Extract text from Panel and CAD files (PNL)
To convert PNL Panel files to another format, you need KMC PanelBuilder or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Building Automation Panel File" file type, you need software like KMC PanelBuilder or a similar tool.
The .PNL file format is highly fragmented, serving several distinct industrial and design software platforms. Its most common use is as a Building Automation Panel file created by KMC Controls PanelBuilder software to store interface configurations. It is also actively used by Siemens SIMATIC WinCC for SCADA HMI panel layouts, and by SigmaTEK SigmaNEST or SketchUp for CAD/CAM nesting jobs containing UTF-16 (LE) text data. Less commonly, it acts as an obscure or renamed variant of the PNG image format.
Because .PNL is shared across entirely unrelated proprietary systems, opening it is notoriously difficult. Without the original expensive software (like a WinCC or SigmaNEST license), you cannot view the contents natively. The files are often tightly locked into their specific hardware ecosystem and cannot be shared with clients or vendors easily.
For SCADA and automation panel layouts, converting to PDF or DXF is essential for documentation and archiving. For CAD/CAM nesting data, extracting the contents to TXT, CSV, or DWG allows broader compatibility with other manufacturing tools. If you have a misnamed image file, converting it to standard JPG or WEBP ensures browser support.
Convert.Guru analyzes your PNL file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PLN, NEW REALIZED PNL, LEDGER, XLSX, WEBP, PDF, TXT, PNG, JPG and IPC files.
If you want to convert PNL file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use KMC PanelBuilder or similar software from the "Control Panel Configuration 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 PNL, try KMC PanelBuilder or another comparable tool in the "Control Panel Configuration 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 PNL converter.