---
title: "Export"
subtitle: "Export logs, traces, and users as CSV or JSONL, once or every 15 minutes."
---

Exports copy logs, traces, or users out of Respan as files, once or every 15 minutes. Respan keeps logs for your project's [retention period](/docs/documentation/admin/projects#data-retention), so export anything you need to keep longer.

## Where you can export

| Page | Export |
| --- | --- |
| **Observability** › **Logs** | One-time or recurring export of spans |
| **Logs** grouped by traces | One-time export of traces (**Export traces**) |
| **Observability** › **Users & identifiers** | One-time export of users (**Export users**) |
| **Observability** › **SQL editor** | Full query results. See [Export results](/docs/documentation/features/observe/sql-editor#export-results). |

Every export runs in the background and lands in **Settings** › **Exports**.

## Export logs once

<Steps>
<Step title="Open the export menu">

In **Observability** › **Logs**, click the export icon (**Export logs**) in the top bar, or press **E**. Choose **One-time export**.

<img src={"/docs/images/export-retention/export-menu-light.png"} width="220" className="block dark:hidden" alt="The Logs export menu with One-time export, Recurring export, and Export history" />
<img src={"/docs/images/export-retention/export-menu-dark.png"} width="220" className="hidden dark:block" alt="The Logs export menu with One-time export, Recurring export, and Export history" />

</Step>
<Step title="Choose what to export">

Set **Filters**, **Time range**, **Sampling %** (100 exports every match), an optional **Export name**, the **Columns**, and the **File type** (CSV or JSONL). The header shows how many logs match.

<img src={"/docs/images/export-retention/one-time-export-light.png"} width="320" className="block dark:hidden" alt="The Export logs panel with filters, a one-week time range, 100 percent sampling, an export name, selected columns, and CSV as the file type" />
<img src={"/docs/images/export-retention/one-time-export-dark.png"} width="320" className="hidden dark:block" alt="The Export logs panel with filters, a one-week time range, 100 percent sampling, an export name, selected columns, and CSV as the file type" />

</Step>
<Step title="Start the export">

Click **Download CSV** (or **Download JSONL**). When the file is ready, download it from **Settings** › **Exports**.

</Step>
</Steps>

To export specific spans, select their rows in the table and click **Export** in the action bar at the bottom.

<Note>
Exports started from the top bar leave out message content, such as **Input** and **Output**, even when those columns are selected. To export content, select the rows and export from the action bar.
</Note>

<span data-docs-fragment-alias={"create-a-recurring-export"} aria-hidden="true" data-pagefind-ignore="" style={{ display: "block", height: 0, scrollMarginTop: "5rem" }} />

## Export logs every 15 minutes

A recurring export sends the previous 15 minutes of matching logs on every run. A project has one recurring export.

<Steps>
<Step title="Open the recurring export">

In **Logs**, click the export icon and choose **Recurring export**.

</Step>
<Step title="Choose what to export">

Set **Filters**, **Sampling %**, an optional **Export name**, and **Columns**. Message content isn't offered for recurring exports.

<img src={"/docs/images/export-retention/recurring-export-light.png"} width="320" className="block dark:hidden" alt="The Recurring export panel, which exports logs every 15 minutes, with filters, sampling, an export name, columns, and a Start export button" />
<img src={"/docs/images/export-retention/recurring-export-dark.png"} width="320" className="hidden dark:block" alt="The Recurring export panel, which exports logs every 15 minutes, with filters, sampling, an export name, columns, and a Start export button" />

</Step>
<Step title="Start it">

Click **Start export**. Each run's files show up in **Settings** › **Exports**.

</Step>
</Steps>

To change or stop it, open **Recurring export** again. It shows **Running · exports every 15 minutes**. Edit the fields and click **Update**, or click **Pause**.

<span data-docs-fragment-alias={"manage-export-jobs"} aria-hidden="true" data-pagefind-ignore="" style={{ display: "block", height: 0, scrollMarginTop: "5rem" }} />

## Download from Exports

Go to **Settings** › **Exports**, or choose **Export history** in the export menu.

<img src={"/docs/images/export-retention/exports-history-light.png"} className="block dark:hidden" alt="Settings, Exports, listing export jobs with file type, created at, created by, chunks, estimated count, and status: one at 62 percent, three Complete, and one Canceled" />
<img src={"/docs/images/export-retention/exports-history-dark.png"} className="hidden dark:block" alt="Settings, Exports, listing export jobs with file type, created at, created by, chunks, estimated count, and status: one at 62 percent, three Complete, and one Canceled" />

- **Click a job** to open **Export details**, then click **Download all**, or **Download as URLs** for a text file with one link per file. Large exports are split into several files (**Chunks**).
- **The ⋯ menu** has **Download as URLs**, **Cancel** (while a job runs), and **Delete**.
- **A warning icon** next to the status explains rows the export left out, such as logs beyond the Free plan's visible-log limit.
- **Expired** means the files are gone. Run the export again.