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Importing & Exporting Monitors

Use export and import to create manual backups of your data or share monitors. We recommend taking regular backups to recover from accidental data loss.

You can export data in JSON and CSV format.

JSON versus CSV

JSON CSV
Export: Used to back up your monitors Import: Used to create full-page monitors in bulk when you have many URLs
Export: JSON export contains monitor configuration Export: CSV exports do not contain monitor configuration

Steps to export JSONs from your watchlist:

Use the checkbox to select monitors you want to export.

(Optional: Use the search function to find monitors with keywords, then use the checkbox to select the monitors you want to export.)

  1. Click hamburger icon in Watchlist.
  2. Click “Export → JSON”.
Downloading JSON of selected monitor

  1. The radio button selects only the monitors you checked. In the pop-up, click “Download.” To download all monitors in the watchlist, choose the other option.

    Actions associated with monitors are not downloaded; you can add them while importing.

Downloading JSON of selected monitors

You will find the JSON of the downloaded monitors in the “Downloads” folder of your device.

Steps to import monitors via JSON File:

  1. Click the hamburger icon -> Import -> JSON.
Import monitor JSONs to watchlist
  1. Click Select JSON file to import the files from your device. Or paste the JSON in the text window.
Import monitor to watchlist

Once you select the JSON file, its contents appear in the text window as shown below:

Import monitor to watchlist
  1. Click “Next”.

Set common actions for all monitors from the “add action” button.

  1. The options window opens. Here you can select the device to run your monitor.
Import monitors and add action

This adds the same action for all imported monitors. You can skip it if you do not want a common action.

  1. Click “Import”.

How to perform bulk import/export in CSV format?

Exporting monitors to CSV file:

  1. Select your set of monitors you want to export using the checkbox option. If you want to export all monitors in the watchlist, leave all selections unchecked.
  2. Click hamburger icon in Watchlist. Click “Export → CSV”.
  3. Click “Download”.

Importing monitors from a CSV file:

Use CSV import to set up a large number of full-page monitors.

You can use a filled version of this template for import.

  1. Click hamburger icon in Watchlist. Click “Import → CSV”.

    Export monitors to CSV file

  2. Click Select CSV file to import monitors if you already have a CSV file ready for import.

Import monitors with csv

Distill identifies column attributes to import. You may also match them manually to your monitor properties.

Import monitors with csv

  1. Click “Next-configure options and actions”. Here, you can add common actions for all monitors.

How to add a list of URLs in bulk for monitoring?

The CSV import allows you to create full-page monitors in bulk. Use the following values and import the CSV file to create full-page monitors for each URL in the file.

  • Name
  • URL
  • Labels (Optional)

Use CSV import if you do not have any previous backups or have just started using Distill.

What attributes are exported in JSON?

  • Monitor’s URL
  • Monitor’s Name
  • Content Type
  • Schedule for checks
  • Time Stamp
  • Conditions (JSON only)
  • Tags (Labels associated to the monitor)
  • Config
  • State of the monitor (On/Off)

Note: Actions and change history are not exported. However, during import, you can set up a common action for all monitors.

What attributes are exported in CSV?

  • Monitor’s Name
  • Monitor’s URL
  • Monitor’s Labels
  • Content Type (Webpage, Feed, PDF, Word, JSON, Sitemap, XML)
  • Created On
  • Changed On (Time of the latest recorded change on the monitor)
  • Text (The monitored text that appears in the monitor preview)
  • Error

Watch this quick video to learn how to import and export monitors from your watchlist:

Suggested reading:

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