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    What's on this Page

      • What is an NSF file?
      • NSF File Format Specifications
        • NSF File Header
        • Database header
      • References
    1. Home
    2. Database File Formats
    3. NSF

    What is an NSF file?

    A file with .nsf (Notes Storage Facility) extension is a database file format used by the IBM Notes software, which was previously known as Lotus Notes. It defines the schema to store different kind of objects such like emails, appointments, documents, forms and views. All this information is contained in a single NSF file for business collaboration similar to a PST/OST file. Some of the applications that can open NSF files include IBM Lotus Notes and IBM Domino.

    NSF File Format Specifications

    NSF files are binary in nature and their specifications are available by Joachim Metz on Github. As per these details, an NSF file comprises of:

    • File Header
    • Database Header

    In addition, it consists of:

    • Superblock
    • Bucket descriptor block
    • Bitmap
    • Record Relocation Vector bucket
    • Summary buckets
    • Non-summary buckets

    NSF File Header

    The NSF file header is a 6 bytes in size. It consists of:

    OffsetSizeValueDescription
    020x1a 0x00Signature
    24The database header size

    Database header

    The NSD Database header contains the following confirmed values.

    • Database Information
      • Database identifier (DBID)
    • Replication information
    • Database information buffer flags
      • Title
      • Categories
      • Class
      • Design class (template name)
    • Special note identifiers
    • Padding
    • Database information 2
    • Database information 3
    • Database information 4
    • Database information 5
    • Padding
    • Database instance identifier (DBIID)
    • Replication history

    References

    • NSF Format - Github

    See Also

    • ACCDB File Format - Microsoft Access 2007 Database File
    • ACCDE File Format - Microsoft Access 2007 Database File
    • ACCDT File Format - Microsoft Access 2007 Template Database File
    • ACCFT - Microsoft Access 2007 Database Field Template File
    • BAK File Format - Database Backup File