  Photon-HDF5 is an open-source and open file format for storing
photon-counting data from single molecule microscopy experiments, introduced to
simplify data exchange and increase the reproducibility of data analysis. Part
of the Photon-HDF5 ecosystem, is phconvert, an extensible python library that
allows converting proprietary formats into Photon-HDF5 files. However, its use
requires some proficiency with command line instructions, the python
programming language, and the YAML markup format. This creates a significant
barrier for potential users without that expertise, but who want to benefit
from the advantages of releasing their files in an open format. In this work,
we present a GUI that lowers this barrier, thus simplifying the use of
Photon-HDF5. This tool uses the phconvert python library to convert data files
originally saved in proprietary data formats to Photon-HDF5 files, without
users having to write a single line of code. Because reproducible analyses
depend on essential experimental information, such as laser power or sample
description, the GUI also includes (currently limited) functionality to
associate valid metadata with the converted file, without having to write any
YAML. Finally, the GUI includes several productivity-enhancing features such as
whole-directory batch conversion and the ability to re-run a failed batch, only
converting the files that could not be converted in the previous run.
