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What Each Format Is For

A practical guide to picking the right export. Match the format to your destination — the system you're moving data into, the audience you're publishing to, or the workflow you're feeding.

CSV — Spreadsheet analysis​

One row per item, one column per field. Open in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers.

Use it for:

  • Quick reviews of what's in a collection
  • Quality assurance — spotting missing fields
  • Simple migration to systems that accept CSV import
  • Ad-hoc reports for grant funders

Avoid it for: Hierarchical structures (Fonds → Series → Item nests don't survive CSV well — use EAD3 instead).

JSON — Programmatic consumption​

Nested, hierarchical, machine-readable. The most faithful round-trip of Archivers.ai's data model.

Use it for:

  • Building custom websites or visualisations over your archive
  • Feeding a CMS that has a JSON import endpoint
  • Backups (it preserves everything)
  • Integrations with other tools (Notion, custom Python scripts, etc.)

Markdown — Human-readable plain text​

One Markdown file per item, with metadata as front-matter and content as the body.

Use it for:

  • Publishing as a static site (GitHub Pages, Hugo, Eleventy, Astro)
  • Sharing with non-archival colleagues who want plain English
  • Quick distribution via Dropbox / OneDrive / email
  • Onward editing in any text editor

PDF Report — Finding aid for researchers​

A formatted document with cover, table of contents, fond/series structure, and per-item summaries.

Use it for:

  • Putting on your website as a researcher-facing finding aid
  • Printing for the reading room
  • Sending to a researcher as an enquiry response
  • Donor reports — proof you've described the donation

EAD3 XML — Archives-to-archives standard​

Encoded Archival Description, 3rd version — the XML standard for archival finding aids.

Use it for:

  • Submitting to a national aggregator (UK NRA, US ArchiveGrid, Archives Portal Europe)
  • Migration between archival catalogues that both support EAD3
  • Long-term standards-compliant preservation of the description (not the files)

Required by: Most national archival aggregators and many institutional consortia.

EAD 2002 XML — The Archives Hub​

EAD 2002 in the shape the Archives Hub expects, with the Hub's own mandatory fields at collection level.

Use it for:

  • Contributing your collection to the Archives Hub, the free national search of UK archive catalogues
  • Feeding ArchiveSearch or other Hub-compatible aggregators
  • Moving a catalogue into another archival system that expects EAD 2002

Before you export:

  • Set your archive's ARCHON code and country under Settings → Numbering → Your archive's code
  • Fill in the collection's mandatory top-level fields: reference, title, dates, level, extent, scope and content, access conditions, and language
  • Only open (published) material will be included — anything marked closed, restricted or not yet published will be withheld

Check before you send shows which fields are missing and which records would be held back. The file is always read-only — copy-only files from the public portal are used when you want to update.

Archives Hub sheet — The Archives Hub as an Excel workbook​

An .xlsx workbook following the Archives Hub's own 40-column template, one row per record, with levels respected and sensitive material filtered out.

Use it for:

  • Contributing a UK collection to the Archives Hub without hand-keying it
  • Quick review of what will arrive at the Hub before upload
  • Checking that sensitive records are properly withheld

Before you export:

  • Set your archive's ARCHON code and country under Settings → Numbering → Your archive's code
  • Fill in the collection's mandatory top-level fields: reference, title, dates, level, extent, scope and content, access conditions, and language
  • Only open (published) material will be included — anything marked closed, restricted or not yet published will be withheld
  • The export is capped at 10,000 records per workbook

Note: The file arrives ready to upload to the Archives Hub. Check before you send shows which fields are missing and which records would be held back.

Dublin Core XML — Libraries and repositories​

The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set — 15 simple, widely-supported fields.

Use it for:

  • Pushing into a Dublin-Core-aware repository (DSpace, Omeka, ContentDM)
  • Cross-domain aggregators like Europeana
  • Linked Data publishing where you want a familiar, well-supported schema

Note: Dublin Core is intentionally minimal — much of Archivers.ai's richer metadata (conservation notes, sensitivity flags, custom fields) is dropped or coerced into the 15 core elements. Use it when reach matters more than fidelity.

AtoM CSV — AtoM (Access to Memory)​

CSV format tailored for import into AtoM — the open-source archival description application from Artefactual.

Use it for:

  • Migrating an archive from Archivers.ai to an AtoM-hosted public catalogue
  • Feeding a community archive's AtoM instance from a curated workflow

ArchivesSpace CSV — ArchivesSpace​

CSV format compatible with ArchivesSpace's bulk import.

Use it for:

  • North American institutions running ArchivesSpace as their catalogue
  • Migrating descriptions into the ArchivesSpace ecosystem

Archivematica CSV — Preservation workflows​

CSV format for Archivematica's METS-aware ingest workflows.

Use it for:

  • Sending materials into Archivematica for long-term preservation packaging
  • Pairing with BagIt to produce a complete preservation submission

Spectrum CSV — UK museum collections​

CSV format that maps to Spectrum 5.1, the UK Collections Trust standard for museum collections management.

Use it for:

  • UK museums migrating to or from a Spectrum-compliant collections management system (Modes, Adlib, MuseumPlus)
  • Heritage organisations needing Spectrum-formatted data for funder reports

BagIt — Preservation transfer​

A directory containing your files plus bag-info.txt, manifest-sha256.txt and tagmanifest-sha256.txt — SHA-256 checksums for the payload and for the tag files themselves.

The bag also carries its metadata with it: an Archivematica CSV, an EAD3 finding aid, and a PREMIS file recording the preservation events behind the records — what the AI did to them, when, and to which file.

Use it for:

  • Submitting to an OAIS-compliant preservation system
  • Long-term storage with file integrity guarantees
  • Transferring an entire archive to another institution

Pairs well with: Archivematica, Preservica, the Digital Preservation Coalition's recommended workflows.

Package list — What's actually in the collection​

One row per digital file: its details, its place in the collection, its size, its fingerprint, and a link that opens it through the authenticated door.

Use it for:

  • Proving what a collection holds, file by file, without moving the files
  • Reconciling a transfer against what arrived
  • Pairing with BagIt when someone needs the inventory before the bytes

Unlike the description formats, it's a list of the files themselves — so it takes a depth, but has no arrangement to shape.

MODS XML — One object, richly described​

The Metadata Object Description Schema. Offered on an individual item, beside Dublin Core XML and a single CSV row.

Use it for:

  • Handing one object's full description to a library system that speaks MODS
  • A richer alternative to Dublin Core when you're describing a single thing

CALM CSV — Axiell CALM​

A flat, one-row-per-record sheet for CALM's tabular import, carrying a former-reference concordance column so old references survive alongside newly minted ones.

Use it for:

  • Moving a catalogue into an Axiell CALM installation
  • Handing a retroconverted collection over with both reference schemes intact

TNA Discovery workbook — Manage Your Collections​

An .xlsx workbook for The National Archives' Manage Your Collections service, built from the collections tree as a guided, checked export: every record is checked against Discovery's upload rules and its dates put into the form Discovery will index.

Use it for:

  • Contributing a UK collection to Discovery without hand-keying it

Reviewers can produce it, as well as Admins and Members.

How to choose, in one line​

Pick the format your destination expects. If you have a choice, pick JSON for fidelity, EAD3 for archival standards compliance, and BagIt for preservation.