Extract text from ERD files
To convert your ERD file to another format, you need DBeaver or other Database software.
To convert other file formats to the "Entity-Relationship Diagram" file type, you need software like DBeaver or a similar tool.
.ERD files are graphical schema visualizations primarily generated by DBeaver, a popular universal database tool. These files act as blueprints for database structures, mapping out tables, columns, foreign keys, and their relationships. While DBeaver is the dominant creator (often using an XML-based structure), other specialized tools like ER Assistant, XrmToolbox, and Quest Toad also utilize this extension for similar modeling purposes.
The main problem with .ERD files is their software dependency. They are not standard image files; they contain metadata and layout coordinates that only the specific authoring software can interpret. Sending an .ERD file to a project manager or client usually results in frustration, as they cannot open it without installing technical database tools and configuring connections. Additionally, proprietary formatting often breaks backward compatibility between software versions.
To effectively share or archive these diagrams, conversion is necessary. For embedding in websites or scaling without quality loss, convert to SVG. For inclusion in Microsoft PowerPoint presentations or emails, PNG or JPG are the best targets. For technical documentation and printing, converting to PDF ensures the layout remains fixed. Users needing to turn the visual model into an actual database should look to convert the logical schema into SQL DDL scripts.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ERD file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted ERDPLUS, PGERD, GRAPHML, DRAWIO, PNG, MERMAID, SQL, PDF, MWB, ERX, ER, DOCX and JPG files.
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 ERD converter.