1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
|
---
type: reference
stage: Manage
group: Import
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---
# Group import/export **(FREE)**
> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/2888) in GitLab 13.0 as an experimental feature. May change in future releases.
Existing groups running on any GitLab instance or GitLab.com can be exported with all their related data and moved to a
new GitLab instance.
The **GitLab import/export** button is displayed if the group import option in enabled.
See also:
- [Group Import/Export API](../../../api/group_import_export.md)
- [Project Import/Export](../../project/settings/import_export.md)
- [Project Import/Export API](../../../api/project_import_export.md)
To enable GitLab import/export:
1. On the top bar, go to **Menu > Admin > Settings > General > Visibility and access controls**.
1. Scroll to **Import sources**.
1. Enable the desired **Import sources**.
## Important Notes
Note the following:
- Exports are stored in a temporary directory and are deleted every 24 hours by a specific worker.
- To preserve group-level relationships from imported projects, run the Group Import/Export first, to allow projects to
be imported into the desired group structure.
- Imported groups are given a `private` visibility level, unless imported into a parent group.
- If imported into a parent group, a subgroup inherits the same level of visibility unless otherwise restricted.
- To preserve the member list and their respective permissions on imported groups, review the users in these groups. Make
sure these users exist before importing the desired groups.
### Exported Contents
The following items are exported:
- Milestones
- Labels
- Boards and Board Lists
- Badges
- Subgroups (including all the aforementioned data)
- Epics
- Events
- Wikis **(PREMIUM SELF)** (Introduced in [GitLab 13.9](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/53247))
The following items are **not** exported:
- Projects
- Runner tokens
- SAML discovery tokens
NOTE:
For more details on the specific data persisted in a group export, see the
[`import_export.yml`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/import_export/group/import_export.yml) file.
## Exporting a Group
1. Navigate to your group's homepage.
1. Click **Settings** in the sidebar.
1. In the **Advanced** section, click the **Export Group** button.
1. After the export is generated, you should receive an e-mail with a link to the [exported contents](#exported-contents)
in a compressed tar archive, with contents in NDJSON format.
1. Alternatively, you can come back to the project settings and download the
file from there by clicking **Download export**, or generate a new file by clicking **Regenerate export**.
NOTE:
The maximum import file size can be set by the Administrator, default is `0` (unlimited).
As an administrator, you can modify the maximum import file size. To do so, use the `max_import_size` option in the [Application settings API](../../../api/settings.md#change-application-settings) or the [Admin UI](../../admin_area/settings/account_and_limit_settings.md). Default [modified](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/251106) from 50MB to 0 in GitLab 13.8.
### Between CE and EE
You can export groups from the [Community Edition to the Enterprise Edition](https://about.gitlab.com/install/ce-or-ee/) and vice versa.
The Enterprise Edition retains some group data that isn't part of the Community Edition. If you're exporting a group from the Enterprise Edition to the Community Edition, you may lose this data. For more information, see [downgrading from EE to CE](../../../README.md).
## Importing the group
1. Navigate to the New Group page, either via the `+` button in the top navigation bar, or the **New subgroup** button
on an existing group's page.
1. On the New Group page, select the **Import group** tab.
1. Enter your group name.
1. Accept or modify the associated group URL.
1. Click **Choose file**
1. Select the file that you exported in the [exporting a group](#exporting-a-group) section.
1. Click **Import group** to begin importing. Your newly imported group page appears after the operation completes.
## Version history
### 14.0+
In GitLab 14.0, the JSON format is no longer supported for project and group exports. To allow for a
transitional period, you can still import any JSON exports. The new format for imports and exports
is NDJSON.
### 13.0+
GitLab can import bundles that were exported from a different GitLab deployment.
This ability is limited to two previous GitLab [minor](../../../policy/maintenance.md#versioning)
releases, which is similar to our process for [Security Releases](../../../policy/maintenance.md#security-releases).
For example:
| Current version | Can import bundles exported from |
|-----------------|----------------------------------|
| 13.0 | 13.0, 12.10, 12.9 |
| 13.1 | 13.1, 13.0, 12.10 |
## Rate Limits
To help avoid abuse, by default, users are rate limited to:
| Request Type | Limit |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| Export | 6 groups per minute |
| Download export | 1 download per group per minute |
| Import | 6 groups per minute |
Please note that GitLab.com may have [different settings](../../gitlab_com/index.md#importexport) from the defaults.
|
