XML · YAML · CSV
Open, vendor-produced exports: FactoryTalk View ME, View Designer, Optix, TIA Portal, Weintek, tag CSV
Dead panel? Convert the HMI project export into a working screen.
Free tool · runs in your browser
The LineKeeper HMI converter is a free in-browser tool that turns a dead panel's project export into a working operator screen for the free LineKeeper app. Drop the export from your HMI software — FactoryTalk View ME, Studio 5000 View Designer, FactoryTalk Optix, Siemens TIA Portal / WinCC, Weintek EasyBuilder Pro, or a tag / cross-reference CSV (Pro-face, GT Designer3, InTouch, Vijeo, Red Lion Crimson, Omron Sysmac) — and get the operator controls back — buttons, indicators and values (graphics and alarm logic aren't carried over). Everything runs locally in your browser — the project file is never uploaded.
The app is free for iPhone and iPad · Android in closed beta
Reads
Produces
.plcdash.json
An equipment profile the free LineKeeper app opens
Your file
Never uploaded
Parsed on your computer, in the browser (WebAssembly)
Price
Free
Works even offline after the first use
The converterDrop the export
Drop the export here — or click to choose
.xml · .csv / .txt / .tsv · .hmi · .zip (zip a folder-shaped export)
· up to a whole project
No network on the phone at the machine? Hand the downloaded file over offline — AirDrop on iPhone, USB cable / SD card on Android, or any file manager. The app imports it from Files or a share sheet without a connection. Have a LineKeeper device? It imports the original vendor export directly: Control tab → Edit mode → Import HMI project.
How it worksFour steps, no upload
How it works
- Export the project from the vendor's software on the engineering PC — exact steps for each vendor are below. Every supported input is an open, vendor-produced export: XML, YAML, text or CSV.
- Drop the file above. Parsing happens in your browser via WebAssembly — on first use it fetches the ~10 MB engine, then works even offline.
- Review the screens. Every screen lists its buttons, indicators and value displays with their real tag names. Untick screens you don't need, retype or delete elements, fix labels.
- Download the profile and open it in the free LineKeeper app (iOS; Android in closed beta). The app connects to the PLC over EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP or S7 and your line has a screen again.
What you get
The converter rebuilds the operator controls: buttons, switches, indicators, numeric displays and inputs, with the tags they really read and write.
What you don't
It does not reproduce layout graphics, pictures or animations — the result is a clean, phone-friendly panel, not a pixel copy of the old screen.
The exportPer vendor
How to produce the export, per vendor
| Rockwell FactoryTalk View ME / SE (PanelView Plus) | In FactoryTalk View Studio: open the project, right-click Displays →
Import and Export… → Export graphic information from displays. You get one
XML file per display; zip the folder and drop the zip here. A .mer
runtime alone cannot be converted — it is a compiled file. If you only have the
.mer and replacement panel hardware, Rockwell's free ME Transfer
Utility loads it onto the new panel as-is. |
|---|---|
| Rockwell Studio 5000 View Designer (PanelView 5000) | View Designer v9 and later: File → Export project produces a folder with
ViewApplication.hmi plus one .hmi file
per screen. Zip that folder and drop it here. A single screen's
.hmi works too. |
| Rockwell FactoryTalk Optix | No export needed — an Optix project is already plain YAML on disk. Zip the project
folder (the one containing Nodes/ and the
.optix file) and drop the zip. |
| Siemens TIA Portal — WinCC Comfort, Advanced, Unified | Use the TIA Portal Openness export for the HMI device: one SimaticML
.xml per screen, plus the HMI tag tables (and discrete alarms if
configured). Drop a single screen XML, or zip the whole export folder. Works across TIA
versions — V15 through V20 exports parse the same way. |
| Weintek EasyBuilder Pro | EBPro v6.10.02 and later: export windows to XML (window export command), one file per
window or a folder — zip a folder. Compiled .emtp /
.exob files are not supported; the XML export is. |
Tag & cross-reference CSV — six more vendors through one door
| Pro-face GP-Pro EX | Project → Utility → Cross Reference → save as CSV. |
|---|---|
| Mitsubishi GT Designer3 (GOT) | Data Browser → export CSV. |
| AVEVA / Wonderware InTouch | Application Manager → DBDump. |
| Schneider Vijeo Designer | Variable export as text/CSV. |
| Red Lion Crimson | Export the tag database to CSV from the Tags editor. Tags mapped to a PLC address come through; internal calculated tags are skipped automatically. |
| Omron Sysmac Studio (NA panels) | Open the HMI global variable table, select all rows, copy, paste into a spreadsheet and save as CSV. Variable names are the tags. |
Column headers are matched by meaning (screen / address / type / comment), so most tag-list CSVs work even when the exact column names differ.
WhyThe export is the filter
Why this beats rebuilding by hand
A machine's PLC program holds thousands of tags; the dead panel used a few hundred of them. The project export is the filter: it tells you exactly which tags the operator actually needs, what each one was called on screen, and whether it was a button, an indicator or a setpoint. That is hours of tag hunting you don't do at 2 a.m.
Don't have the export yet? The OEM or the original integrator usually holds the project file — and while you chase it, the 10-minute triage guide keeps the line moving, or build the screen from scratch with the app's own tag browser.
FAQFair questions
Converter questions
Is my HMI project uploaded to a server?
No. The converter runs entirely in your browser (WebAssembly). The project file is parsed on your computer and never leaves it — you can verify in the browser's network inspector, or load the page and then disconnect from the network before dropping the file.
What do I get out of the converter?
A .plcdash.json equipment profile: every screen of your project becomes a page of operator buttons, indicators and value displays. The free LineKeeper app for iPhone and iPad opens it and talks to the PLC directly (Android is in closed beta). The LineKeeper device is built to import the original vendor export by itself.
Will the screens look identical to my panel?
No. The converter rebuilds the operator controls — buttons, indicators, numeric displays and inputs with their real tag names and labels — as clean pages. Layout graphics, pictures and animations are not reproduced.
Can it convert a PanelView .mer runtime file?
No. A .mer alone is a compiled runtime; the supported input is the XML that FactoryTalk View Studio exports. If all you have is the .mer and replacement panel hardware, Rockwell's free ME Transfer Utility can load the original .mer onto it.
My phone has no network at the machine — how do I get the file into the app?
Download the .plcdash.json on the computer and hand it to the phone offline: AirDrop on iPhone, a USB cable or SD card on Android, or any file manager. The LineKeeper app imports it from the Files app or a share sheet without any connection.