BKI File

What are BKI files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a BKI file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your BKI files.

What is a BKI file?

A .BKI file is an IBM Softcopy Reader (Bookmanager) Bookshelf (and Book) Index file.

The IBM Softcopy Reader Bookshelf Index File is a support file that stores a searchable index of all the documents on a BookManager Bookshelf or Extended Bookshelf. It is created by IBM's BookManager suite (including Softcopy Reader, BookManager READ/VM, BookManager READ/MVS, or their Build-index utilities) to enable fast, system-wide searches across all books in a shelf. The index lets users locate which Book topic or which Book contains a searched term instead of scanning each Book individually.

Bookshelf Index files are used together with Bookshelf files (.bks or .xks) which define the collection of Books or PDFs in a shelf. The IBM tools that read or build Bookshelf indexes treat these index files as binary and load them alongside their matching shelf whenever search across a shelf is requested. These files are shipped by IBM in online library kits or can be generated locally with the IBM Index Utility.

A BookManager Bookshelf Index File's internal signature: it begins with a magic number (a byte sequence) of F14BF240 at offset zero in ASCII, followed by repeated FACEBABE words at various positions (for example offset 619 and offset 1542) which help distinguish this format.

How to open BKI files

Important: Different programs may use files with the BKI file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your BKI file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

We have not yet verified any programs for Windows that work with this specific file format. If you know one, please use the 'Suggest a program' link below. Thanks!

Last updated: August 24, 2026

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