Export Content

Export, in combination with import, allows you to exchange content between libraries and database servers and create backup copies of your content. You can export your content from either the Library or the Outline Editor. An advantage of exporting from the Library is that you can choose a wider range of content to export by selecting multiple folders or multiple documents that are not necessarily linked to each other. In fact, you can export your entire Library by selecting the root folder.

Tip: You can back up all or part of your Library using the export command. Select the root folder of the Library to export and backup your entire Library.

Exporting from the Outline Editor allows you to easily select all or part of a specific outline for export. However, you cannot select unrelated documents or multiple, independent outlines from the Outline Editor.

Tip: You can select multiple documents using the standard Windows selection keys (CTRL+click and SHIFT+click). You can select all items in a folder by choosing Select All from the Edit menu.

After selecting content and initiating the export process, your next step is to set the export options.

The first option is the location in which to save the export archive. The default location is the My Documents folder on your local hard drive, but you can choose any other location on your computer or server for which you have Write permissions. You must also specify a name for the archive file, which has the extension odarc.

The second option allows you to export your selection only or your selection and all related documents. In general, documents linked as children of the documents in your selection are included as related, whereas those linked as parents are not. Click the View related documents link to display a list of all documents related to your selection.

Note the following points about related documents as applied to export:

• If the selection is a folder, related documents include all documents related to the documents contained in the folder, regardless of where they are located in the Library. The folder structure of the related documents is recorded in the archive file as well.
• Any glossary assigned to a document selected for export is included as a related document, along with all packages and web pages used for definition links.
• When you export a glossary document directly (by selecting it from the Library), its related documents include all packages and web files used for definition links. Documents to which the glossary is assigned are not included as related documents.
• Icon packages (both standard and custom) are included as related documents of topics containing frame links.
• Role lists are not included as related documents for export. However, roles assigned to each topic are included, because they are part of the topic's properties. If you wish to export a role document, you must explicitly select it from the Library.
• Custom-recorded sound is saved as part of its topic and is therefore included when the topic is exported.
• Templates are not included as related documents for export. To export a template, you must select it directly from the Library (System/Templates folder).
• Packages containing template and object name sound are not included as related documents of templates. To export these packages, you must select them directly from the Library (subfolder of the System/Templates folder). Alternatively, you can select the parent folder to export the template and associated sound together.
• Packages, role documents, and templates do not have related documents.

Multi-user Considerations

In a multi-user environment, when you are online, you also have the option to choose local or server content. Local content includes the locally edited copies of all selected documents that you have checked out and the server versions of those not checked out to you. Use this option for documents in progress for review. Server content includes only the checked in versions of the selected documents. Any local changes to checked out documents are ignored. Use this option for final versions of documents.

Also note that you can export while offline, but to do so, you must have the documents in your local cache.

During the export process, all of the selected content is written to a single compressed archive file with the extension odarc. The archive file also includes the absolute Library folder structure for each document, as well as information about all links to and from the documents. A summary message appears if some of the documents you selected could not be processed. Clicking the View activity log link in the message displays a list of the results for each document.

Note: A utility exists to uncompress and recompress odarc archives, if you need to work with the constituent files outside the Developer. See Understand Developer Archives.

Selecting Cancel during the export process displays a message with a link to a list of the documents that have already been exported. Although the partial archive file resulting from the cancelled process is not deleted automatically, this archive file is unusable and cannot be successfully imported. In addition, you cannot continue an export process that has been cancelled, and you cannot add to an existing archive file. To obtain a usable archive file in this case, you must restart the process from the beginning.

To export content:

1. From the Library or Outline Editor, select the folder(s) and/or document(s) you want to export.

   You can select multiple documents using the standard Windows selection keys (CTRL+click and SHIFT+click).

2. On the Tools menu, point to Export and choose Documents.
3. Set the export options.
4. Click Export to execute the process.

   The export tool analyzes and processes the selected documents, creating a single archive file in the specified location.

   If any errors occur, they are written to an activity log, and a Partial Export message box appears. You can click the View activity log link to view the results of the export or click OK to close the message box.