Opening Prism 1 or Prism 2 files

The structure of Prism files has changed considerably over the years, and continues to evolve as new features, functionalities, and technologies are incorporated. As a result, special considerations must be made when accessing files generated by much older versions of the software. This is especially true when trying to open files created with either Prism 1 or Prism 2. These files will have the .pzm extension. To open these files, you'll need to be using Prism for Windows, and you may also need to download the Prism Convert tool.

Prism Convert tool with New versions of Prism

If you're using any version of Prism for Windows newer than 8.3.1, you'll need to download the Prism Convert tool (pzconv.exe) and add it to the folder where Prism is installed. You can download the Prism Convert tool here:

pzconv.exe

Once downloaded, locate the file and move it to the same folder as the Prism application. For example, if you're using Prism 8, the full path for the location of pzconv.exe should look like the following:

where [system disk] is usually C:

Once pzconv.exe has been moved to the Prism folder, you simply need to double-click Prism 1 or Prism 2 file to open it in the new version of Prism that you have installed. Alternatively, you can use the Open command in Prism's File menu to open these files. You don't need to manually run pzconv.exe.

Opening Prism 1 or Prism 2 Files with Older versions of Prism

If you're using any version of Prism for Windows between 4.02 and 8.3.1, you don't need to do anything. For these versions of the software, the Prism Convert tool (pzconv.exe) was included when Prism was installed. Note that Prism for Windows version 4.00 and 4.01 cannot read files made by Prism 1 or Prism 2.

Prism 1 and Prism 2 Files with Mac

Unfortunately, no version of Prism for Mac can open Prism 1 or Prism 2 files.