Articles on: Project
This article is also available in:

Project export


Contents of the Project Export

The project export feature exports a project’s data—from documents and contacts to tasks and meeting minutes—in a structured format within a ZIP archive. The data included in the export depends on the visibility settings of the person performing the export. For more information, see the following section: Execution of the project export.


Since the export can be very large depending on the scope of the project, it is primarily intended for comprehensive archiving after the project is completed.


The project export covers the following divisions:

  • Contacts & Users: PDF document containing information on all contacts
  • Documents & Plans: All documents, including the complete folder structure
  • media library: All images from the media library
  • scheduling: Microsoft Project scheduling
  • Meetings & Protocols: All approved, rejected, and pending meeting protocols. Meetings that are in draft status or do not have completed protocols are not exported
  • Tasks & Topics: PDF document containing information on all tasks and topics, including the history of comments
  • Journal: PDF document containing information on all journal entries, including the comment history
  • Controls & Inspections: All acceptance reports created


Project export content, project archive, archiving after project completion, exporting project data, ZIP archive, data backup, backup, exporting meeting minutes, exporting acceptance reports, MS Project schedule, What data does the export contain?

Execution of the project export

The project export can be planned for a specific date and made available for download as a ZIP archive after it has been completed. For example, the export can be planned to take place at the time the project is completed. The project export can be started via the Project Information button.



A new export is then created.



You can select the date on which the export should be performed.


A project can only be exported if the planning for the last export was at least four weeks ago. This restriction applies per project and per user.



Depending on the size of the project, the project export is usually available within the next day and can be downloaded from the same view. The export remains available for download for two weeks.


The export includes only the data for which the person performing the export has view permissions. The execution of a complete export of the project can therefore be performed by a Project administrator.


The ZIP archive is no longer subject to buildagil's access permissions. All persons with whom the export is shared have access to all the data it contains.



Start project export, Plan export, Export date, Export project, Download export, Two-week download period, Four-week lockout period, Export limit, Full export (project administrator), Export view permissions, Share ZIP archive, When is the export available

Using the project export

The project export can be opened and browsed locally, independent of buildagil. The links between the elements are preserved. After downloading, the ZIP archive can be extracted. The links within the export only work in the extracted archive.



After extraction, the exported divisions will be available in the archive.



All links from buildagil are also available in the export. These links do not point to buildagil, but directly to the corresponding document or division in the archive. For example, if a document is linked in a task, it can be opened directly from the archive via the link in the task list. If a task refers to another task, the view automatically scrolls to that task. For Plan Sections and Model Views, the image of the excerpt and the original document are linked, respectively.


Links cannot be opened natively on macOS because Windows and macOS handle them differently. For more information, see the following section: Troubleshooting.



Open project export, unzip the ZIP archive, use the archive locally, offline access to project data, links in the export, links in the archive, plan sections in the export, model views in the export, folder structure in the export, open export without buildagil

Troubleshooting


If the troubleshooting steps below do not resolve the issue, please feel free to contact Support.



Troubleshooting Export Download Issues

Various error messages may appear when downloading the export as a ZIP file. The causes vary depending on the browser you are using and the type of message. Links to troubleshooting guides for each browser are provided below.


Microsoft Edge: Troubleshooting Download Issues with Microsoft Edge
Google Chrome: Troubleshoot Download Errors
Apple Safari: Problems Loading an Object from the Web


Download failed, download error, cannot download the export, download blocked, error message during download, Microsoft Edge download, Google Chrome download, Safari download, download ZIP

Troubleshooting Issues When Opening a ZIP File

In some cases, the ZIP archive of the project export may not open. If this happens, the message "Cannot open folder" will appear:



The reason for the error message is that Microsoft-based systems have a character limit of 260 characters for file and folder paths. To open the ZIP file anyway, you can extract it using a tool such as 7-ZIP. 7-ZIP has no character limit and therefore circumvents this issue.


ZIP file cannot be opened, folder cannot be opened, path too long, path length 260 characters, Windows character limit, 7-Zip, extraction failed, ZIP error, archive extraction error

Troubleshooting an Incomplete Download File

If the exported file is incomplete after opening it, you can check whether the size of the export matches that of the downloaded file. The estimated size of the export is displayed before downloading. If the file was not downloaded completely, this can be due to various reasons, such as internal network policies or network interruptions. You should also ensure that there is sufficient storage space available on the device. In this case, you can try downloading the file on a different network.



Incomplete download, files missing from the export, incomplete export, compare file sizes, estimated export size, network interruption, network policies, firewall, storage space, download canceled

On macOS, links within the project export cannot be opened directly from Preview, PDF Expert, or Adobe Acrobat Reader. Instead, an error message appears, which may vary depending on the program used. This is because Windows and macOS handle links differently.



As a workaround, you can open the PDF in Google Chrome. Links can be opened there. PDFs and images can be viewed directly, and other files can be downloaded.



Links don't work on Mac, opening links in macOS, Preview links, PDF Expert, Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac, opening PDF links, opening PDFs in Google Chrome, link error message on Mac, difference between Windows and macOS

Updated on: 23/10/2026