convert - Opening layers with multiple geometry types in QGIS

I recently had some difficulties opening some MapInfo TAB vector layers in QGIS because each MapInfo layer contained two different geometry types: point and line. The MapInfo layers had originally been converted from AutoCAD DWGs. When opening in QGIS, only the point features appeared and not the linear features.

Is there a way for QGIS to open both geometries of a mixed-geometry layer or to convert or save them into two separate-geometry layers?

Failing either of those, is there a way to specify which geometry type should be opened (in my case, I was interested in the lines and not the points)?

Answer

You can split the file into the different types using OGR2OGR:

ogr2ogr -f "MapInfo File" -where "OGR_GEOMETRY = 'Point'" yourfile_Point.Tab yourmultigeomfile.TAB

ogr2ogr -f "MapInfo File" -where "OGR_GEOMETRY = 'LineString'" yourfile_lines.Tab yourmultigeomfile.TAB