CrystalMaker Guide: Opening a Saved Structure

The demonstration version of CrystalMaker reads from binary files, but will not import text files, and you cannot save or export data.

Opening a CrystalMaker Text or Binary File

The full version of CrystalMaker lets you save files in either binary or text format.

	Binary files contain full details of the saved structure. They can be read very quickly, and their structures rapidly reconstructed for fast display. Binary files come in two types: Crystal files (indicated by the blue icon) or Molecule files (orange icon).
	CrystalMaker text files can be edited with a text processor, and contain the basic structural information (e.g., atomic coordinates and colours). Although these files occupy very little disc space, the structure has to be completely recalculated before it can be displayed, and so reading from a text file is much slower than reading from a binary file

You can open a CrystalMaker text or binary file by double-clicking on its icon, or by dragging the document icon onto the CrystalMaker application program icon, or by launching CrystalMaker, selecting the File > Open command, and selecting the document's filename from the file dialog box.

Importing a non-CrystalMaker Text File

The full version of CrystalMaker can import text files produced by other programs and/or in different data formats, e.g., ICSD, CIF, PDB, and many others.

To import a text file you need to use the File > Import command, and select the file's format from the submenu. (Please note that the File >Open command is only suitable for reading from files written in one of CrystalMaker's own data formats - text or binary).

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