Download Individual OSF Wikis, Metadata, and Logs

Before the transition, you may want to download information associated with your OSF Project to retain a copy for your records.

You can download project files separately, but some project information like activity logs, wiki pages, and metadata  is stored separately from files and requires its own download process.

There are multiple ways to download these files. This guide will cover downloading these one at a time through your browser. Additional tools utilizing the OSF APIs will be made available for exporting project content over the next few weeks.

Before you start

Before downloading metadata, wiki pages, and activity logs for an OSF Project or Component:

• Decide what you need to download: Metadata, wiki pages, and activity logs are separate parts of your Project and must be accessed individually.
• Identify the Project or Component you need: This guide applies to both top-level Projects and Components. Make sure you have the URL for the specific Project or Component you want to access.
• Find the project or component GUID: The GUID is the five-character identifier in the Project or Component URL and is required to access the download links.
• Sign in to OSF if the content is private: Use an OSF account with access to the Project or Component. Keep OSF open in the same browser while using the download links.

How to find the Project GUID

The GUID is the five-character identifier in the Project URL.

For example in this Project:

https://osf.io/svqht/

The GUID is:

svqht

Replace GUID in each link below with the Project or Component GUID.

Download essential metadata

Put the following URL into your browser (replace “GUID” with the guid for your Project):

https://osf.io/metadata/GUID/

For example:

https://osf.io/metadata/svqht/

This downloads the same essential metadata record available from the Metadata section of the OSF Project page. The resulting JSON uses DataCite-style fields for information such as:

• Title
• Contributors
• Description
• Resource type
• Identifiers
• Publisher (COS)
• Dates
• Subjects
• License or rights information
• Funder information

You can also download metadata for a Project or Component on the Project overview page using the download button in the upper right of the metadata section.

Download wiki pages

An OSF Project or Component may have more than one wiki page. Each wiki page has its own wiki ID.

1. Go to your project or component’s wiki page and copy the identifier GUID associated with the project. 

EXAMPLE: GUID = zvp8k

Find the available wiki pages

Using the GUID, open:

https://api.osf.io/v2/nodes/GUID/wikis/?page%5Bsize%5D=100

For example:

https://api.osf.io/v2/nodes/zvp8k/wikis/?page%5Bsize%5D=100

The browser displays a JSON record containing the available wiki pages. For each item under data, note:

• id: the wiki ID
• attributes.name: the wiki page name

Open the current version of a wiki

Using the id for each wiki page, you can open a browser page with the wiki content

Use the following url, replace “WIKI_ID” with the id for the page:

https://api.osf.io/v2/wikis/WIKI_ID/content/

For example:

https://api.osf.io/v2/wikis/6eduf/content/

The current wiki content will open as Markdown or plain text. If it does not download automatically:

1. Select File and then Save Page As in your browser.
2. Give the file a meaningful name.
3. Save it with the .md extension.

For example:

Project Title [zvp8k] - Wiki - Home [6eduf].md

Repeat this process for every wiki ID returned by the wiki listing.

You can also download the file by navigating through the wiki record and right click on the URL for “download” in the “links” section

Right click on the "download" link, select Open Link in a new tab

Download earlier wiki versions

To see all available versions of a wiki, open:

https://api.osf.io/v2/wikis/WIKI_ID/versions/?page%5Bsize%5D=100

Each item under data has a version ID. Download a specific version using:

https://api.osf.io/v2/wikis/WIKI_ID/versions/VERSION_ID/content/

For example:

https://api.osf.io/v2/wikis/qkv5d/versions/3/content/

Save each response as a separate .md file, such as:

Project Title [gsnfb] - Wiki - Home [qkv5d] - Version 3.md

If the version's response contains a nonempty links.next value, open that URL to retrieve the next page of versions.

You can also download the file of each version by navigating through the wiki record and right click on the URL for “download” in the “links” section

Download activity logs

Use the following link to retrieve up to 100 activity-log entries:

https://api.osf.io/v2/nodes/GUID/logs/?format=jsonapi&page%5Bsize%5D=100&page=1

For example:

https://api.osf.io/v2/nodes/gsnfb/logs/?format=jsonapi&page%5Bsize%5D=100&page=1

The activity logs open as JSON in the browser. They generally do not download automatically.

To save them:

1. Select File and then Save Page As.
2. Save the response with a .json extension.

For example:

Project Title [gsnfb] - Activity Logs - Page 1.json

Retrieve additional activity-log pages

Each activity log page contains 100 log entires. A project with more than 100 log entries requires retrieving multiple pages. To retrieve each subsequent page, change the final page number in the URL:

&page=2
&page=3
&page=4

Alternately, if you scroll to the end of a page of log entries, the API response also includes a links.next value when another page is available. 

Copy this URL and open it to save the next page. Keep opening and saving pages until links.next is null.

Name each file according to its page number:

Project Title [gsnfb] - Activity Logs - Page 1.json
Project Title [gsnfb] - Activity Logs - Page 2.json
Project Title [gsnfb] - Activity Logs - Page 3.json

There is currently no single browser link that combines every activity-log page into one file.

Repeat for project components

Projects and components have separate metadata, wikis, and activity logs. Repeat the process using the GUID of each component.

Troubleshooting

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