Import/Export
Supported Formats
Currently, two formats for import/export are supported - a zipped ELNX notebook and the ELN Format.
Zipped ELNX Notebook
Zipped ELNX notebooks allow you to export entire ELNX projects as single ZIP archives with special .json and .html files representing individual elements of notebooks. Each archive contains all project data native to ELNX including its hierarchical structure, ensuring a complete and consistent backup of your work.
This format is particularly useful for transferring data between different ELNX instances.
ELN Format
The ELN Format is an archive format specifically designed for the exchange of experimental data. Its main purpose is to support interoperability between different Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) systems.
To ensure broad compatibility with other platforms, our exported ELN archives follow a simplified structure. In particular, they do not include support for Collections, as such complex hierarchies can make the archives harder for other systems to interpret. While this approach sacrifices some of the complexity that collections offer, it enables smoother and more reliable data exchange across different platforms.
The ELN archives store most metadata in the ro-crate-metadata.json file, which follows the RO-Crate specification. Apart from that, the archives may also contain non-nested folders that hold record attachments. This design allows multiple records to be transferred within a single ELN archive.
Import
You can choose to import your data either as a complete notebook within an existing project or as a new project. To import into an existing project, select Import records from the drop-down menu next to the Add record button inside a notebook. To import your data as a new project, click the Import notebooks button, which is located at the top-left of the notebook browse view.
Export
Notebooks can be exported also from either the project detail view or from the notebook browse view by clicking Export in the top-right corner.
However, note that exporting from the browse view will export all currently listed notebooks. In contrast, the export function available within the project detail view allows you to export only the current project. Both export options include the complete data and metadata of the project(s), using any of the supported formats described above.
