Extract text from script and interchange files (INX)
To convert INX files to another format, you need InstallShield / InDesign or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Installation Script / Interchange" file type, you need software like InstallShield / InDesign or a similar tool.
The .INX file extension represents several completely distinct formats, most notably compiled installation scripts for Flexera InstallShield and Inno Setup. Developers use these proprietary binary files to package software installers. Another highly common use is the Adobe InDesign Interchange format. Older versions of InDesign exported to .INX to allow backward compatibility before transitioning to the modern IDML format. Additionally, Inkscape relies on .INX files as XML descriptors for its plugins, while software like Spectrum Micro-Cap, IncrediMail, and SQLite use it for local database index files.
The primary disadvantage of .INX files is their severe fragmentation. Compiled installer scripts are locked binaries that cannot be easily edited without the original uncompiled source project. InDesign Interchange files are obsolete, text-heavy XML structures that often suffer from formatting loss, missing fonts, or layout corruption when forced into modern design software. They require a paid Adobe subscription to natively render.
If you have an InDesign .INX file, your best conversion targets are IDML or INDD for current workflows, or PDF for client distribution. Inkscape extensions can be safely read as standard XML. Compiled installer scripts generally cannot be converted to standard document formats because they contain executable engine logic rather than media.
Because .INX files serve multiple purposes across completely different platforms, they are notoriously difficult to open. Often, only the original software can properly read or export the data, causing generic online converters to crash. We can inspect the file, show raw text or internal content, and if our analysis detects a supported underlying XML format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your INX file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PDF, EXE, ZIP, KMZ, INP, PMD, IDML and INDD files.
If you want to convert INX file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use InstallShield / InDesign or similar software from the "Setup Script / Interchange Document" 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 INX, try InstallShield / InDesign or another comparable tool in the "Setup Script / Interchange Document" 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 INX converter.