Extract text from WaterCAD and Madoko files (MDK)
To convert MDK files to another format, you need WaterCAD or other Database software.
To convert other file formats to the "Model Backup File" file type, you need software like WaterCAD or a similar tool.
The .mdk extension primarily represents a Model Database Backup generated by legacy versions of WaterCAD (specifically v6.0–7.0). These files are essentially renamed copies of Microsoft Access databases (JetDB engine) created to preserve hydraulic model data.
A common downside for engineers is receiving an .mdk file without its corresponding mdb file, often because email security filters strip the executable-like database file but let the backup pass. As a result, users are left with a "locked" file they cannot open directly in modern software like OpenFlows WaterGEMS. To access this data, the file usually needs to be renamed to MDB and opened in Microsoft Access, where tables can be exported to CSV or XLSX for analysis.
Secondarily, .mdk refers to a Madoko source file. This is an enhanced Markdown format used by the Madoko processor to create complex academic documents, slides, and manuals. While these files are plain text and can be edited in any code editor like VS Code, they contain specialized syntax for citations, math, and layout that standard Markdown viewers will not render correctly. To view the final document as intended, users must compile the source to PDF or HTML.
Convert.Guru analyzes your MDK file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted MKV and SCD files.
If you want to convert MDK file to EXE, ISO, BIN, CUE, PAK, WAD, PK3, PK4, BSP, MAP, SAV or DAT, you can use WaterCAD or similar software from the "Hydraulic Model Database Backup" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MOD, BIN, CFG, SCX, DAT, MPQ, LOG, CUE, INI, EXE, SCM or ISO files to MDK, try WaterCAD or another comparable tool in the "Hydraulic Model Database Backup" 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 MDK converter.