Cardbox-Plus database upgrade

If you are upgrading from Cardbox-Plus for DOS (versions 3.0 to 4.1) to Cardbox for Windows, your format files will need to be converted from the old Cardbox-Plus format (.FRM) to the new Cardbox for Windows format (.FMT) before Cardbox for Windows can open your databases.

The same thing applies if you are upgrading from Personal Cardbox-Plus.

Upgrade utility	Executable program , 72KB.
	If for any reason you want to download using the FTP protocol instead of the usual HTTP, press the symbol next to the description of the file you want. Some firewall configurations may need adjusting before you can use FTP.

Click on the link above to download and save the file upgrade3.exe. Your web browser may display security warnings as you do this because upgrade3.exe is an application program: you will have to accept these warnings in order to download the file.

Operating instructions

Find where you have saved upgrade3.exe and double-click on it to run it.

You will see a standard Windows "Open File" page. Use this to navigate to the format file you want to upgrade, and double-click on it. A Cardbox for Windows format file (.FMT) will be created and the original format file (.FRM) will be left unchanged.

What is converted

All formats (native and alternative) are converted. Templates are (typically used for mailing labels and standard letters) are not converted and you will have to create equivalent formats yourself in Cardbox for Windows.

Error messages

If you receive an error message then this means that the .FRM file cannot be converted. There may be something wrong with it, or the .FRM file may not be a Cardbox-Plus format file at all - Microsoft Visual Basic also uses the filetype .FRM for some of its project files.

What else you should convert

Once you have opened your database in Cardbox for Windows and have decided not to use Cardbox-Plus any more, we recommend that you rebuild the database file using Tools > Management > Rebuild Database. This is because some advanced features of Cardbox for Windows can't be enabled until Cardbox is sure that you won't be opening the database in Cardbox-Plus.