# Backing up your data

> What an export contains, who can request one, and how to download it.

You can download a copy of your data from Timescrolly at any time, on every plan. An export is one zip file holding your timelines and everything in them, ready to keep as a backup or take elsewhere. For an image or a printable PDF of one timeline, see [Printing and images](https://timescrolly.com/help/printing-and-images) instead.

## Who can export

Anyone with a verified account can export their own data, from Export your data on the Account page. A team's owner and admins can also export the team's data, from Export team data on the team's Settings tab. Other members of a team cannot export it.

## What is in the zip

Every timeline you own, including the ones in the trash, with:

- its items, sources and comments;
- the original images, attachments and cover images, as they are stored (not the smaller thumbnails).

The zip also holds your collections, tags and entities, with the entities' images, and a top-level `sources.json` with your whole source library, cited or not. Each collection comes with its URL, its description and its cover image, with the cover's caption.

Your custom maps are in a top-level `maps.json` with each map's name and size, and the map images are under `media/maps/`. A team export holds the team's maps in the same way.

A personal export adds an account folder with your profile, your sign-in methods, your active sessions, your subscription, the teams you belong to, your comments and contributions on other people's timelines, and the edits you suggested. Items you added to someone else's timeline and sources you added to someone else's library are listed by title only: their content belongs to their owner.

A team export holds the team's timelines, collections, tags, entities and source library, with the entities' images, in the same way, plus the team and its members.

The data is in JSON. Dates keep both what was typed in and their exact position in time, and rich text keeps its formatting. A `README.txt` file inside the zip explains the format.

## What is left out

An export does not include notifications, version history, share links, or other people's email addresses. Collaborators and team members are listed by name and handle only.

Timelines you collaborate on but do not own are not in your export. Their owner can export them.

## How it works

1. Open the export page and choose Request export.
2. We prepare the zip in the background and email you when it is ready, usually within a few minutes. While it is being prepared, the list of recent exports shows it as Being prepared.
3. Come back to the same page and choose Download next to the export. The email never contains the file or a link to it.

You can request one export every 24 hours. If an export fails, you can request a new one straight away. A team's export page lists the team's recent exports, whoever requested them, and the owner or any admin can download them.

## Limits

An export is kept for 7 days and can be downloaded 5 times. The list of recent exports shows how long each one stays available. After that, request a new one.

## Related

See [Deleted items and restoring](https://timescrolly.com/help/deleted-and-restore) for how the trash works, [Teams and the Team plan](https://timescrolly.com/help/teams-and-seats) for the roles in a team, and [Printing and images](https://timescrolly.com/help/printing-and-images) for images and booklets of a single timeline.