General upgrading questions – Autodesk: AutoCAD

I have been using AutoCAD 2004 for the past 20 years. I need to upgrade, my companion software (KCL symbol library) is having compatibility issues with some of the symbols, and it’s just going to get worse. My question is, does the newer versions of AutoCAD operate similar enough that I won’t have to re-learn everything? Can I load all my preferences and settings to the newer version? Can I use my current symbol libraries, or can they be uploaded to the new version?