Extract text from CBK files
To convert your CBK file to another format, you need Dymo CardScan or other Backup software.
To convert other file formats to the "Legacy Contact Database" file type, you need software like Dymo CardScan or a similar tool.
The .cbk file extension is a "chameleon" format used by several unrelated software products, most notably as a contact database for the legacy Dymo CardScan system, a codebook for IPUMS data sets, or a generic backup file for applications like Buildsoft and Absolute Database.
For Dymo CardScan users, a .cbk file contains valuable digitized business cards and contact information. The main challenge is that the original CardScan software is often obsolete or incompatible with modern operating systems (Windows 10/11), leaving your contact data locked inside a proprietary format. To migrate this data to a modern smartphone or CRM (like Salesforce or Outlook), you typically need to convert the .cbk file to a standard VCF (vCard) or CSV format.
In academic research, specifically within the IPUMS ecosystem, a .cbk file serves as a "Codebook." These are essentially text-based metadata files that describe variables and codes used in a statistical dataset. Users frequently need to convert these to PDF or TXT to make the documentation readable without specialized tools.
Finally, for software like Buildsoft or ComponentAce Absolute Database, the file is strictly a system backup. In the case of Buildsoft, these files are sometimes just renamed ZIP archives. Practical friction arises because the software that created the backup must often be reinstalled just to restore a single file. Users often try converting these to ZIP to inspect the contents manually.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CBK file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted ACR, A3D and CBU files.
If you want to convert CBK file to BAK, BACKUP, OLD, TMP, TEMP, ARC, ZIP, TAR, GZ, 7Z, RAR or ISO, you can use Dymo CardScan or similar software from the "Contact Database or Backup" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SNAPSHOT, OLD, IMG, RESTORE, ISO, COPY, VMDK, TMP, VHD, BAK, ARCHIVE or BACKUP files to CBK, try Dymo CardScan or another comparable tool in the "Contact Database or Backup" category.
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 CBK converter.