Extract text from chemical sketches (CSK)
To convert CSK sketches to another format, you need ACD/ChemSketch or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Chemical Sketch File" file type, you need software like ACD/ChemSketch or a similar tool.
A .CSK file is a Chemical Sketch File used to store 2D and 3D molecular structures, chemical reactions, and scientific diagrams. These files define atom connectivity, molecular weights, and structural coordinates.
The format is natively created by ACD/ChemSketch, a molecular modeling suite from ACD/Labs.
Users frequently need to convert .CSK files because it is a legacy, proprietary format superseded by the newer SK2 extension. The primary disadvantage of the .CSK format is poor interoperability. Standard web browsers, image viewers, and office software cannot open it. Viewing the contents requires installing the specific ACD/ChemSketch software, which requires user registration and can be too complex for users who only need to view a simple structural diagram.
For publishing or sharing, the best conversion targets are PDF or PNG. These formats freeze the visual representation but strip away the underlying chemical data. To migrate the data to other cheminformatics platforms like ChemDraw, converting the file to an industry-standard MDL Molfile (MOL) is necessary. Exporting to MOL discards visual annotations, text boxes, and page layout formatting, but keeps the raw molecular graph.
This file format is difficult to open or convert because it is a closed, proprietary data container. Often, only the original software can properly read the coordinate matrices and export the structural data. Standard online converters fail to process it. Just drag and drop your file to convert.guru to identify the format, inspect the file, and show text or internal content. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CSK file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PDF, PDE, INO and IDE files.
If you want to convert CSK file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use ACD/ChemSketch or similar software from the "Chemical Structure Drawing" 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 CSK, try ACD/ChemSketch or another comparable tool in the "Chemical Structure Drawing" 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 CSK converter.