Export and import
Your data is yours — killBottleneck gives it back in whatever shape the situation calls for: a picture for a presentation, a spreadsheet for a report, JSON for another instance.
Exporting a map
- PNG / PDF — the map as an image, true to the screen: captured in your active skin and light/dark mode, including the background color.
- JSON — the whole project as a portable file, with names or without names (the responsible people and assignees cleared; automation names stay, they describe the process). The file holds the title, the description, the complete goal structure with statuses, deadlines, performers and automation requests, the attached tasks — and the map's automation rules, so a kanban board survives the trip. The "without names" export strips everything personal from the rules: "assign a person" actions and notifications to a concrete e-mail are dropped, checklist assignees are emptied and a rule with a condition on a concrete person is left out entirely (roles like "node owner" or positions stay).
Exporting tasks
The Tasks page exports the current filter as CSV, and can produce a Markdown project report — ready to paste into a document or a chat. The My day panel has its own PNG export, and the project dashboard saves as a PDF.
Importing a project
Import lives in the menu next to the New project button and accepts three formats:
| Format | What happens |
|---|---|
| killBottleneck JSON | The project is recreated: structure, statuses, deadlines, performers, tasks and automation rules (references are remapped to the new goals). |
| Asana project export (CSV) | Sections become map branches, tasks become goals, subtasks become child goals; statuses, due dates, descriptions and assignees carry over. |
| Trello board export (JSON) | Lists become branches, cards become goals, checklists become child goals; statuses, due dates and descriptions carry over. |
Everything is converted locally in the browser — nothing calls Asana or Trello. The limits: 400 items and 5 MB per file.
What an import deliberately does
An import always creates a new project owned by whoever imports it, and regenerates the goal identifiers so it cannot collide with the original. It shares nothing with anybody and sends no notifications — collaborating on an imported project starts with you sharing it manually. Assignments to e-mail addresses unknown on this instance are dropped, and the import tells you how many.
Not transferred: attachments, comments, sharing, archiving and numbering series.
The import speaks plainly — messages you may meet:
- "We dropped {N} assignments — that person isn't here yet."
- "{N} automation rules imported" / "{N} rules were skipped — they could not be created on this map." (an invalid rule is openly skipped, nothing vanishes silently; an e-mail unknown to the instance is dropped from the rule and counted among the assignments)
- "The project was shared with nobody — sharing starts with you."
- "The file has {N} items — the import handles at most 400." / "The file is over 5 MB."
- "File not recognized — we take a killBottleneck export (.json), Asana (CSV) or Trello (JSON)."
Next
- Public maps — sharing without exporting anything
- Backup and restore — the whole instance, not one project