Exporting your data
Download everything in your account as one archive, built and decrypted in your browser. What's included, the limits, and how to keep it safe.
On this page
Your casework is yours. You can take a full copy out of PIToolkit at any time, on every plan.
How to export
- Go to Settings, section Data controls, and find Export your data.
- Choose Export everything….
- Confirm with your current password, and your authenticator code if you have two-factor authentication on. (Backup codes aren’t accepted here.) Choose Start the export.
- Keep the tab open while the archive is built. You’ll see each step, such as “Decrypting your exhibits 3 of 40”.
- When it’s ready, choose Download the archive.
What’s in it
Everything in your account, including your cases, notes, case activity, exhibits, reports, time entries, contacts, message history, notifications, your activity log, branding and settings. Records come out as CSV spreadsheets, with the decrypted text in their own columns. Evidence files come out as the original files, grouped by case. A README explains the layout.
A few things to know:
- Message text isn’t decrypted in the export. Messages are listed with sender and time, but their text stays encrypted. Read or copy important messages in PIToolkit itself.
- Reports are exported as their text, not as PDFs. Use Preview PDF on a report to save a PDF copy.
- Any single exhibit over 100 MB is left out, and you’re told which ones. Download those from the case directly.
- An export can include up to 10,000 of each kind of record, and up to 2 GB in total.
How it’s protected, and what you’re responsible for
The archive is built and decrypted in your browser, so nothing readable passes through PIToolkit’s servers. While it waits for you to download it, the stored copy is encrypted to your own key and is deleted after 24 hours. Each time you press Download the archive, a new download link is made that lasts 15 minutes.
The file you save is a normal, unencrypted ZIP. Anyone who gets hold of it can read your cases. Store it somewhere encrypted, such as an encrypted drive, and delete copies you no longer need.
Every export and every download is recorded in your activity log.
How often you can export
After a completed export, you can start another after 6 hours. This limit is there so that someone with a stolen session can’t repeatedly copy your whole account. If an export fails partway through, you may need to wait up to an hour before starting again; the message tells you how long.