Entities (DSDs, templates, dashboards and menus) may be exported from your account to be imported into another system or account. You can export individual entities or gather up all of the entities and files required by that entity into a package.

The option to export is available from all entity display pages in the “More Options” drop down menu. There is also an option in fAdmin to export all entities in your account (this can take some time).

In this example a menu is being exported together with all other entities that are required for the menu (a Deep Export). The menu itself is included together with the menu's DSD, all entities linked to by the menu (including other menus), and all entities required by any of those entities. This is a comprehensive export of everything needed to run the menu. Two other options allow for exporting just the menu (Selected Entity) or just those entities that the menu needs but not the menu itself (Supporting Only).

Whichever option is taken all referenced files and entities will be recorded in the export file to ensure the receiving system is aware of the requirement.

The Check button lets you inspect the contents of the export before making and downloading the file itself. The tabs to the right of the page show a report of the entities exported and/or required.

• Entities - all of the entities required
• Sources - these will not be exported (for security reasons) but their reference is recorded
• GeoJsons - references to the GeoJsons (Features Files) required; these may be exported separately
• Gatherers - a list of the custom gatherers required; these must be installed before importing

Aliases are key to exporting as they are used to match exported entities to those in the receiving system. For example, if a dashboard is exported, it requires a DSD when imported. The import process will attempt to find a DSD with the matching Alias. If found it will be offered as the DSD to use (note, it will be overwritten if using a deep export). If the alias is not found or the exported entity does not have one, the user importing must locate a matching DSD or (for a deep export) accept the imported DSD to be added and then used.

If any item in the tab lists has no alias, it will be highlighted and you can click the item to go to its properties and add an alias.

If your system has a Unique Id (set by fSeries Support) and Export Packages have been set up you will be able to specify the Package and Version. Select the required package from the list; its details and last version exported will be displayed for information and an entry for the Version of this export will be enabled.

The Package and Version are particularly important if you regularly export/import these entities. Imported entities will be marked with the Package and Version you enter here. When the entity is imported it is checked to see if these values are still current (i.e. no changes have been made to the entity since it was previously imported). If still current, the entity will be considered linked and will overwrite it with the new version, or leave it unchanged if the versions are the same. A warning will be given if your account does not have a Unique Id.

Give the export a name and notes to help the importer understand the contents.

Click “Start” to begin the export and download the export zip file.