Export all your data

Exporting records takes one survey type’s records out as a table. When you want everything your organization holds in a single download, use a full data export. You find it under Admin, then Data export.

Who can do this

This needs the Owner or admin role.

Requesting a full export is an owner or admin action. It is available on every plan, including the free plan, and works even when a subscription is read-only.

Request an export

1. Open Admin, then Data export, and choose Request export.
2. CensusIO builds the archive in the background, so you do not have to wait on the page. The status shows Queued, then Building, and the list refreshes on its own. A typical export is ready in a few minutes; you can leave and come back.
3. When the status is Ready, choose Download to save the .zip. The link works for 7 days; you can request a fresh export at any time.

If you request an export while one is already building, CensusIO reuses it instead of starting a second one.

What is in the archive

The archive is a single .zip with:

• A data/ folder with one file per table, written as newline-delimited JSON (one record per line, which any text editor or script can read): your survey types, records, lab samples, locations, lists, reference organizations, saved report templates, and the activity log.
• manifest.json, an index of the archive. For every data file it records the row count, the byte size, and a SHA-256 checksum, so you can confirm nothing changed in transit. It also inventories your stored files (attachments, map layers, your logo) by their key and size.
• README.txt, a short plain-language explanation of the contents.

Attachments are listed, not bundled (for now)

This first archive format carries your structured data. The files themselves (photos and other attachments) are listed in manifest.json with their size, but their contents are not copied into the .zip; they stay in your account. A later format will include them.

What an export does not include

Secrets are deliberately left out: connection credentials (Kobo, ArcGIS), API and feed tokens, and collector links are never written to an export. The export is your data, not your keys.

Limits

• An export covers up to 50,000 records. A larger organization sees a message to contact support, who will export it for you; a streaming format will lift this limit later.
• A download link expires after 7 days. After that the link stops working, and you simply request a new export.

Full export or a single survey type?

Use a full data export to take a complete, verifiable copy of everything, for an archive, a migration, or a data-portability request. To take one survey type’s records as a CSV, GeoJSON, or a standards-aligned Darwin Core Archive, use Exporting records instead. To share data continuously with a BI tool, use a data connection.

Related

• Exporting records
• Data connections