BKR Converter

Extract text from Boardmaker activity files (BKR)

Select File
Drop or upload your .BKR file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your BKR file

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

Convert BKR to another file type

To convert BKR activity files to another format, you need Boardmaker or other Page Layout software.

Convert a file to BKR

To convert other file formats to the "Special Education Activity" file type, you need software like Boardmaker or a similar tool.

About BKR files

The .bkr extension primarily identifies an Activity Board created with older versions of Mayer-Johnson Boardmaker (now part of Tobii Dynavox). These files are a staple in special education for creating communication boards, schedules, and symbol-based activities using Picture Communication Symbols (PCS).

The key problem for users is proprietary lock-in: .bkr files are legacy formats (pre-Boardmaker 7) and often cannot be opened by modern media viewers or web browsers. Educators and parents frequently find themselves with valuable archived lesson plans that are inaccessible without a paid, active Boardmaker subscription or legacy software installation. Additionally, because the format relies on specific symbol libraries, opening the file on a machine without those libraries installed can result in missing graphics.

Conversion Strategies:

For Print/Sharing: The most practical workaround is converting the board to PDF. This "freezes" the symbols and layout, ensuring the activity looks correct on any device without requiring the original software. This creates a static version suitable for printing but removes interactivity.
For Editing: To modify the content, the file must be imported into Boardmaker 7 and saved as a newer bm2 or .bpwf file.
Alternate Use (Disc Image): In technical circles, .bkr may occasionally function as a disc image or backup file associated with GoldenHawk CDRWin. In this case, users typically need to convert it to a standard ISO or BIN/CUE format to mount it on modern operating systems like Windows 11.

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

FAQ

If you want to convert BKR file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Boardmaker or similar software from the "Education Activity Board" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to BKR, try Boardmaker or another comparable tool in the "Education Activity Board" category.

The BKR 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 BKR converter.