Extract text from Mathematics worksheets (GCW)
To convert GCW worksheets to another format, you need Microsoft Mathematics or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Mathematical Worksheet" file type, you need software like Microsoft Mathematics or a similar tool.
A .GCW file is a worksheet created by Microsoft Mathematics. It stores mathematical equations, calculus problems, 2D and 3D graphs, and step-by-step algorithmic solutions. The format is designed specifically for educational use to help students solve complex math and science problems.
The major disadvantage of the .GCW format is that it is obsolete and highly proprietary. Microsoft discontinued the software in the early 2010s. Opening a .GCW file today usually requires installing legacy Windows software. It is not supported by web browsers, mobile devices, or modern web-based graphing calculators like Desmos or GeoGebra. This makes sharing and collaborating on these worksheets practically impossible on modern devices.
Users typically need to convert .GCW files to PDF for static sharing, or extract the graphs as PNG or JPG images to embed them in standard documents. However, this file format is notoriously difficult to open or convert externally. Because it relies on a closed mathematical rendering engine, standard online converters fail to process it. Often, only the original software can properly read or export the visual data. If our analysis detects a supported underlying XML or text string, extracting your formulas or basic conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your GCW file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert GCW file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Microsoft Mathematics or similar software from the "Mathematical Worksheet Storage" 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 GCW, try Microsoft Mathematics or another comparable tool in the "Mathematical Worksheet Storage" 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 GCW converter.