Export Formats
Archivers.ai supports 13 export formats out of the box. The full list is on Settings → Exports → Formats — you can toggle individual formats on or off for your organisation, and customise the mapping between your data model fields and each format's elements.
Available formats
| Format | Standard | Tier | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSV | — | Community+ | Spreadsheet review, simple data extracts |
| — | Community+ | Formatted catalogue, researcher-facing finding aid | |
| JSON | — | Professional+ | Programmatic consumption, custom workflows |
| Markdown | — | Professional+ | Quick human-readable export, GitHub Pages publishing |
| PDF Report | — | Professional+ | Finding aid for researchers, donor reports |
| EAD3 XML | EAD3 | Professional+ | National archival aggregators, archives-to-archives transfer |
| Dublin Core XML | Dublin Core | Professional+ | Libraries, repositories, Europeana |
| AtoM CSV | AtoM | Professional+ | AtoM (Access to Memory) installations |
| ArchivesSpace CSV | ArchivesSpace | Professional+ | ArchivesSpace import |
| Archivematica CSV | Archivematica | Professional+ | Preservation workflows feeding Archivematica |
| Spectrum CSV | Spectrum 5.1 | Professional+ | UK museum collections management systems |
| BagIt | BagIt | Professional+ | Digital preservation transfers, OAIS submission |
| PREMIS XML | PREMIS | Professional+ | Preservation event metadata |
| CALM CSV | Axiell CALM (tabular) | Professional+ | Flat one-row-per-record sheet for CALM's tabular import, with a former-reference concordance column so old references survive alongside newly minted ones |
CSV and PDF are available on all plans. Advanced formats (JSON, Markdown, and all standards-based formats) require Professional or above.
Validation and mandatory fields
Some export formats require certain fields to be present before export. Before the export begins, the system checks all records you've selected and flags any that are missing mandatory fields (e.g. reference code, date, title).
If gaps are found, a validation warning appears listing which records and fields are incomplete:
- Fix the gaps first — edit the records in Archivers.ai to fill in the missing data, then export again
- Export anyway — proceed with the export and leave the gaps blank in the file. Downstream systems (like TNA Discovery) may then flag the missing data, or you can fill it in directly in the exported spreadsheet.
Missing fields are blank in the exported file — the system never invents values. Use the "Export anyway" option when you want to export a work-in-progress or when you prefer to complete the spreadsheet offline.
Where to export from
| From | What's exported |
|---|---|
| An accession — bottom panel of the accession page | The accession plus all its items |
| A fond — Export button on the fond detail page | The fond and all its descendants |
| A dossier — Export button on the dossier detail page | The dossier's items, with analysis if present |
| Settings → Exports | The entire archive in the chosen format |
| Search results — Select + Export | Just the selected items |
Each export runs in the background. Small exports complete in seconds; whole-archive BagIt packages of large collections can take several minutes. You'll get a notification when ready and the file appears in Settings → Exports → History.
Mappings — customising the field map
Every format has a default mapping from your Data Model fields to the format's elements. You can override these per-organisation.
- Settings → Exports → Formats.
- Click Mappings next to a format.
- Drag fields from the Source column to the Target column.
- For repeating fields (e.g. subjects), choose the delimiter and whether to flatten or expand into multiple elements.
- Save.
The mapping applies to every subsequent export in that format. You can also create multiple named mappings per format — useful when you export the same data into different downstream systems with different conventions.
Round-tripping
Most formats round-trip cleanly back into Archivers.ai via Import Profiles:
- EAD3 XML — full fond structure round-trips
- Dublin Core XML — item-level metadata round-trips
- AtoM CSV / ArchivesSpace CSV — structure plus item metadata round-trips
- CSV / JSON — full content round-trips
- BagIt — full content + file integrity (manifests)
PREMIS, PDF Report, Markdown, and CALM CSV are export-only — they're presentation or one-way handoff formats, not ingestion formats. For bringing data in from a CALM system, use the import wizard — it recognises common CALM-ish column names (reference, old reference, depositor, accession number, and similar), but this is header auto-detection, not a validated canonical CALM field mapping. Check every mapped column before applying an import from CALM.
Toggle formats on or off
Not every organisation needs every format. The ON toggle next to each format in Settings → Exports controls whether it appears as an option on accession / fond / dossier export menus. Turning a format off doesn't delete past exports; it just removes it from the picker.
What's next?
- What each format is for — choosing the right format for your destination
- Importing a structure — importing existing data via the same Import Profiles tab
- OAI-PMH and IIIF for aggregators — standards-based machine access, separate from these download exports