HPJ Converter

Extract text from Help project files (HPJ)


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

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

Convert HPJ to another file type

To convert HPJ Project files to another format, you need Palette CAD or other Developer software.

Convert a file to HPJ

To convert other file formats to the "Help Authoring & Configuration" file type, you need software like Palette CAD or a similar tool.


About HPJ files

The .HPJ file format primarily serves two distinct purposes: an encrypted configuration file for Palette CAD or a legacy Windows Help Project File used by Microsoft Help Workshop. Palette CAD utilizes these files to store proprietary, encrypted settings for their 3D interior design software, making the internal data locked and inaccessible to third-party tools. Alternatively, the legacy Microsoft format is a plain text file structured similarly to an INI file. It does not hold actual text content; instead, it provides compilation instructions for the Help Compiler (HCW.EXE) to merge external RTF files and CNT index files into a compiled HLP document. Users frequently need to convert or migrate .HPJ projects because Microsoft officially deprecated the WinHelp format in 2006. Modern Windows operating systems and web browsers can no longer open HLP files without extreme workarounds, leaving valuable legacy documentation trapped in an obsolete build pipeline. On the CAD side, the heavily encrypted nature of Palette CAD configurations enforces strict vendor lock-in. For Microsoft Help Projects, the best conversion target is TXT or XML to extract the structural build logic, while the actual documentation must be salvaged by converting the linked RTF files to PDF or HTML. Translating the entire project to a modern format like HTML Help (CHM) typically requires specialized Help Authoring Tools. Standard online converters constantly fail to process .HPJ files. Palette CAD files are strictly encrypted, while Microsoft Help Projects require resolving localized external file dependencies that web-based converters simply cannot access. Because this is a closed, proprietary format or a complex local project file, often only the original software can properly read or export the data. However, just drag and drop your file onto convert.guru to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. We will inspect the file's hex signature to 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 HPJ file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.


FAQ

If you want to convert HPJ file to SYS, DLL, EXE, DRV, VXD, 386, COM, BAT, CMD, SCR, PIF or LNK, you can use Palette CAD or similar software from the "CAD Configuration & Help Project" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert MSI, EXE, REG, MST, LNK, CAB, CAT, DRV, INF, SYS, MSU or DLL files to HPJ, try Palette CAD or another comparable tool in the "CAD Configuration & Help Project" category.



The HPJ 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 HPJ converter.