Convert MDI to MAF

Understanding the mdi and maf file formats

MDI (Microsoft Document Imaging) is a proprietary file format developed by Microsoft for storing scanned documents and images. It was primarily used with Microsoft Office Document Imaging, a tool included in older versions of Microsoft Office. MDI files are similar to TIFF but are not widely supported outside Microsoft applications.

MAF (MicroArray Format) is a file format used in bioinformatics, particularly for storing microarray data. MAF files are commonly used for representing gene expression data and are structured in a tabular, text-based format, making them suitable for data analysis in genomics and related fields.

How to convert mdi to maf

Converting an MDI file to a MAF file is not a standard or direct conversion, as these formats serve entirely different purposes: MDI is for scanned images, while MAF is for tabular scientific data. However, if your goal is to extract tabular data from an MDI file (for example, a scanned table or microarray data) and save it as a MAF file, you will need to follow a multi-step process:

1. Convert MDI to an image or PDF: Use a tool to convert the MDI file to a more accessible format like TIFF, JPEG, or PDF.
2. Extract text or tables using OCR: Use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to extract the tabular data from the image or PDF.
3. Format the data as MAF: Save the extracted data in a tab-delimited or comma-separated format, then ensure it matches the MAF specification (columns, headers, etc.).

Recommended software for mdi to maf conversion

• Microsoft Office Document Imaging: Open the MDI file and use File → Export → TIFF to convert it to an image.
• Adobe Acrobat: If you have converted the MDI to PDF, use Acrobat's OCR feature (Tools → Scan & OCR) to extract text or tables.
• ABBYY FineReader: A powerful OCR tool that can extract tables from images or PDFs and export them to Excel or CSV.
• Microsoft Excel: Open the extracted data, clean it up, and save as a tab-delimited file (File → Save As → Text (Tab delimited)), then adjust to match the MAF format.

Tips for accurate conversion

• Ensure the scanned document is of high quality for better OCR results.
• Double-check the extracted data for errors or formatting issues before saving as MAF.
• Refer to the official MAF file specification to ensure compatibility with bioinformatics tools.