Usage

Everything happens on two screens: Archive → Export builds a bundle, and Archive → Bundles is where it lands.

The export screen

Content

Checkboxes for the element types Archive knows how to collect: entries, categories, tags, global sets, assets and addresses — plus users, but only once you’ve allowed user export in the settings. Until then they aren’t offered at all; see Users & privacy.

Any plugin that registers a collector adds its own element type to this list.

Format

The format of the master data file: JSON, NDJSON, XML, YAML or CSV. manifest.json is always JSON whichever you choose, so a reader can always work out what it’s holding. Formats covers the trade-offs.

Sites

Leave it empty to export the primary site only. Tick more and each produces its own set of records, linked to their siblings by uid — that’s how translations stay associated in a format with no concept of Craft’s multi-site model.

Sections and Volumes

Filters, both empty by default, which means everything. Sections narrows which entries are collected; Volumes narrows which assets are. They’re independent — limiting sections doesn’t stop an asset from being pulled in by something else.

Bundle name

Optional. Left blank, Archive names it from the system name and the current time: my-site-2026-07-26-140233.

The switches below the line

OptionDefaultWhat it does
Include disabled elements Off Collects disabled elements alongside enabled ones. Every record carries status and enabled, so the receiving system can decide what to do with them.
Include the site’s structure On Writes sections, entry types, field definitions, groups, volumes, routes and the plugin list under schema. Turn it off for a content-only bundle.
Include asset files On Copies files from local volumes into the ZIP. Off means asset metadata and URLs only — much smaller, and fine when the files are staying where they are.
Download remote asset files Off Fetches files from S3, Spaces, GCS and other remote filesystems into the bundle. Off by default so bundles stay small. See Assets.
Limit — Caps how many elements are collected per type. Set it to 5 for a first run: you get a real bundle in seconds and can read it before committing to the whole site.
Run in the background Off Hands the export to Craft’s queue instead of running it in the request. Worth it for anything large.

The Bundles screen

Finished bundles are listed newest first with their format, status, size and record counts. From here you can:

  • Download the ZIP.
  • Open a bundle to see its full manifest — per-type counts, asset totals, the options it was built with, and any warnings.
  • Delete it, which removes the file as well as the ledger row.

Read the warnings. An empty list means the export was complete; anything in it is a field type with no serializer, an unreadable asset, or a file skipped for being over the size limit. Nothing goes missing quietly.

A good first run

  1. Tick Entries only, leave the format on JSON, set Limit to 5.
  2. Create the bundle, download it, unzip it.
  3. Read README.txt, then manifest.json, then data/archive.json.

Once the record shape looks like something the receiving system can consume, widen the types and drop the limit.

Next: Formats