Importing and Exporting

We provide a simple manual backup process that can help with migrating your Curator content from one environment to another, or to the server as a backup so you don’t lose all that hard work.

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Migration Via File

This method to migrate data involves downloading a file from the source Curator and uploading it to the destination Curator. These files can be used as backups or a simple way to pass data to the Curator support team for debugging your specific content. The maximum file size for imports is 1.5GB. If your export file exceeds this limit, consider breaking it into smaller pieces by exporting fewer items at a time. To export your Curator metadata:

1. Login to the backend of your source Curator instance (e.g. https://curator.example.com/backend).
2. Navigate to Settings > Curator > Import/Export section using the left-hand menu.
3. Check the necessary items you need to backup. Items are grouped into category cards (such as Settings, Users & Access, and Content & Theme). Each card has its own “Select all” link, and the “Select All” link at the top selects everything. The bar at the bottom of the page shows how many items are selected.
4. Click “Export” in the bar at the bottom. This will download a file you can keep as a backup or use to import your settings to another Curator instance.

To import your Curator metadata:

1. Login to the backend of your destination Curator instance (e.g. https://curator.example.com/backend).
2. Navigate to Settings > Curator > Import/Export section using the left-hand menu.
3. Click on the “Import” tab at the top.
4. Click the “Upload” icon (upwards arrow) to locate the .iwe or .iwgz file you exported using the steps above, then click “Preview Import”.
5. Curator analyzes the import in the background and shows a progress screen with the current phase and a progress bar. Large imports can take several minutes. Keep the page open; the review screen appears automatically when the analysis finishes. Note: The Curator scheduler (cron), which is part of every standard installation, normally performs this processing. If the scheduler has not picked the job up (for example, on a development instance where it is not running), the page takes over and processes the import itself after about a minute, and a note appears asking you to keep the tab open until the import finishes. This fallback applies to both file-based and API-based imports.
6. Review the import summary. Each content type shows how many items were found and how many conflict with existing content. Choose “Include” or “Skip” per type (or use the “Skip All” / “Include All” links), and resolve any conflicting items listed below the summary.
7. Click the “Import” button. Another progress screen tracks the import itself, and a results table showing succeeded, skipped, and failed items appears when it completes.

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Migration Via API

This method to migrate data involves using Curator’s REST API from the destination Curator to request data from the source Curator. This option can be convenient because it requires fewer steps after the initial setup. Retrieve an API key:

1. Login to the backend of your source Curator instance (e.g. https://curator.example.com/backend).
2. Navigate to Settings > Curator > API Keys section using the left-hand menu.
3. Copy an API Key using the icon in the “ACTIONS” column. Note: If the API Key has “Restrict Access” enabled, ensure the “export” endpoint in the “Portal Permissions” section is allowed.

To import your Curator metadata:

1. Login to the backend of your destination Curator instance (e.g. https://curator.example.com/backend).
2. Navigate to Settings > Curator > Import/Export section using the left-hand menu.
3. Click on the “Import” tab at the top.
4. Click the “Use API” radio button.
5. Enter the source Curator’s URL and API Key. Note: After completing one import from the source Curator this info will be stored. The next time you need to migrate data you can simply select that stored data instead of re-entering it.
6. Check the data types you’d like migrated. Every item of the selected types will be retrieved, but you can select specific items in the next page.
7. Click “Preview Import” at the bottom of the screen.
8. Curator analyzes the import in the background and shows a progress screen. Keep the page open; the review screen appears automatically when the analysis finishes. The same scheduler note from the file-based import steps above applies here: if the scheduler has not picked the job up, the page processes the import itself while it stays open.
9. Review the import summary, choose “Include” or “Skip” per type, and resolve any conflicting items listed below the summary.
10. Click the “Import” button. A results table showing succeeded, skipped, and failed items appears when the import completes.

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Automatic Exports

Alongside the manual export above, Curator keeps a rolling set of automatic exports: scheduled .iwe snapshots of your metadata that you can restore or download at any time. These are listed on the Automatic Exports tab of the Import/Export page. To view, restore, or download an automatic export:

1. Login to the backend of your Curator instance (e.g. https://curator.example.com/backend).
2. Navigate to Settings > Curator > Import/Export using the left-hand menu, then open the Automatic Exports tab.
3. Each export is listed with the date it was taken and its file size. Use the “Restore Export” icon to restore Curator to that point in time, click the export name to download the file, or use the “Delete Export” icon to remove it.
4. Click “Take New Export” to generate a new automatic export immediately.

To set the number of exports to retain: By default, Curator keeps automatic exports based on the free space available on your server. You can instead cap retention to a fixed number of exports.

1. On the Automatic Exports tab, click the gear icon next to “Take New Export” to open the Export Settings popup.
2. Set Number of exports to retain to how many of the most recent exports you want to keep (1 through 10), then click “Save”.
3. After each automatic export runs, Curator keeps only that many of the most recent exports and removes the older ones. Select Use default (disk-based) to return to keeping exports based on available disk space.

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Permissions

Each backend user in Curator can be assigned permissions for handling certain content. If your user doesn’t have permissions to make changes to the content included in an import it will be filtered out of the data. You can request these permissions be added by your Curator administrator or have them process the import.

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Troubleshooting

If an import returns an error, no data, or unexpectedly missing items, work through the relevant section below.

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API Import Issues

If an API import returns an error or no data, work through the following checks in order:

1. Verify the API key is still valid. Login to the source Curator backend, navigate to Settings > Curator > API Keys, and confirm the key you’re using is listed and has not been rotated or deleted.
2. Check restricted-key export permissions. If the API key has “Restrict Access” enabled, open it and confirm the “export” endpoint in the “Portal Permissions” section is allowed. Without this permission the source Curator will reject the request even though the key itself is valid.
3. Confirm the source URL is reachable from the destination. From the destination server (not your local machine), verify the source Curator URL resolves and responds. Firewalls, VPN-only networks, and self-signed certificates on the source can all block the request.
4. Check destination backend user permissions. The backend user running the import must have permission to create or update every content type included in the import. See the Permissions section for details on how items without sufficient permissions are handled.

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File Size Limit

The maximum file size for imports is 1.5GB. If your export file exceeds this limit, break it into smaller pieces by exporting fewer items at a time and importing each piece separately.

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Items Missing After a Successful Import

If the import completes without errors but some expected items are missing on the destination, this is almost always caused by permission filtering. Items the destination backend user does not have permission to create or update are silently skipped rather than failing the import. Re-run the import as a high level administrator, or have your Curator administrator grant the necessary permissions to your user. See the Permissions section above for more detail.