AB2 Converter

Extract text from legacy address books (AB2)


Drop or upload your .AB2 file
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How to extract text from your AB2 file

  1. Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your AB2 file.
  2. You’ll see a preview, if available.
  3. Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert AB2 to another file type

To convert AB2 address books to another format, you need Ability Office or other Database software.

Convert a file to AB2

To convert other file formats to the "Proprietary Address Book" file type, you need software like Ability Office or a similar tool.


About AB2 files

.AB2 is a proprietary database format used primarily to store address book entries. It holds structured contact details like names, physical addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers. These files are primarily created and managed by Ability Office (specifically the Ability Database module) or legacy desktop publishing software like The Print Shop by Broderbund. The main disadvantage of the .AB2 format is severe vendor lock-in. It is a closed, undocumented format that modern email clients, web browsers, and CRM systems cannot read. You cannot natively import an .AB2 file into Gmail, Outlook, or mobile contact applications without relying on the original legacy software to act as an intermediary. To make this data usable, users must convert these files to standard CSV (Comma Separated Values) or VCF (vCard) formats for cross-platform compatibility. While some internal grouping rules might be lost during conversion, the core text data remains intact. Because .AB2 relies on undocumented internal database structures, standard online converters fail to process it. Often only the original software can properly read or export the data. However, just drag and drop your file to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible using convert.guru. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded text structure, viewing or extracting the raw contact data may still be possible.

Convert.Guru analyzes your AB2 file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted ABA, ABBU and AB1 files.


FAQ

If you want to convert AB2 file to , you can use Ability Office or similar software from the "Contact Data Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert files to AB2, try Ability Office or another comparable tool in the "Contact Data Storage" category.



The AB2 Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our AB2 converter.