Cardfile

Cardfile is a personal information manager that was distributed with Microsoft Windows starting from the original version 1.01 until Windows NT 4.0 Server. Cardfile is also included with Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition, but has to be installed manually from the installation CD-ROM. Beginning with Windows 3.1, Cardfile supported Object Linking and Embedding. The version supplied with Windows NT versions was a 32-bit application with unicode support. Both later versions could read .CRD files created by previous versions.

The "MGC" signature of .CRD files are the initials of the author, Mark Cliggett.

Cardfile's source code was delivered with the Windows SDK. The availability of the source code was apparently not known to everybody, because one can find a 1989 reverse engineering of the (very simple) file format floating on the Internet.

Localized versions of Windows may have contained Cardfile under other names, for example repert.exe ("Répertoire") for the French language Windows.

Schedule+, which appeared with Windows 95, and Outlook Express, which appeared with Windows 98, have built-in contact managers which can replace Cardfile. Schedule+ had the ability to import Cardfile .CRD files through its Import/Export Add-on pack.

Version Information

* 16-bit (1.01) - File size 36,588 bytes. Recompiled without change for Win31 and later.
* 16-bit (2.00) - File size 39,440 bytes. Recompiled without change of size for Win31 and later.
* 16-bit (3.0) - File size: 53,952 bytes; Date stamp: 10-31-90; Confirmed in: Windows 3.0a, Windows 3.0 MME
* 16-bit (WLO) - File size: 78,432 bytes; Date stamp: 09-23-1991; Confirmed in: WLO 1.0 Note: recompiled from the Windows 3.0 sources to demonstrate the Windows Libraries for OS/2.
* 16-bit w/ OLE - File size: 93,184 bytes; Date stamp: 12-31-93; Confirmed in: Windows 3.10, 3.11, Windows for Workgroups 3.10, 3.11, Win-OS/2 3.1, Windows 98 SE
* 32-bit - File size: 101,008 bytes; Date stamp: 05-25-95; Confirmed in: Windows NT 3.10, 3.50, 3.51 (diskette and cdrom)
* DEC Alpha - File size 148240 bytes; Date stamp; 05-25-95; Confirmed; in Winnt 3.51
* MIPS - File size 156432 bytes; Date stamp; 05-25-95; Confirmed; Windows NT 3.51
* PPC - File size 171280; Date stamp 05-25-95; Confirmed Windows NT 3.51

External links

* [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245157/EN-US/ "How to enable the Cardfile program in Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition"]
* [http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B99340 "Windows 3.1 Card File Format"]
* [http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=164994 "OL97: Converting Windows Cardfile Files to Outlook"]