply the files in InDesign CS4. We have both applications.
From our experience, we have found that if we open a InDesign CS3 document using InDesign CS4, there is a potential for items to disappear in the document. I don't know what changed from 3 to 4 to cause this problem. This has happened to us more than one time and we have experienced money losses due to on press errors.
One would say, as we have, if the document is supplied in InDesign CS3, work on it in InDesign CS3. Easy enough, right?
Well, not really. If you have CS3 and CS4 both installed on your mac at the same time, simply double-clicking on the file will default to CS4 (since it is newer).
We have told our operators that they need to identify what version the file was created in; which is not the easiest thing either.
If you "get info" on the file, you do not get accurate information. It may say "CS4", even if it is "CS3", I think this is because your system is reading what the newest application that you have install is.
I have found that by dragging the file over the CS3 icon in the doc, it will attempt to open the file in CS3 and if it truly is a CS4 document, you will get plugin errors and the file won't open. This works, but my 38 mac operators are so used to just double-clicking a file to open it, they sometimes forget to do it my way, and thats when we get errors.
Is there a plugin available that would prompt you, when double -clicking on a file as to what version it is, or what version InDesign that you would like to open the file in?
What did Adobe change in InDesign CS4 that would cause items to disappear or change when working on CS3 documents in CS4?
Thank you in advance.

First, this is a user forum, not an official Adobe support site, so you aren't talking to Adobe employees for the most part.
Second, though it is subtle, there is a visible difference between the icons for file created in CS3 and CS4, but you do need to look.
There is (or perhaps it's now "was") a known issue with master items disappearing when placing one ID file into another in CS4. Be sure your copies are updated to the latest patch. Another reason to avoid opening CS3 files in CS4 is potential differences in text flow due to text engine differences which will affect how lines break.
If you want to train your people in a hurry, tell them the next time you have to re-run a job because they opened it in the wrong version you'll deduct the cost from their pay.
Peter

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