In general, we recommend that once a study has reached its end, copies of the data dictionary and a data export should be downloaded and archived as per the investigator's preference. More details on our End of Study and Archival Policy can be found here. 

Backups of a project may also be performed for reasons other than archiving a completed study, or archiving your study as part of our Stale Project Review. For instance, if significant changes will be made to a study's design, we recommend creating a backup of the project. Read more on our Backup Policy here.

As part of our Stale Project Review, we are identifying REDCap projects which have had no activity logged in the previous seven years. The review process also entails the removal of old/unwanted projects from REDCap. You may wish to create an archive of any older projects either in advance of or, upon receipt of a stale project notification.

This page will detail two options for creating a backup (or archival copy) of your project. The first option is ideal for data sharing, while the second option outlined is better suited for archival purposes, as it captures more aspects of the study design (i.e. events, in the case of longitudinal studies; automatic survey invitations which have been created, etc). There are also instructions for downloading any documents or file uploads associated with your project, to include in your backup.

At minimum, we recommend that your backup should include:

(1)   A copy of the project’s data dictionary (CSV file download)

(2)   A copy of the data collected on the project (i.e. a data export file)

Please note that, depending on the browser used, the items downloaded from REDCap to create a backup may download to a Downloads folder (i.e. Chrome) or another user-specified folder on your computer.

(1) Backup of Data Dictionary & Data Export

Check Data Export permissions

Before proceeding with the creation of your backup, verify that you have full data export permissions for all instruments in your project.

Within REDCap, go to the User Rights module (located in the left-hand menu), under Applications.

On the page that loads, click on your Role name or username which displays in the user rights table. In the dialogue box that opens, under “Privileges for Viewing and Exporting Data”, make sure that “Full Data Set” is selected under “Data Export Rights”. 

Click Save Changes and proceed to the next step: downloading the project data.

Download the data collected on the project

Click on the Data Exports, Reports and Stats module (on the left hand menu), under Applications.

On the page that loads, click on Export Data. 

On the dialogue box that opens, select the preferred export format (CSV/Microsoft Excel (raw data) is recommended), and click Export Data.

Download the Data Dictionary 

Click on Dictionary on the left hand menu, under Project Home and Design. The data dictionary is a CSV file that contains your project’s fields (i.e. survey question fields).

Click on the “Download the current Data Dictionary” link to download the CSV file.

Alternatively, a XML format download of your project can be downloaded. There is the option to download the metadata only (i.e. the instruments contained in the project, defined events. etc), or the metadata and data, which would include the instruments and any records contained in the project.  

XML backups can be loaded back into REDCap by an administrator and are therefore good for backup purposes. The XML is more difficult to work with and therefore is not suitable for data sharing. 

(2) XML Backup of Project

Download the project XML

The project, in XML format, can be downloaded by navigating to the Other Functionality tab on the project home page.

Downloading metadata only will download the structure of your project (i.e. instruments, survey settings, if selected), while downloading metadata and data will download the structure as well as the records contained within the project.

It is also possible to include additional project components in the XML file, such as automated survey invitations of form display logic settings, by checking off the relevant components listed.

Downloading Documents or File Uploads for Archival Purposes

You may also wish to download any documents associated with your project, for archival purposes. The File Repository allows for the storage, organizing and sharing of file used for a project. This is one location where documents or files associated with a project can be downloaded. Select the folder in the File Repository containing the files you wish to download, then click the "Download all" button.

Files which have been uploaded to a project (i.e. files which are uploaded into file upload fields on a survey or form) can be downloaded, in a single ZIP file, by accessing the Data Exports, Reports and Stats Module (in the left-hand menu) and selecting the Other Export Options Tab.