CDX and CDXML files
Athanor opens and saves both, free, in the browser or on Windows, with no ChemDraw needed.
Open your CDX or CDXML file in Athanor
Free, in the browser or on Windows. It opens as drawn, and saves back to the same format.
Windows 10 and 11 Updates itself from the Store
Runs in your browser. No account needed to open a file.
How to do it
Open Athanor in your browser, or download the Windows app.
Open the .cdx or .cdxml file in Athanor.
Edit it, then save it back as CDX or CDXML, or export it as MOL, SDF, SMILES, PNG or SVG.
ChemDraw’s two formats
CDX is ChemDraw’s binary document format, and CDXML is the same document written as XML. Both hold the whole drawing, not only the structures: text, arrows, brackets, colors, page settings and the document’s style. That is why a CDX file opens looking exactly as it was drawn, and why converting it to MOL keeps the chemistry but not the layout.
A .cdx file that is not from ChemDraw
Visual FoxPro, a database program, also uses .cdx, for its compound index files. If a .cdx file came with a database rather than from a chemist, it is a FoxPro index and holds no chemistry.
Opening them without ChemDraw
The Athanor app opens CDX and CDXML files as they are and saves back to both, so a collaborator on ChemDraw gets a file they can open. A converter for these formats on this page comes with the next release of Athanor’s engine.
Questions
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Do way more cool things with Athanor, for free.
Windows 10 and 11 Updates itself from the Store
Runs in your browser. No account needed to draw.