Have you ever opened a molecular file in a modeling platform and realized some of your data was missing or misinterpreted? This can be a common pain point for molecular modelers, especially when dealing with a variety of structural file formats. Fortunately, understanding how file importers work in SAMSON can help avoid these surprises.
What are importers?
In SAMSON, importers are specialized components responsible for parsing molecular data from files. These could include structures as well as additional information like electron density maps. SAMSON comes bundled with many importers by default, such as those for PDB and MOL files, but it also supports extensions that let you add more as needed.
Why importers matter
Imagine opening a CIF file and discovering that your ligands are not there. Or loading a density map but seeing only noise. These issues often stem from the absence of a dedicated importer for a particular format or variant. In SAMSON, each importer is optimized for a specific type of data, making sure it’s interpreted and visualized the right way.
Are you missing something?
If you feel like something’s not displaying correctly—or at all—it may be worth checking whether SAMSON supports that format. The platform maintains a list of supported formats where you can verify compatibility. More importantly, if a format you rely on is not represented, the SAMSON team actively encourages users to get in touch.
Extending the power of importers
Sometimes, your needs are too specific to be covered by existing importers. For researchers in specialized fields or with custom file formats, SAMSON allows you to create your own importers via its Extension Generator. This way, you’re not limited to out-of-the-box capabilities and can tailor the platform to match your research pipeline. If you’re comfortable coding or have developer support, you can use the Developer Documentation Center to get started.
Adding more importers
We all work with different tools and datasets, and it’s unlikely that one size will fit all. If you’re transitioning to SAMSON from other platforms or need advanced support for specialized data (e.g., MD simulation outputs, quantum chemistry results), make sure to check SAMSON Connect. This is an online ecosystem where you can discover and install additional importers created by the SAMSON community.
In short, SAMSON’s modular importer system helps ensure that you can keep working with the data you already have—whether you’re viewing molecular structures, processing density maps, or visualizing new simulation results. Reviewing or adding the right importer might just solve a problem you didn’t even know you had.
Learn more in the official documentation.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON here.