Export data from Workfront via Kick-Starts

Last update: January 13, 2025

Topics:
System Setup and Administration

CREATED FOR:

Admin

As an Adobe Workfront administrator, you can use the Kick-Starts data exporter to export data from Workfront. You can use it in other applications after you export it.

Exporting data through Kick-Starts is also helpful in understanding what fields are associated with each object, how these fields are coded, as well as how the values of these fields are formatted in the database.

Access requirements

Expand to view access requirements for the functionality in this article.

You must have the following access to perform the steps in this article:

Adobe Workfront plan

Any

Adobe Workfront license

New: Standard

Current: Plan

Access level configurations

System Administrator

For more detail about the information in this table, see Access requirements in Workfront documentation.

Advantages and disadvantages of using kick-starts to export data

There are two ways to export data within Workfront:

Exporting data from a report or a list

For more information about exporting data from a report or a list, see Export data.
Exporting data via kick-starts

The following table shows the advantages and disadvantages of each method:

	Exported Data Includes Object and Field Values	Ability to Export Data around Multiple Object Types Simultaneously
Exporting Data from a List View For more information about exporting data from a list, see Export data	Yes Both Workfront native fields and custom fields associated with the objects are exported.	No
Exporting Data via Kick-Starts	Yes (limited) Most Workfront native fields associated with objects are exported, but some are not. For example, you cannot export the Schedule, Project Owner, or Project Sponsor fields through a project kick-start export. In a project that has a custom form attached, any data entered in the fields on the form is not exported. But you can export a custom form. The resulting file lists the fields configured in the form, such as text boxes and radio buttons.	Yes Using Kick-Starts to export Workfront data enables you to export data related to multiple object types in a single export. For example, you can include tasks, issues, and projects in a single export.

Exported Data Includes Object and Field Values

Ability to Export Data around Multiple Object Types Simultaneously

Exporting Data from a List View

For more information about exporting data from a list, see Export data

Yes

Both Workfront native fields and custom fields associated with the objects are exported.

Exporting Data via Kick-Starts

Yes (limited)

Most Workfront native fields associated with objects are exported, but some are not. For example, you cannot export the Schedule, Project Owner, or Project Sponsor fields through a project kick-start export.

In a project that has a custom form attached, any data entered in the fields on the form is not exported.

But you can export a custom form. The resulting file lists the fields configured in the form, such as text boxes and radio buttons.

Yes

Using Kick-Starts to export Workfront data enables you to export data related to multiple object types in a single export. For example, you can include tasks, issues, and projects in a single export.

Export limits

The following limitations exist when exporting data via kick-starts (data is exported in an Excel file format):

50,000 rows: The number of rows allowed in the file.
65,530 hyperlinks: This is a limit imposed by Excel on documents that contain more than 65,530 hyperlinks. These documents cannot be opened after they are exported. Note that an Excel document may have just 200 rows of data, but if there are more than 65,530 links inside the document, the document does not open.

Export data via kick-starts

Click the Main Menu icon in the upper-right corner of Adobe Workfront, or (if available), click the Main Menu icon in the upper-left corner, then click Setup .
Click System > Kick-Starts, then click Export Data.

Select the object you want to export. By default, the following objects are displayed under What to include:

Object	Exported Sheets of the Excel File	Export Format
Dashboard	Parameter Parameter Option Parameter Group Category Parameter Category Report Portal Tab Section Dashboard Preferences	ZIP
Report	Parameter Parameter Option Parameter Group Category Parameter Category Report Preferences	ZIP
Approval	Step Approver Approval Step Approval Approval Process Preferences	Excel
Custom Data	Parameter Parameter Option Parameter Group Category Parameter Category Preferences	Excel
Expense Type	Expense Type Preferences	Excel
Hour Type	Hour Type Preferences	Excel
Team	Team Member Team Preferences	Excel
User	User Preferences	Excel

Click More Options to see the full list of objects.

All of the objects listed here can be used to also import data into Workfront.

The only exception is the Access Levels object. The Access Levels data sheet that is included in an export is provided for reference purposes only. It allows you to assign an access level to a new user account by ID.

For more information about importing data into Workfront via kick-starts, see Import data into Adobe Workfront using a Kick-Start template. The following is a list of all objects that can be exported through kick-starts:

Object	Exported Sheets of the Excel File	Export Format
Access Level	Access Level Preferences	Excel
Assignment	Assignment Preferences	Excel
Company	Company Preferences	Excel
Email Template	Email Template Preferences	Excel
Expense	Expense Preferences	Excel
External Page	External Page Preferences	Excel
Filter	Filter Preferences	ZIP
Group	Group Preferences	Excel
Grouping	Grouping Preferences	ZIP
Hour	Hour Preferences	Excel
Issue	Issue Preferences	Excel
Job Role	Job role Preferences	Excel
Milestone Path	Milestone Milestone Path Preferences	Excel
Note	Note Preferences	Excel
Portfolio	Portfolio Preferences	Excel
Project	Queue Project Routing Rule Queue Topic Preferences	Excel
Resource Estimate	Resource Estimate Preferences	Excel
Resource Pool	Resource Pool Preferences	Excel
Risk	Risk Preferences	Excel
Risk Type	Risk Type Preferences	Excel
Scorecard	Scorecard Questions Scorecard Option Scorecard Preferences	Excel
Task	Task Preferences	Excel
Template	Queue Template Routing Rule Queue Topic Preferences	Excel
Template Assignment	Template Assignment Preferences	Excel
Template Task	Template Task Preferences	Excel
Timesheet	Timesheet Profile Timesheet Preferences	Excel
View	View Preferences	ZIP

Click Download.

The exported kick-start file is downloaded to your computer either as an Excel file, or a . zip file containing multiple Excel and properties files. Each Excel file is a collection of sheets, where each sheet represents a field associated with the object you selected. There is a Properties sheet associated with every export.

The Dashboard and Report options allow you to select specific dashboards and reports to include in the download. You can export only Dashboards, which are shared system-wide.

You cannot export matrix reports. For more information about matrix reports, see Create a matrix report.

Kick-Starts does not support Text Mode filters or groupings. For successful exporting, the reporting filters and groupings must be switched to Standard Mode.

You can select up to 100 dashboards and 100 reports in a single export.

You can export multiple objects at one time.
(Recommended) Analyze the exported data to ensure that all the information you expect to see was exported.

For large exports, Workfront works in the background to produce the Excel file and gives you a warning message about the delay. The kick-start file is emailed to you when the download finishes.

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