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For an overview of "cases" in CommCare, see our case management overview. Or go back to the Data Export Overview.

This page is divided in the following sections:

A. Export Case Data to Excel

This export functionality provides the ability to download data from the cases submitted to CommCareHQ. You should use this feature when you are interested in seeing the latest data about a beneficiary. Applications will typically collect data in different forms at different points in time. This case export will capture the latest data about a beneficiary after all previous data updates have been applied.  

Location: CommcareHQ -> Data -> Export Data -> Export Cases

This page is divided into three main parts:

A. Creating New Case Exports

B. Downloading Case Exports

B. Creating New Case Exports

A form export allows the user to set up a download of a form's data. Form exports can later be viewed and downloaded by other members of the project space.

In order to create an export, you can follow the steps below:

  • Click on the "+ Create New Export" button.
  • You can select which case data you would like to export by selecting from the following options:
    • Application
    • Case type



  • Click "Create Export" to navigate to that export's edit page, where you can manipulate more settings:

           

Cases: Click this box to view all the fields that are associated with each case. A de-selected table will not be available when downloading the export. If there is just one case type, the check box will disabled.  

In the first column, the fields can be re-ordered by dragging the "double-arrow" up or down. The order that is selected on this page will correspond with the order the variables are displayed in the export file.

Select the fields you want to include in your report by using the check boxes. The fields shown represent the data collected by the mobile user, the application, the phone, and the server where the data is stored.

In the fourth column, change field names which will update the header row of the data export. By default the display column will repeat the field name from the third column.



Additionally there are three options that can be selected by checking boxes in export settings:

  • Automatically convert dates for Excel: Leaving this checked will ensure dates appear in excel format. Otherwise they will appear as a normal text format.
  • Create a Daily Saved Export: By checking this box, the saved custom report will be pre-processed once every 24 hours and available for immediate download on the main Form Exports page.
  • Show Deleted Questions and Advanced Properties: if checked the export will allow you to see to see advanced properties and questions that have been deleted from the current version of your application. Advanced properties include metadata like case updates and server information.




  • Finally, create your export: Click "Create" to finish the export creation process.  You're done!
  • The export will now be available on the Export Cases page

C. Downloading New Case Exports



  • On the case exports page, click the "Export" button
  • You will see the following screen, with options to select by user type or group (for more details on the Case Owner(s) filter see here):

  • Click "Prepare Export"

You can wait for the file to download, or, if the file is very large, you can click the button for "Email me when ready," and CommCare will email you with a link to the file download when the download is complete.

Click "Download" to download your case export

D. Bulk delete Case Exports

The bulk delete case export gives you the option to bulk delete multiple exports at once. 

These are the steps to bulk delete case export

    • In the Export Dashboard you will find a check box to select all or specific exports
    • On checking the box, you will notice a "Delete Selected Export" button becomes available on the left side of the page
    • Click on the "Delete Selected Export" button and you will be promoted to confirm the bulk delete action
    • Once Delete Export is clicked it will bulk delete the exports selected at once


E. Create a Bulk Case Export 

This allows you to create an export of all available case types in a project space. This functionality is only available for project spaces with a maximum of 30 case types or 20 applications. The following options are disabled when downloading all case types:

  • The option to Generate a Data Export Tool config file
  • The ability to change sheet names, the sheet names will be defaulted to the case type
  • The option to select the case properties to download
  • The ability to mark sensitive data will also be disabled


Follow the below steps to set up a bulk case export

  • Click on Add export and then select Applications under "App type", then Any Application under "Application" and select All Case Types under "Case type"


  • Then click on Add Export
  • Then update the fields in the "Export Settings" page and click on the "Create" button

  • There can sometimes be a delay in populating the export with all case types, the below error message will be displayed while updating is still in progress

F. Sharing Case Data Exports

On the Pro plan or higher Commcare allows users to share Case Data Exports between users. To activate this option, follow the following steps:

Step - 1:  When creating the rules for the users make sure the role for accessing the shared exports is activated

When defining the roles and permissions make sure you allow users to have access to Shared Exports by adding to the role, the Shared Exports, more information about this process can be found here.

Step - 2:  When creating or editing the export, define the access for the specific export, the options are:

  • Private: the export will not be shared with other users in the domain
  • Export only: other users will not be edit the case export configurations, they will only be able to export data using the export configurations
  • Edit and Export: if you select this option, other users will be edit the case export configurations, and they will also be able to export data using the export configurations


Step - 3: Access Shared reports by navigating to Data → Export Case Data, you will find a section of "Exports Shared with Me"

G. Error Messages In Case Exports

You may also sometimes encounter an error mentioning: 

This export contains 101865 rows. Please change the filters to be less than 100000 rows.

This means that the number of rows exceeds what we're able to successfully support via the export UI. You can try to reduce the date range of the export and download in batches, or you can also add filters to reduce the number of users the export is covering.

Alternatively, you can use other methods we have available to export your Form Data in case you have a large data set. Please see this help page for more information on selecting tools for data exports on CommCare HQ.




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