Opening a TAB File

The TAB file type is primarily associated with MapInfo Pro.

TAB	File extension: TAB
	File type:	table file

What is a TAB file

TAB files mostly belong to MapInfo Pro. Main use case: The TAB file is often a MapInfo geographic data file used with MapInfo Pro (MapInfo details).
Other uses include:

MQ Channel Table: Stores channel definitions for IBM MQ Explorer (IBM MQ).

Delimited Text File: Contains tab-separated values for data analysis, as seen in applications like SAP BusinessObjects (SAP), Ren'Py (Ren'Py), and Adobe Analytics.

Guitar Tablature: Holds guitar tablature data for music software like TuxGuitar or Guitar Pro (Guitar Pro).

Other Data: May also contain payroll payslips or game data (e.g., from The Witcher 2, see The Witcher 2).

FilExt.com note: The file can be plain text with tab-delimited values or follow a proprietary format. Use a text editor to check simple content or the native software for proper viewing.

How can I open a TAB file?

You need a suitable software like MapInfo Pro to open a TAB file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your TAB file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a TAB file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online TAB File Viewer

Choose your .tab file to view

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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How to convert a TAB file to JPG, PDF, HTML, DOC, ...

You can convert TAB files using our online TAB file viewer (powered by Convert.Guru):

Just click the "Choose your .tab file to view" button on this page.
After your file is opened in browser,
click "Save as..." in the menu.
Then click the file format (e.g. PDF, JPG, DOCX, TXT, ...) you want.
Download the converted file.

Programs that open and convert TAB files:

MapInfo Pro
See the previous paragraphs to learn more about the main application. TAB files are often referred to as MapInfo Pro gis because this type of file is primarily created or used by this software.
ArcView (Lookup File) by ESRI
Related links: GIS Info
Diabetes Mentor File
GPS Pathfinder Office (Station/Session Table) by Trinble Navigation Limited
The GPS Pathfinder Office software enables you to pre-plan field sessions. The data dictionary editor creates custom pick-lists, automatic repeat feature, and numeric values. In the field, the data dictionary prompts the field crew to enter specific information for data integrity and compatibility with your GIS or database. A station/session table describes one or more stations (locations where a receiver is set up to make observations for a static survey) and, for each station, one or more sessions (periods of observation at that station).
Guitar Tablature File
Related links: On-line Guitar Archive
Insight II (Table File) by Accelrys Software Inc.
Insight II is a molecular modeling environment that provides a graphical interface to algorithms for molecular dynamics, homology modeling, de novo design, and electrostatics.
Lotus 1-2-3 Table
MapInfo (Table) by Mapinfo Corporation
The identifying characters used for this association are - Hex: 21 74 61 62 6C 65 0D 0A 21 76 65 72 73 69 6F 6E 20, ASCII: !table..!version..
Notes (5 Full Text Index) by IBM
This was a Lotus product. Lotus was bought out by IBM. Lotus Notes and Domino are a fundamental component of IBM Workplace. IBM introduced the IND file type. Related links: IBM Lotus Notes Wikipedia Page
Stork Format Color Lookup Table
CMYK image.
TAB Separated File
More usually seen as a .TSV file.
ThinBASIC Adventure Builder (Adventure Data) by Catventure
This is an interactive fiction and text adventure maker for Windows 98/2K/Me/XP/Vista. This file format is classified as Game.

TAB format details:

To view or edit TAB files you need to know the file format, because it determines how the data in this file is stored. The first characters in a file identify the file format, for example, HTML files start with the bytes <html>. If the file extension does not match the file format, double-clicking on the file will cause an error upon opening. So a detailed analysis of a file is vital in order to determine the format and the associated program. Our examination of the TAB files comes to the following conclusion:

The TAB file type is a very commonly used file extension and is used by many programs, each with its own file format. The file formats most commonly found in TAB files are:

15% of all TAB files are MapInfo MapBasic initial data Table files. These files are text files and can therefore be read using a text editor. Most of these files are 160 bytes to 940 bytes in size. The file type is old but is used even today. The keywords !table, Definition Table, !charset WindowsLatin1, !version 300, Fields and Type NATIVE Charset "WindowsLatin1" are typical for these files.
8% of all TAB files start with the magic bytes AMQR, which are always the first bytes of this file format. They consist of unreadable binary data. The average file size is 4 KB with most files being between 2 KB and 14 KB in size. The following keywords are characteristic: AMQR, SYSTEM.DEF.CLNTCONN and AMQR2. The file name AMQCLCHL.TAB is characteristic of these files.

All other TAB files (77%) have different formats, the following 14 formats exist: Klasik Table/spreadsheet, Source, WordPerfect, UTF-8, PAYROLL, Rush, position and TAB. These files sometimes refer to payslip, payroll, rogero, data, videoinfo or results. If you want to find out which format your TAB file belongs to, just click on the button "Choose your .tab file to view".

Technical Data for TAB File Extension

File classification:

GIS

Identifier:

Hex: 21 74 61 62 6C 65 0D 0A 21 76 65 72 73 69 6F 6E 20, ASCII: !table..!version. (provided by TrID database)

Related files:

mif, tsv, gp5, map, tap, id, tqb, dat, btab, zip, rit, table, sth, ind, pdf, bytes, txk, gz, kdb, tfw, crd, ows, tin, wor, kap, csv, txt, xml

Mime type:

text/tab-separated-values, text/x-sql, text/xml

The following listing is compiled from the database produced by the 'Associate This!' program, selected data from the main FILExt database and file extension information submitted by users.

ProgramID: tabfile, FileType: SQL Table Script file, AppName: Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002
EXEFile: devenv.exe

ProgramID: tabfile
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\MapInfo\Professional\Mapinfow.exe -noexec %1

ProgramID: tabfile
EXEFile: C:\Gaming\Mythosa\TableSmith\TableSmith.exe %1

ProgramID: tabfile.7.1
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe /dde

ProgramID: tabfile
EXEFile: H:\Nkacoale\MapInfo\Mapinfow.exe -noexec %1

ProgramID: tabfile
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\MapInfo\Professional\Mapinfow.exe

ProgramID: DADiSP.Tab
EXEFile: %SystemRoot%\notepad.exe

ProgramID: Harmony_Assistant_File
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Harmony Assistant\harmony.exe

Show all 8 listings To Top

a tab table file is a special file format and should only be edited and saved with the appropriate software.

How to solve problems with TAB files

Associate the TAB file extension with the correct application.
Update your software that should actually open table files. Because only the current version supports the latest TAB file format. Search, therefore, e.g. on the manufacturer website after an available MapInfo Pro update.
To make sure that your TAB file is not corrupted or virus-infected, get the file again and scan it with Google's virustotal.com.
Click here to open your .TAB file online - secure, fast, and no downloads needed.