Extract text from ODK Build forms (ODKBUILD)
To convert ODKBUILD forms to another format, you need ODK Build or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "ODK Form Project" file type, you need software like ODK Build or a similar tool.
The .odkbuild file is a proprietary form design project created by Open Data Kit (ODK). It is primarily used to save the ongoing progress of surveys built using ODK Build, a drag-and-drop visual form designer for offline data collection.
To open or edit an .odkbuild file, you must use the ODK Build web application or its offline desktop equivalent. You can read more about the ecosystem on the Open Data Kit Wikipedia page.
Users frequently need to convert this file because an .odkbuild file cannot be deployed directly to mobile devices or data collection servers. It is essentially a raw workspace file. The strict disadvantage of the .odkbuild format is that it is completely isolated to the ODK Build interface; you cannot view the questions or logic in a standard text editor, browser, or spreadsheet application without seeing raw, unformatted code.
The most practical target formats are XML (XForms) and XLSX (XLSForm). Converting to XML allows you to deploy the survey directly to ODK Collect, while converting to XLSX lets you edit the survey logic manually in Excel. Note that once exported to these formats, importing them back into ODK Build may result in a loss of specific visual layout settings.
This file format is difficult to open or convert with generic tools because it is a closed, proprietary project state rather than a standardized document. Often only the original software can properly read or export the data. Standard online converters fail to process it. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ODKBUILD file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert ODKBUILD file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use ODK Build or similar software from the "Data Collection Form Design" 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 ODKBUILD, try ODK Build or another comparable tool in the "Data Collection Form Design" 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 ODKBUILD converter.