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Open File


Open is an option on the main File menu, and also on the File menus in Spectrum, Spectrum Editor, and Mass Spec Digitizer.  A Toolbar Speedbutton is also available in each case.  Clicking on Open File or the Speedbutton will display a file selection dialog box.  You can either select the file name from the displayed list, or type in a file name to open.  The dialog provides options to change the default file filter, change drives and/or directories, and so on.  These are all standard Windows file selection functions.  

STRUCTURE WINDOW
The default file extension for native binary MSC Pro structure files is .msd, and that extension is registered with the program during installation.  Therefore you can double-click on a .msd file to open it in MSC Pro.  There appear to be very few programs that generate or work with MSD file types, with DINFO Diagnostic Utility reports perhaps the most common one.  However, if any conflicts arise on your system and you would prefer not to have the .msd extension associated with MSC Pro then the association can always be reset in the Control panel under Programs | Default Programs.

MSC Pro 5 also reads and writes standard V2000 MOLfiles.  To load a mol file rather than an MSD file select Open File and then click the small arrow to the right of the "Files of type" drop-down list and choose MOL files.  MSC Pro 5 can also paste MOL files from the clipboard into the structure window and, thanks to the babel utility, can also paste SMILES strings from the clipboard. 

SPECTRUM & SPECTRUM EDITOR FILES
Spectrum and Spectrum Editor work with .asc files as their native form.  Since these are simple text files and the .asc extension is a common text extension, it is not linked with MSC Pro.  The format of MSC Pro .asc files is simply a plain text mass / intensity list with each value on a separate line.  Spectrum can also read NIST MSP files by selecting that file type in the Open Spectrum dialog.  In addition to these two default formats, the Spectrum Editor Import option can open mass intensity text files in a variety of other formats.  

MASS SPEC DIGITIZER
The Digitizer works with mass spectral images in bitmap, jpeg or png formats.  In addition to reading these graphics files, MS Digitizer can also import images by scanning hard copy into the program, or by using the Capture function to extract an image directly from the screen in, for example, a pdf file or on a webpage.  See the Mass Spec Digitizer topic for more information on this.


*  A Note About MOLfiles:  MOLfile is a file format developed by Molecular Design Ltd. (MDL) to facilitate the interchange of chemical structure information among programs.  Several chemical drawing programs can import and/or export structures as MOLfiles.  The original format has been described in some detail (e.g. see J Chem Inf Comput Sci 32:244 1992).  MOLfiles are in ASCII so you can view and edit them directly with any text editor.  However, whereas the basic format of MOLfiles is defined, the specifics are not; for example valence states are not explicitly defined in a MOLfile.   Consequently, a certain degree of interpretation and chemical inference is required by MSC when reading a MOLfile.  MSC will attempt to reconstruct the best structure from the available MOLfile information, but it is always a good practice to check the molecule before proceeding.