Anyone who’s worked in molecular modeling knows the moment: you’ve found the perfect structure file online — maybe a .pdb, .mmtf, or a cube file — but your software doesn’t recognize the format. It’s frustrating, especially when you’re focused on advancing your research or learning new concepts. If you’re using SAMSON, there’s an easy solution.
This post will walk you through one of SAMSON’s core capabilities: importers. We’ll explore what they are, how to know which file formats are supported, and how to get more importers if you need them.
What are Importers?
In SAMSON, importers are components that allow you to load molecular files of different formats. Each importer is essentially a dedicated parser: it reads a specific type of file and converts the data into objects that SAMSON can work with. Out of the box, SAMSON comes with several importers — for example, one for Protein Data Bank (.pdb) files and another for electron density maps. These importers ensure that you can start working with molecules immediately after installation, with no setup required.
How to Check Supported Formats
Before looking for an additional importer, it makes sense to check whether the format you need is already supported. SAMSON maintains an always up-to-date list of currently supported file types here: formats supported by SAMSON.
This includes a wide range of formats commonly used in structural biology, cheminformatics, and materials science. Whether you’re importing protein structures, electronic clouds, or molecular geometries, there’s a good chance your format is already covered.
Adding More Importers
If SAMSON doesn’t yet support the format you’re interested in, there are a couple of things you can do:
- Browse for more importers: Visit SAMSON Connect to browse extensions created by the SAMSON community and developers. Many of these are free and can easily be installed into your SAMSON environment with a click.
- Contact the SAMSON Team: If you don’t see an importer for your desired format, you can contact the SAMSON team. Your suggestion might even guide the development of new features.
- Develop your own importer: If you are a developer or are interested in learning, SAMSON provides excellent documentation to help you create your own importers using their Extension Generator. More on this can be found in the Extension Generator documentation and the Documentation Center.
Why This Matters
Efficiently importing molecular data is a basic step, but it’s also one that can create bottlenecks if your tools aren’t flexible. With SAMSON, importers remove this friction so you can spend less time wrestling with conversion tools and more time modeling and analyzing molecular systems.
Conclusion
SAMSON’s importer system is designed with flexibility in mind. From loading common formats to building your own extensions, it covers the needs of most research workflows.
To explore the official documentation page on importers, visit this page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON here.