Introduction
In this guided path, you will learn how to export channels from your cloud account for others to use, and then how to import channels into your account. The ability to export and import channels makes it easy for teams to preserve the contents of an entire channel, which can then be easily reused as templates or to simply migrate channels from one account to another.
In order for a channel to be imported into an account, it must have a public code. The public code for a channel is a URL that is automatically generated when a channel is selected for export. Once a channel has a public code, it can then be used by anyone else in the cloud as a way to import the channel into their account. The public code for exporting and importing can be made available forever, or only for a specified duration.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure that you have the following prerequisites met:
- You will need an Appspace cloud account.
- You will need Publisher permissions to be able to export and import channels.
- Publisher permissions gives you the ability to manage a channel in its entirety and how it gets published.
- Publisher permissions are granted by the administrator of the account, which will typically be the Account Owner.
- You already have one or more channels that you wish to export.
Export a channel from your account
Now that you have a collection of existing channels, there will be situations where you will want to export any of your channels to be used elsewhere. Your channel could be a template that you have designed with ready-to-use content, or it could be a channel that you wish to migrate to another account.
If you just need to import a channel, you can skip to the next part.
To export a channel from your cloud account, simply follow the steps below.
Select the channel you want to export
In the console, go to the Channels workflow, and find the channel that you want to export from your channel listing. Click on the button at the top left of the channel to view additional channel options, and click on Export to begin the process.
Automatically generate the channel's public code
In order for a channel to be available to others for importing, a public code must first be generated.
When generating the channel’s public code, you have the following options for the public code’s duration of availability:
- One time use
- Active for 7 days
- Active for 30 days
- Never expires
Copy the public code of the channel for sharing
Once the channel’s public code is generated, it will be displayed for you to copy and share. The public code link will be active for anyone to import the channel based on the duration you chose in the previous step. If the channel’s public code has a time limit, the channel will simply not be available for import once the time limit expires.
To the next part
Now that you have exported a channel and made it available with a public code, it can then be imported into any other account in the cloud. The next part of this guided path shows how you can use the public code of a channel to import into your account.
Import a channel into your account
If you have an active public code for a channel from any cloud account, you can easily import that channel into your own cloud account.
To import a channel into your account using its public code, simply follow the steps below.
Import a new channel
Go to the Channels workflow and expand the Create options. Click on the option to Import to begin the channel import process.
Enter the public code into the export URL field
Copy and paste the public code of the channel you wish to import. The public code will be in the form of a fully qualified URL. Once you have entered the code, it will automatically be validated and you will then see the channel import form.
Enter channel import details
Once the channel to be imported is validated, you can enter additional details should you wish to override the default settings.
- Name: By default, the original channel’s name will be used. You can override this with a name of your own.
- Channel group: Be default, the channel will not be assigned to any channel group. You can choose to enter a channel group for the newly imported channel.
- Save content to: By default, the content of the newly imported channel will be saved into your user group’s library. You can choose another library or folder if you wish.
To finish the import process, click on the Import button.
Channel import progress
Once the channel import process begins, a progress bar will indicate how much of the channel has been imported. A channel with a larger content set will naturally take longer to import. You have the option to close the window and the channel import process will continue in the background.
Completion of channel import
When the channel finishes importing, you will see a notification in the console with the name of the newly imported channel. When you go to your channel listing, you will see the newly imported channel appear there.
Congratulations!
You have successfully exported a channel from your account for others to use. and you have also learned how to import a channel into your own account.
Now that you are familiar with the process of exporting and importing channels, you can easily share channels that you have created to other organizations, or you can also import them into your account. The most common scenario for exporting and importing channels is for demos and templates.
For more details on how to do batch export and import operations, you can read through our more extensive how to guides for exporting and importing channels and channel groups.
What's Next?
Deepen your knowledge of cards and channels by taking a look at more authoring paths and guides.
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