Extract text from Q files
To convert your Q file to another format, you need Quick Macros or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Automation Script" file type, you need software like Quick Macros or a similar tool.
The .Q file extension is a notorious chameleon in the file world, most frequently serving as a Quick Macros Script, but also appearing as a verification query for UPPAAL, or survey data from Q Research Software.
If your file is from Quick Macros, it contains automation commands and hooks used to automate Windows interface tasks. The primary problem here is the proprietary environment; you cannot run or easily view these scripts on macOS, Linux, or mobile devices without the specific host software. Users often need to convert these to plain TXT to audit the code or PDF for documentation purposes.
In academic and systems engineering circles, a .Q file is likely a query file for the UPPAAL model checker. These are plain text files defining logical properties (like deadlock checks) but are useless outside the UPPAAL GUI. Converting them to TXT makes them portable for research papers or peer review.
Less commonly, .Q files act as project files for Q Research Software (now part of Displayr) or Bill of Quantities data for Buildsoft Cubit. These are often complex structured data files (sometimes XML or ZIP based). Users holding these files typically want to extract the underlying data tables into usable formats like CSV, XLSX (Excel), or .SPSS for statistical analysis, bypassing the need for expensive niche software licenses.
Convert.Guru analyzes your Q file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted RAR, JS, AU3, CMD and L files.
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 Q converter.