How to extract text from your IFM file
- Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your IFM file.
- You’ll see a preview, if available.
- Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert IFM to another file type
To convert your IFM file to another format, you need Shana Informed Filler or other Data software.
- IFM to JPG
- IFM to PDF
- IFM to PNG
- IFM to GIF
- IFM to BMP
- IFM to TIFF
- IFM to TIF
- IFM to WEBP
- IFM to ICO
- IFM to CUR
- IFM to PSD
- IFM to PSB
Convert a file to IFM
To convert other file formats to the "Legacy Form Data" file type, you need software like Shana Informed Filler or a similar tool.
- RAW to IFM
- PNG to IFM
- AI to IFM
- NEF to IFM
- PSB to IFM
- DNG to IFM
- SVG to IFM
- GIF to IFM
- EPS to IFM
- JPG to IFM
- ARW to IFM
- PDF to IFM
About IFM files
An .IFM file is primarily an Informed Form Data Document, created by the now-discontinued Shana Informed Filler software. These files were widely used in the 1990s and early 2000s for processing structured electronic forms in government, business, and academic environments (particularly in Australia and North America). Technically, the file stores the user-entered data separated from the form template, meaning without the original software or the base template, the file often appears as unstructured gibberish.
The main challenge users face is proprietary lock-in: Shana Corporation was acquired by Accelio, which was subsequently bought by Adobe. Modern Adobe Acrobat versions do not natively support opening these legacy .ifm files, leaving users with critical data trapped in an obsolete format. Opening them in a text editor typically reveals binary garbage or unformatted text streams.
For archiving and legal compliance, the best workflow is converting .IFM to PDF/A, which renders the form visually. For data extraction, converting to CSV or XML is ideal to migrate the records into modern databases like Microsoft Excel or SQL systems.
Convert.Guru analyzes your IFM file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted O2X5XXIMG, LFM, IMF, PDF, JPG, ZIP, DATA, PRC and DBD files.
The IFM 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 IFM converter.