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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.

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.