# Backup/export/import Preferences
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [February 9, 2023, 11:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597 "2023-02-09T11:18:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jidanni](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jidanni)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2023, 11:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597/1 "2023-02-09T11:18:48Z")
Sure, admins backup, export, import settings all the time, [Export and import site settings](https://meta.discourse.org/t/export-and-import-site-settings/148184) .
But what about the little guy, the end user?
Certainly the preferences I use on site A, I probably also want to use on site B, or even C.
Plus what if a site goes kaboom? Sure would like to have a backup of my Preferences.
And one should find such functionality right there in the standard app, and not have to hunt around for some third party version.
Hmm seems you can even have some central sync authority..
---
### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2023, 11:27am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597/2 "2023-02-09T11:27:49Z")
There is the ability to download your own stuff. đ Itâs been a function weâve been quite pleased with for some time. đ
Weâre trialling a new nav menu here on Meta, and you can find that option in [https://meta.discourse.org/my/preferences](https://meta.discourse.org/my/preferences)
And if you are on a site thatâs not using it yet, you can find it under âActivityâ:
---
### Author:  [@jidanni](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jidanni)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2023, 11:37am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597/3 "2023-02-09T11:37:10Z")
Sounds great, I wonder why I didnât remember it when I saw it.
Ah ha, because it says ârequest archiveâ.
Sounds like I have to ask the administrator for something.
So even though I havenât pushed it (the button) yet, but it sounds like I will be drawing the attention of some Administrators maybe.
(I mean here we are in the ux group so Iâm to give you all my ux impressions. I wouldnât want to skimp on those.)
Sure I bet itâs just some kind of timer or something but it still sounds kind of scary.
---
### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2023, 11:48am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597/4 "2023-02-09T11:48:22Z")
I think it did have different text on it until fairly recently? I think it was âDownload Allâ.
Would something like that give a more âautomatedâ feel to it?
---
### Author:  [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597/5 "2023-02-09T14:40:41Z")
Yeah feedback on the language is welcome. It was updated to ârequestâ instead of âdownloadâ because the download isnât instant when you click the button. Depending on how much activity your account has it may take the system a few minutes to prepare the file for download (and you receive a message once itâs ready).
---
### Author:  [@jidanni](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jidanni)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597/6 "2023-02-09T14:44:49Z")
Make âRequest archiveâ just be a simple unnamed download icon button.
And after
> Download an archive of your account activity and preferences.
just mention âyouâll get notified when itâs ready.â
~~And, many users just want their preferences not their activity, and many others want the opposite. So do consider not gluing them together. Have separate downloads. Or have all three buttons, A, P, A+P.~~
Okay, thereâs certainly many categories in the zip.
Perhaps just have a bunch of checkboxes so that user can configure what heâs about to download.
And wait a second, what about importing preferences in?
---
### Author:  [@jidanni](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jidanni)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597/7 "2023-02-09T15:01:38Z")
Okay the preferences.json⌠is so packed with stuff that we didnât actually generate ourselves. So maybe there ought to be a second diet version that only contains things that we set ourselves when editing our preferences.
Actually Facebook, Google, etc. all allow users to pick and choose what stuff they want in the archive that will be produced. Some even have an index.html in the archive to make it âmore friendlyâ than just a bunch of files.
---
### Author:  [@robbie.morrison](https://meta.discourse.org/u/robbie.morrison)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2024, 7:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-export-import-preferences/254597/8 "2024-08-23T07:38:40Z")
The first URL in the original posting points to a [topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/export-and-import-site-settings/148184) which points to unmaintained [uploader code](https://github.com/pfaffman/discourse-settings-uploader).
At the moment, I am giving some advice to a colleague on establishing a new discourse instance.
What is the stateâofâplay regarding exporting site configurations in machine and humanâreadable form? And importing site configurations in machineâreadable form.
At the moment and under admin rights, I am reduced to taking a set of screenshots of my Ⱐ⸠Admin ⸠Settings .. Only show overridden, stripping these together in GIMP, and forwarding the resulting PNG to my friend for viewing. Kinda clumsy.
Any help with a better method much appreciated.