Extract text from Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets (FM3)
To convert FM3 spreadsheets to another format, you need Lotus 1-2-3 or other Spreadsheet software.
To convert other file formats to the "Legacy Formatting File" file type, you need software like Lotus 1-2-3 or a similar tool.
The .fm3 file extension primarily represents a Lotus 1-2-3 Spreadsheet Formatting file. It stores fonts, colors, and layout configurations for spreadsheets created in Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3. A secondary, uncommon use is the FCEUX TAS Editor Movie Capture format, used by Nintendo emulators to record tool-assisted speedrun inputs.
The main disadvantage of the .fm3 format is extreme obsolescence. IBM officially abandoned Lotus 1-2-3 in 2013. The format is strictly proprietary, meaning modern tools like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets cannot open or process these files natively. Users often want to convert these files to modern targets like XLSX or CSV to archive old corporate records. However, standard online converters always fail. This is because the .fm3 file usually only holds the visual formatting; the actual numerical spreadsheet data is stored in a separate, paired WK3 file.
Because this is a closed, legacy format, it is exceptionally difficult to open or convert today. Often, only the original legacy software running in an emulator can properly read or export the combined data.
Convert.Guru analyzes your FM3 file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted WK3, WK4, MP4, WK1 and FM2 files.
If you want to convert FM3 file to DB, SQLITE, SQLITE3, MDB, ACCDB, DBF, ODB, FDB, GDB, MYD, FRM or SQL, you can use Lotus 1-2-3 or similar software from the "Spreadsheet Visual Formatting" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert NDF, SQLITE3, BAK, RDB, SQL, DB4, MDF, MDB, LDF, DB, DB3 or SQLITE files to FM3, try Lotus 1-2-3 or another comparable tool in the "Spreadsheet Visual Formatting" 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 FM3 converter.