Free online WDB to CSV converter

A current spreadsheet, database importer, or reporting system may not open records stored in an old Microsoft Works database. Converting the file to CSV provides a portable table for editing, sharing, or archival, but removes much of the original database structure.

What the WDB format is

In the Databases category, WDB refers to a Microsoft Works Database file created by the discontinued Microsoft Works office suite for Windows. Works used .wdb files for records such as contacts, address books, inventories, and small business data.

A Works database may contain field definitions, records, formatted values, calculated fields, and application-specific settings. Files can come from different Works releases, so a file that fails to open may be incompatible with the installed version or damaged. The .wdb extension can also identify unrelated formats; confirm that Microsoft Works created the file before conversion.

What the CSV format is

CSV is plain text arranged as rows and fields. A comma normally separates fields, while quotation marks protect fields that contain commas, quotation marks, or line breaks; the quotation mark inside a quoted field is represented by two quotation marks. Some receiving programs require semicolons or tabs instead of commas.

Excel, LibreOffice Calc, database import tools, scripts, and programming libraries can read CSV. It is usually more portable and often smaller than a proprietary database file, but it normally represents one table and does not preserve Works formatting, formulas, indexes, validation rules, reports, relationships, or field data types.

Convert the file with the built-in online converter

1. Make a backup of the original .wdb file.
2. Open the WDB conversion tool on 101convert.com. The service can convert the file online for free without installing software.
3. Upload the copy of the Microsoft Works database, select CSV as the output format, and start the conversion.
4. Download the resulting .csv file and open it in a spreadsheet or text editor.
5. Confirm that the converter recognized the file as a Microsoft Works Database and that the output contains the expected headers, records, and columns. Support can vary by Works release, so test a copy or a small nonconfidential file first.

Do not upload personal, financial, medical, legal, customer, or business records unless the file is permitted to leave the computer and the service's retention and deletion terms meet your requirements. Use a local conversion method for restricted data.

Convert locally with Microsoft Works

1. Open a copy of the file in the Microsoft Works version that created it, or in a compatible licensed installation.
2. Inspect the database and identify the table, fields, and records to export. If the file contains multiple tables, export each required table separately.
3. Use File → Save As or the database export command. Choose CSV, delimited text, or another text format if CSV is unavailable.
4. Set the delimiter to a comma when the exporter provides delimiter options. If the export creates a tab-delimited .txt file, keep that file for the import step.
5. Open the exported text file in Excel or LibreOffice Calc through its import dialog. Select the delimiter, text qualifier, character encoding, and column types; preview the columns before importing.
6. Save the verified table as CSV or Text CSV (.csv), using the delimiter and encoding required by the receiving system.

Microsoft Works is discontinued and is not included with current Windows or Microsoft 365 installations. Excel and LibreOffice Calc are useful for importing and resaving exported text, but they do not reliably open every Microsoft Works Database variant directly.

Check compatibility and data quality

• Compare the number of source records with the number of CSV rows and check the first and last records.
• Verify that the header row contains the intended field names and that every row has the expected number of columns.
• Use UTF-8 when supported. Older Works files may use a Windows code page, which can corrupt accented or non-Latin characters during export.
• Import postal codes, telephone numbers, account numbers, product codes, and other identifiers as text so values such as 00127 retain their leading zeroes.
• Check dates, decimal separators, Boolean values, empty fields, and long numbers. CSV stores text values without the original database type information, and spreadsheet software may reinterpret them.
• Inspect fields containing commas, quotation marks, or embedded line breaks. They must be correctly quoted, and the receiving application must support standard CSV quoting.
• Review calculated fields separately. An export may contain the displayed result but not the formula or source data needed to recalculate it.
• Keep the original .wdb file with the converted copy. CSV conversion is generally lossy and cannot reconstruct the Works database's application-specific structure.