Extract text from search history files (WOS)
To convert WOS history files to another format, you need Web of Science or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Search Query File" file type, you need software like Web of Science or a similar tool.
A .wos file is an XML-formatted document that stores search history data exported from the Clarivate Web of Science academic citation indexing database. Researchers use it to save complex search queries, database limits, and result configurations for future use.
You can open these files natively by importing them into the Web of Science platform. Because the internal structure relies on standard markup, you can also inspect the contents using advanced text editors like Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code.
The main disadvantage of the .wos format is its highly specific, proprietary ecosystem. It is tightly coupled to the Web of Science interface. Researchers who need to document their search methodology in a standard text file, or share strategies with colleagues who lack Web of Science access, face significant roadblocks. Furthermore, the raw XML tags make the file messy for human readers.
Converting .wos to standard TXT or CSV extracts the core search strings and parameters, making the data readable without database access. Converting it to a clean XML file ensures compatibility with generic data parsing tools.
Because this is a specialized database export format, most standard online converters fail to process it. Only the original software can natively execute the saved queries.
Convert.Guru analyzes your WOS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted XNB, VTX, PTS and MLF files.
If you want to convert WOS file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Web of Science or similar software from the "Search History Storage" 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 WOS, try Web of Science or another comparable tool in the "Search History Storage" 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 WOS converter.