Exporting Project Metadata in CSV Format

T-SBADV-012-005

Using the Export CSV dialog, you can export your project's metadata, such as its scene and panel names, its transitions, the captions for each of your project's panels, the names of each layers in your panels, and other such information into a Comma Separated Value (.csv) spreadsheet.

CSV is a text-based spreadsheet format that is commonly supported by spreadsheet editors, and which is easy to process in scripts and other software as it is merely a text file containing the value of each cell, typically separated by a comma. However, it does not support advanced spreadsheet features such as text formatting and formulas.

Exporting a CSV file can be useful if you wish to view the metadata for your project in a spreadsheet editor, such as Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice Calc or Google Sheets, for analysis, or if you wish to make a script that will use the metadata for your project in any specific way.

You can also use this dialog to export your project's captions into a spreadsheet, edit them in a spreadsheet editor, then import the edited spreadsheet back into your project to update its captions. For more information on this procedure, see About Editing a Project's Captions in a Spreadsheet Editor.

IMPORTANT If your captions contain non-latin character (ie: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc.), you should avoid editing a CSV containing your project's captions in Microsoft Excel, as it will display those non-latin characters, but it will not save them in your CSV file. LibreOffice Calc and Google Sheets support saving CSV files with non-latin characters.
  1. Select File > Export > CSV.

The Export to CSV dialog box opens.

  1. In the Destination Path section, click the Browse button.
  1. In the Save dialog, browse to the location in which you want to export your CSV file. In the File name field, type in the desired name for the document and click on Save.
  1. In the Encoding drop-down, select the type of text encoding for the CSV file. Choosing the right encoding might be necessary depending on what kind of encoding the editor you plan to use supports, and whether it needs a specific kind of encoding for Unicode characters. In most cases, UTF-8 should do the job.
  1. In the Field Separator drop-down, select the character to use for separating each cell in the table. Generally, CSV editors expect the field separator to be commas. Otherwise, you can choose between the following characters: Comma, Semicolon, Tab or Vertical bar (pipe).
  1. Check each type of data that you want to include in the exported table.

    2. The exported .csv file will contain one row for each exported panel. It will also have at least one column, the Object Id column, which stores a special identifier composed of 16 hexadecimal characters for each panel in your storyboard, making sure that Storyboard Pro can identify which row belongs to which panel in your project.

    • Include Column Names: Adds an extra header row at the top which indicates the purpose of each column in the table.
    • Include Sequence Names: Adds a Sequence column which indicates the number of the sequence for each panel.
    • Include Scene Names: Adds a Scene column which indicates the number or name of each scene for each panel.
    • Include Panel Names: Adds a Panel column which indicates the number or name of each panel.
    • Include Transitions: Adds a column for each transition in the project, between the rows corresponding to the two panels that are joined by the transition.
    • Include Scene Frame Number: Adds a column that indicates the length of the scene in frames.
    • Include Panel Frame Number: Adds a column that indicates the length of the panel in frames.
    • Include Captions: Adds a column for each caption type in your project, and which will indicate the content of each caption type for each panel.
    • Include Rich Text Formatting: If your captions have any formatting, check this option to export the content of your captions in HTML, which will preserve the formatting of your captions. If this option is unchecked, your captions will be exported in plain text. They will be easier to read and edit, but if you re-import the .csv file into your project, the formatting of the captions will be lost.
    • Include Camera Information: Indicates whether the camera is static or dynamic (animated) for each panel.
    • Include Layer Names: This will add as many columns as the amount of layers in the panel that has the most layers. For each panel, the name of each layer in the panel will be indicated. Layers at the bottom are listed in the leftmost layer column, and layers at the top are listed in the rightmost layer column.
    • Include Tracking Information:Indicates whether or not the panel is tracked, the date at which the panel started getting tracked, and the tracking notes added to that panel, if any.

  1. In the Export Range section, select whether you want to export the entire project, or only specific parts of it:
    • All: Exports the entire storyboard.
    • Selected Scenes: Select this option to export a specific selection of scenes. Then, click on the Select button to open the Scenes Picker dialog box, in which you can:
      • Type the number of a sequence or of a scene in the Sequence or Scene fields in the Filter section, to only show matching sequences or matching scenes in the list.
      • Click and drag to select a range of scenes.
      • Hold the Ctrl key and click on each scene you want to add to your selection.
      • Hold the Shift key, then click on the first scene and the last scene you want to add to your selection, to select every scene between those two scenes inclusively.
      • If your project has sequences, click on a sequence to select every scene in that sequence.
    • Current Scene: Exports only the currently selected scene.
    • Current Panel: Exports only the currently selected panel.
    • Tracked Panels:Exports panels on which tracking changes is enabled—see About Track Changes.
  1. To view the exported file in your machine's spreadsheet editor after the export, enable the Open document/folder after export option.
  1. Click on the Export button.