How to migrate AVEVA InTouch and GE iFIX tags to Ignition

You are moving a plant from InTouch or iFIX to Inductive Automation's Ignition. Screens and scripts will take design work, but the first job is the tag database: thousands of tags with addresses, scaling and alarms that Ignition has to receive in its own format. This guide covers what Ignition can import, where a conversion by hand goes wrong, and a converter that runs in your browser.

The short answer

Ignition imports tags from JSON, XML and CSV files in its own layouts. An InTouch DBDump or an iFIX Database Manager export is laid out differently, so something has to translate it. You can do that with spreadsheets and scripts, or with a converter such as TagBridge.

Step 1: export from the old system

Use the export tools of your own InTouch or iFIX version, and follow AVEVA's and GE's documentation for that release. TagBridge reads InTouch DBDump CSV files and iFIX Database Manager CSV exports. It does not read iFIX GDB text exports, so export CSV from Database Manager.

Step 2: what Ignition imports

The Ignition manual page Exporting and Importing Tags describes the import, and the 8.3 version of the page says the same.

In the Designer Tag Browser, right-click an existing folder and choose Import Tags > Direct. In versions before 8.1.15 the menu entry is just Import Tags.
Choose a .json, .xml or .csv file.
Choose a Collision Policy for duplicates: Abort, Overwrite, Rename, Ignore or MergeOverwrite.
Click Open. The tags appear in the Tag Browser.

Since 8.1.15 there is also Import Tags > Interactive, which opens an Advanced Tag Import tool so you can edit tags before they go in. The manual recommends importing UDT definitions before UDT instances.

Where a hand-made conversion breaks

Alarms. The manual says Ignition's CSV format has no support for alarm configurations. Alarms must be added in the Designer afterwards, or you write JSON or XML, the formats that can carry them.
One layout per tag type. A DBDump has sections such as :IODisc, :IOReal and :MemoryInt, and each one has its own columns to map.
Addresses. Every AccessName or I/O driver has to become an Ignition device and an OPC item path.
Flat names. P101_RUN, P101_FLT and P102_RUN arrive as separate tags. Finding the pattern and building folders and UDTs from it is work you do by hand.

Step 3: TagBridge

TagBridge is a browser-based converter for engineers and system integrators. You drop in the DBDump or Database Manager CSV files and it works through the database with you:

Review. You see every tag and warning. It matches columns by name, detects UTF-8, UTF-16 and Windows code pages, and lists unknown sections that it skipped.
Addresses. You map each AccessName or I/O driver to an Ignition device and item path, with rules for Logix, Modbus, Siemens S7 or your own template.
Alarms, mapped and not guessed. HiHi, Hi, Lo and LoLo limits become AboveValue and BelowValue alarms with setpoints and deadbands. Discrete alarms become Equality (8.1) or WhenTrue and WhenFalse (8.3) alarms. You set the rules that map legacy priorities to Ignition priorities.
UDTs you approve. Repeated names are proposed as UDT definitions with parameters and instances. Nothing becomes a UDT until you accept the proposal, and rejected ones are exported as plain tags.
Export. Ignition 8.1 and 8.3 tag JSON, as UDT definitions, tags or both in one file, with folders, data types, scaling, history flags and memory tags.
A report. An HTML and CSV report lists each tag, what it became and why, and every item it did not convert, such as indirect tags, rate-of-change alarms or PID blocks.

The tag database is read and converted inside the browser tab and is never uploaded. License keys are checked offline, and the project file you save holds only your mapping decisions, not the tags.

What it does not do. It converts the tag database only. Screens, scripts, indirect tags, rate-of-change alarms and iFIX logic blocks are not converted, and the report lists them. The column layouts it expects come from public documentation and sample files, so check a few alarms and scaled tags on a test gateway before commissioning, as with any bulk import. It has no customers, installations or reviews on this site yet.

After the export, import the UDT definitions first and then the tags, as in step 2. The TagBridge support page explains the Ignition import.

Pricing

Prices are in US dollars, exclude taxes, and checkout is by Paddle, the merchant of record.

Free: a full preview, UDT proposals and the report, and an export of up to 200 distinct tags in total.
Project, $299 one-off: one tag database, including later versions of it, up to 5,000 distinct tags, with email support.
Project Unlimited, $599 one-off: one tag database, including later versions of it, with unlimited tags.
Integrator, $1,490 per year: any number of databases and tags for one year, with support answered first.

About TagBridge Open the converter, free

Which route fits

A few dozen tags: export, edit in a spreadsheet and import by hand.
A whole plant with alarms, scaling and repeated equipment: a converter with a review step and a report.

Atesen Software is independent. AVEVA, InTouch and Wonderware are trademarks of AVEVA Group Limited or its subsidiaries; GE and iFIX are trademarks of their respective owners; Ignition is a trademark of Inductive Automation, LLC. TagBridge is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by AVEVA, GE or Inductive Automation, and their names are used only to describe which files it reads and writes. The Ignition manual was checked on 17 October 2026; menus can change between versions.

Questions about this guide: support@atesensoftware.com.