Extract text from Project and model files (HSM)
To convert HSM project files to another format, you need pCOWeb or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Proprietary Data Container" file type, you need software like pCOWeb or a similar tool.
The .HSM file extension serves multiple distinct functions across entirely different industries. Most commonly, it acts as an HMI Screen Model file utilized by Carel Industries pCOWeb systems for configuring industrial HVAC controllers. Alternatively, it functions as a HelpSmith Project File created by IvaSoft HelpSmith to build technical documentation. It also appears in video games as a Hypnospace Outlaw music track, a sound script for The Sims, or a saved map file in Heroes of Might and Magic.
These heavily fragmented files suffer from major compatibility issues. An .HSM file is fundamentally a proprietary container. If it is a HelpSmith project, it contains uncompiled raw text, images, and layout instructions that require specific software to render properly. If it is an HVAC configuration, the file relies on rigid industrial hardware to execute. Most .HSM files are completely locked down, cannot be natively viewed in web browsers, and are useless to the average user outside their native software ecosystems.
Converting these files directly is rarely straightforward. For HelpSmith projects, the best target formats are CHM, PDF, or HTML, but you must use the original software's export compiler to maintain formatting. Interestingly, the HVAC .HSM files are often structured internally as standard ZIP archives, while Hypnospace Outlaw music files utilize standard JSON formatting. For these variants, converting them by renaming the extension to extract internal assets is a reliable workaround.
Standard online converters fail miserably with .HSM files because they lack the specific industrial logic or proprietary compiling engines required to process the data. Often, only the original software can properly read or export the internal assets. Just drag and drop your file to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible on convert.guru. convert.guru can still identify the file format, inspect the file, and show text or internal content. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format like ZIP or JSON, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your HSM file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PDF, PB1, AFPK and PAG files.
If you want to convert HSM file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use pCOWeb or similar software from the "HMI Screen Model Data" 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 HSM, try pCOWeb or another comparable tool in the "HMI Screen Model Data" 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 HSM converter.