FORM Converter

Extract text from Layout files (FORM)


Drop or upload your .FORM file
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How to extract text from your FORM file

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

Convert FORM to another file type

To convert FORM Layouts to another format, you need NetBeans or PreForm or other Developer software.

Convert a file to FORM

To convert other file formats to the "Java GUI or 3D" file type, you need software like NetBeans or PreForm or a similar tool.


About FORM files

The .form file extension serves multiple distinct purposes across different industries, but it is primarily used as a Java Swing GUI form or a Formlabs PreForm 3D printer scene file. When used in Java development, IDEs like NetBeans or IntelliJ IDEA save graphical user interface layouts as .form files. These are structured as XML and store the hierarchy and properties of UI components. Alternatively, Formlabs PreForm uses the .form extension to save 3D print job layouts, encapsulating model geometry, orientation, supports, and printer settings.

Users often need to convert .form files because they are strictly tied to their native software, creating a severe vendor lock-in. A Java .form file is practically useless outside of its specific IDE; a developer using Eclipse cannot natively render a NetBeans .form layout. Similarly, Formlabs .form files are proprietary containers designed exclusively for Formlabs hardware. They lock your 3D models inside a closed ecosystem, meaning they cannot be opened directly in standard CAD software or viewed in web browsers.

For Java forms, the most practical conversion target is standard XML or plain text to facilitate code review, though you will lose the IDE-specific visual rendering. For Formlabs files, users typically want to extract the underlying 3D meshes to standard formats like STL or OBJ.

Because .form files act either as highly specialized IDE metadata or closed, proprietary 3D containers, standard online converters consistently fail to process them. Often, only the original software can properly parse the code or export the 3D data. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format (like XML or JSON), viewing or conversion may still be possible.

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

Users also converted FORM-DATA, BIN, NBM, NBATTRS, FTL, PDF and JSON files.


FAQ

If you want to convert FORM file to PDF, JSON, INDD, QXP, PUB, PMD, PM6, PM7, PM8, PM9, PM10 or PM11, you can use NetBeans or PreForm or similar software from the "GUI Layout or 3D Printing" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert MDI, PUB, PDP, PM4, P65, COMIC, WEBTEMPLATE, PMD, SPUB, INDD, PM5 or QXP files to FORM, try NetBeans or PreForm or another comparable tool in the "GUI Layout or 3D Printing" category.



The FORM 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 FORM converter.