Getting Started
Construction File Converter lets you open, view, edit and convert over 60 construction file formats — BOQs, BIM models, programmes, area schedules and more — entirely in your browser. No installation or upload required.
Workflow in 3 steps
- Open — drag a file onto the app or click the Open button in the top‑left.
- View & edit — browse, filter and edit data in the workspace that opens automatically for your format.
- Export — click the Export button and choose an output format.
All processing happens locally in your browser — your files are never uploaded to any server.
Recent files
The last 4 opened files are shown on the home screen. Click any card to re‑open the file browser pre‑filtered for that format.
Opening Files
Methods
- Drag & drop — drag a file from Explorer directly onto the app window.
- Open button — click Open in the top bar; a file picker opens accepting all supported extensions.
- Format cards — click a format card on the home screen to open a file picker pre‑filtered for that format.
- Recent files — click a recent file card on the home screen.
Supported extensions
Over 60 extensions are recognised, including .ebq .nrm2 .wqs .bwf .ifc .xer .cobie .prg .bcxml .gia .csv .xlsx and many more.
Unsupported files
If a format is listed as coming soon on the home screen it cannot be parsed yet — the card will show a disabled state.
BOQ Workspace
Opened whenever a bill‑of‑quantities format is loaded (CITE EBQ, NRM2, WinQS, Candy, Masterbill, SMEASURE, CATO, QS Pro, CostX and others).
Sidebar
- Bills / Groups — click to filter the grid to a single bill or work section.
- Pages — further filter to a page within the selected bill.
- Use the filter inputs above each list to search by name.
Toolbar
- Columns — show/hide individual columns.
- Rate Check — toggle benchmark rate indicators against industry norms.
- Elemental (NRM2 only) — open the Elemental Cost Plan summary.
- Search bar — instant full‑text search across all visible rows.
Views
- Items — full grid of every bill item with sortable columns.
- Summary — bill‑level totals, cost distribution bar chart and key stats.
Sorting
Click any column header to sort ascending; click again to sort descending. Click a third time to clear the sort.
Editing & Saving
Most data grids support inline editing. Click any cell to edit its value.
Making edits
- Single‑click a cell to enter edit mode; press Enter or click away to confirm.
- Press Esc to cancel an edit without saving.
- Edited cells are highlighted and a counter in the edit bar shows the number of unsaved changes.
Undo All
Click Undo All in the edit bar to revert every change in the current session back to the original parsed values.
Save to file
Click Save to file (green button) in the BOQ edit bar to download a copy of the BOQ with your edits applied, serialised back into the original format. Supported for CITE EBQ, NRM2, WinQS, Candy, Masterbill, SMEASURE, CATO and QS Pro.
Save to file clears all dirty flags — the edit bar will reset to 0 changes after the download.
Exporting
Click the Export button in the top bar to open the export menu. Available options depend on the loaded format.
Common export formats
- CSV — comma‑separated values, compatible with Excel and any spreadsheet app.
- XLSX — formatted Excel workbook with styled headers, subtotals and a summary sheet where applicable. Part of File Converter Pro, an optional one-off upgrade; everything else in the app is free.
- HTML — self‑contained styled report, ready to print or share.
- Structured BOQ CSV — normalised flat CSV with Bill, Page, Item, Description, Unit, Qty, Rate and Total columns, independent of the source format.
Format‑specific exports
- NRM2 — includes Elemental Cost Plan CSV.
- XER — includes programme exports and Health Check.
- IFC — entity list as CSV/XLSX, plus Qty Schedule view.
- COBie — each sheet exported as a separate XLSX tab.
NRM2 Elemental Cost Plan
Automatically maps NRM2 work sections to NRM1 elements, producing an elemental cost breakdown with percentages.
How to open
- Load an NRM2 file, then click Elemental in the BOQ toolbar, or
- Click Export → Elemental Cost Plan…
NRM1 element mapping
- Work section names are matched against standard keywords (e.g. PRELIM → Preliminaries, FRAME → Superstructure, ROOF → Superstructure, etc.).
- Unmatched sections are grouped under Contingencies / Other.
Exporting
Click Export CSV inside the modal to download the elemental breakdown as a CSV file.
QA / Validation
The QA tool runs automated checks on the loaded file and reports errors and warnings.
Running QA
- Click the QA button in the top bar (visible when a supported format is loaded), or
- Press CtrlShiftQ.
What is checked
- BOQ formats — missing rates, zero quantities, duplicate item references, unpriced items.
- COBie — required fields per sheet, cross‑reference integrity (see COBie tab).
- IFC — entity count anomalies, missing property sets.
- PRG / XER — missing dates, zero‑duration tasks, logic gaps.
Badge
The red/amber badge on the QA button shows the total issue count. It updates automatically when you make edits.
IFC & BIM
IFC files (ISO 16739) are parsed into four views accessible via the tab bar.
Entities tab
Lists every IFC entity with its type, name and description. Use the sidebar tree to filter by entity type, or the filter bar to search by name.
Properties tab
Shows all IfcPropertySingleValue entries — property name and value pairs extracted from property sets.
Quantities tab
Lists all IfcQuantity* entities (Length, Area, Volume, Weight, Count) with their names, descriptions and extracted numeric values.
Qty Schedule tab
Aggregated quantity schedule — groups quantities by type and name, summing total values with appropriate units (m, m², m³, kg, nr). Useful for a quick model take‑off summary.
Numeric values are only available if the IFC file was exported with BaseQuantities enabled (IfcElementQuantity).
XER / Programme
Primavera P6 XER files are parsed into a full programme workspace with five tabs.
Activities tab
Full activity list with WBS, dates, duration, % complete and predecessor links (where available in the TASKPRED table).
Resources tab
Resource assignments from the TASKRSRC table with budget and remaining units and cost.
Gantt tab
Visual Gantt chart with activities grouped by WBS. Bars are colour‑coded by completion status.
S‑Curve tab
Cumulative progress S‑curve drawn from activity dates and completion percentages.
Health Check tab
Automated schedule quality review. Reports:
- Critical activities — total float ≤ 0 days.
- Near‑critical activities — total float > 0 and ≤ 5 days.
- No predecessors — activities (excluding milestones) with no incoming logic.
- No successors — open‑end activities with no outgoing logic.
- Out‑of‑sequence — activities that have started while a predecessor is still incomplete.
Float data is read directly from the XER TASK table (total_float_hr_cnt / free_float_hr_cnt). Predecessor data comes from the TASKPRED table — if that table is absent the logic checks will show a warning.
COBie
COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) files are multi‑sheet spreadsheets defining facility, floor, space, type, component and other asset data.
COBie workspace
- The sidebar lists all sheets found in the file. Click a sheet to view its rows.
- Use the filter bar to search within the active sheet.
COBie Validation
Click Validate in the filter bar to run completeness checks across all sheets.
- Checks all required fields per sheet (Name, CreatedBy, Category, etc.).
- Cross‑references: Space.FloorName must exist in Floor.Name; Component.TypeName must exist in Type.Name; Component.Space must exist in Space.Name.
- Results are grouped by sheet with error (red) and warning (amber) counts.
Fields containing only "n/a" are treated as missing for validation purposes.
CSV & PRG Files
CSV workspace
Generic CSV and TSV files open in a clean spreadsheet view. All columns are auto‑detected. The toolbar provides filtering and sorting.
- Export back to CSV or as a formatted XLSX.
- Inline editing is supported — click any cell to edit.
PRG workspace (Programme)
CSV‑based programme files (e.g. from Asta Powerproject or MS Project exports) show a task list with Gantt and S‑Curve views.
- Gantt tab — horizontal bar chart scaled to project dates.
- S‑Curve tab — cumulative progress chart.
- Predecessor data is shown in the Activities grid if present.
Excel / XLSX Workspace
Native .xlsx files open in a dedicated multi-sheet grid editor — no conversion required. Opening, viewing, editing and exporting to CSV are free; saving back to .xlsx is part of File Converter Pro.
Sheet tabs
Each worksheet in the workbook appears as a tab at the bottom of the screen. Click a tab to switch sheets. The formula bar and grid update instantly.
Formula bar
Shows the cell reference (e.g. B3) and current value of the selected cell. Single-click a cell to populate the bar; the value can be edited via the grid.
Editing cells
- Double-click a cell to enter edit mode.
- Press Enter or click away to confirm; Esc to cancel.
- Edited rows are highlighted and an unsaved-changes counter appears in the edit bar.
- Click Undo All to revert all edits in the current sheet.
Sorting & filtering
- Click any column header to sort ascending; click again for descending; click a third time to clear.
- Use the filter bar above the grid to search across all columns in the active sheet.
Exporting
- Excel (.xlsx) — all sheets — full round-trip export preserving all sheets and any edits.
- CSV — active sheet — exports only the currently visible sheet.
- HTML Report — all sheets rendered as styled tables in a single HTML file.
Shared strings, sparse cell grids and deflate-compressed ZIP entries are all handled automatically — most real-world XLSX files are supported.
Keyboard Shortcuts
- CtrlF — focus the filter/search bar
- Esc — clear filter, close modal, or cancel edit
- CtrlShiftE — export HTML report
- CtrlShiftC — copy visible rows to clipboard
- CtrlShiftQ — run QA / validation
- CtrlShiftH — go to home screen
- ? — open keyboard shortcuts reference
Most shortcuts work from any workspace. The filter shortcut focuses the filter input specific to the active workspace.
