Look inside an MXD file
An .mxd file is an ArcMap map document. It does not contain the data, only the map built on
top of it: which layers, how they are drawn, how they are labelled and how the printed page looks.
Without ArcGIS it cannot be opened, and since ArcMap reached the end of its support many people
have a folder of these files and nothing to open them with.
Upload the document and the result page shows, without installing anything:
- an overview of every data frame with its layers and groups, each layer's source, query, scale range and classes with a small picture of every symbol, and the elements of the page layout;
- a legend of the whole document as a PNG and an SVG picture;
- the data sources of every layer, in a table and as an Excel and CSV report;
- the document properties: title, author, summary, credits, where it was saved and when.
To keep working with the map, open the .qgz project in QGIS, which is open source and runs on
Windows, macOS and Linux. The layers, symbols, labels and print layout are already set up; only the
data has to be where the project expects it.
Other ArcGIS files
The same works for ArcMap templates (.mxt), ArcReader published maps (.pmf), layer files
(.lyr) and the ArcGIS Pro formats: projects (.aprx), layer files (.lyrx), map files
(.mapx) and layout files (.pagx). Upload several at once or a ZIP of a folder.
When the file does not open
- A file that is not an ArcMap document but uses the
.mxdextension (some other programs use it too) is reported as such. - Very old documents that refer to data in ArcSDE or on network drives still open; those layers are listed with their paths and kept in the project as layers to repair.
- A damaged document is read as far as possible, and the notes say which part could not be read.
More about what this tool reads and writes: ArcMap MXD to QGIS Converter.