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Exporting your data

Your data should never be trapped in datalab. You can export single items, groups of linked items, or whole collections.

Export an item

  1. Open the item and click Export in the toolbar.
  2. Choose what to include:
    • Export only this item, or
    • Export with related items. datalab shows the item's relationship graph. Tick the linked items you want to include.
  3. Start the export. A progress bar shows while the file is prepared.
  4. Save the .eln file when it is ready.

When exporting with related items, you can also save your selection as a new collection.

Export a collection

Open the collection and click Export as .eln. Large collections can take a few minutes.

The .eln format

datalab exports to the ELN file format. It is a zip file, shared by several electronic lab notebooks. Inside is:

export.eln
├── ro-crate-metadata.json   a description of everything in the archive
├── <item 1>/
│   ├── metadata.json        the item's details
│   └── ...                  its attached files
└── <item 2>/
    └── ...

You can open it with any zip tool. The metadata files are plain JSON and can be read by any programming language. Other ELNs that support the format can import it.

Processed copies made by data blocks are included next to the original files.

Exporting from a block

To export the data behind one plot, use the block's own tools. Some blocks have an Export .csv button. All plots can be saved as an image.

Exporting with the API

For scripted or scheduled exports, and for downloading all files of an item, see the Python API recipes.