#Data Export & Import

Your data, your rules. Export everything you've ever added to ambientChat — inventory, documents, conversations, preferences, the lot — as a portable archive you can keep, inspect, or bring to another platform. It's your digital life in a ZIP file.

#What It Does

Data Export creates a downloadable archive of your entire ambientChat account. Everything goes in: inventory items, documents (receipts, manuals, warranties), conversation history, folder structures, preferences, and settings. You get it all in one tidy package, because your data belongs to you and you should be able to walk away with it at any time.

Two formats are available:

  • JSON — A machine-readable archive that can be imported back into ambientChat. This is the format you want for backups and portability. It preserves every field, every relationship, every document ID.
  • CSV — A spreadsheet-friendly export for humans who want to browse their data in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers. Great for reviewing what you've got, but it's read-only — you can't import CSV back into the app.

Data Import does the reverse: take a previously exported JSON archive and restore it into your account. You can choose to overwrite existing data or skip items that already exist. Handy for restoring from a backup, migrating between accounts, or recovering from that time you accidentally deleted everything. (Not that you would. But just in case.)

Beyond the whole-account archive, you can print or export one thing at a time — an inventory item or a document — straight from its detail view. Perfect for printing an item's "passport" for insurance, sharing a manual, or saving a single receipt.

  • Print produces an attractive, branded page (AirPrint on iOS, your browser's print dialog on the web). AI-estimated values are flagged in red, just like in the app, so you always know what's a guess.
  • Export saves a file in the format you choose:
    • Items — PDF (a nicely laid-out sheet) or JSON (the raw data).
    • Documents — PDF, the original Markdown (for text notes), the original file (for scans and receipts), or JSON.

#How to use it

  • iOS — Open any item or document and tap Print or Export in the action bar. Export shows a quick format picker; Print opens the system print dialog.
  • Web — Open an item or document and click Print or Export. Print opens the rendered page in a new tab (use your browser's print button); Export opens the file to save.
  • Voice or chat — Just ask: "print my coffee maker" or "export the Sony manual as a PDF." ambientChat renders it and hands you a download link.
  • Shared with you — Items and documents others have shared with you can be printed and exported too (read-only) — handy for printing a manual a friend shared.

Select multiple items or documents (tap Select, then pick the ones you want), and the Print and Export actions appear right alongside Delete and Move:

  • Print lays the whole selection into one tidy report — perfect for a printed inventory list (great for insurance) or a stack of documents.
  • Export saves the selection as a PDF report, a CSV spreadsheet, or JSON. CSV is ideal for opening your selection in Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets.

On iOS the Print/Export buttons sit in the selection toolbar; on the web they're in the selection bar at the top of the list. You can also just ask in chat: "export my expiring items as a CSV."

Don't want to hand-pick? There's an Export (download) button in the list header too — it exports everything currently shown, so open a folder (or apply a filter) and export the whole thing in one tap. In chat you can name a folder directly: "export my Kitchen folder as a PDF."

#Save, Print or Export an AI Answer

Your conversations are context too. Every AI answer — in a live chat and in your saved Q&A — carries its own little toolbar so you can keep the good ones:

  • Copy the answer to the clipboard.
  • Save it as a document in your context (it lands in Documents as Markdown), so a useful answer becomes a permanent, searchable part of your AI's knowledge.
  • Share it by email.
  • Print a clean, branded page of the question and answer (AirPrint on iOS, your browser's print dialog on the web).
  • Export it as PDF, Markdown, or JSON.

On iOS the icons sit under each answer bubble (and under each saved Q&A); on the web they appear when you hover the answer. Print and Export of a live answer become available the moment it's saved to your Q&A history (a second or two after it finishes). You can also just ask: "save that answer to my documents" or "export that as a PDF."

#How to Use It

#iOS App

#Exporting Your Data

  1. Go to Account (tap your profile icon)
  2. Scroll to Data Export/Import
  3. Tap Export My Data
  4. Choose your format:
    • JSON for a full backup you can re-import later
    • CSV for a spreadsheet you can browse
  5. The export starts as a background job — you'll see a progress indicator
  6. When complete, you'll receive a notification with a download link
  7. Tap the link to download your ZIP archive

The export runs server-side, so you can close the app and come back later. It won't lose your place.

#Importing Your Data

  1. Go to Account > Data Export/Import
  2. Tap Import Data
  3. Select your previously exported ZIP file
  4. Choose a merge strategy:
    • Overwrite — existing items are updated with the imported data
    • Skip Existing — items that already exist in your account are left unchanged; only new items are added
  5. Tap Start Import
  6. The import processes in the background and you'll be notified when it's done

#Web

From the web interface at app.ambientchat.ai:

  1. Open Settings
  2. Find the Export My Data section
  3. Tick Include images if you want your photos in the archive
  4. Click Export — a progress bar tracks the job, and a download link appears when it finishes

Importing isn't available in the web interface yet — use the iOS app or MCP for that.

#Via Claude Desktop (MCP)

If you've connected ambientChat to Claude Desktop, you can export and import using MCP tools:

Exporting:

  1. Use the export_user_data tool, optionally specifying format: "json" or format: "csv"
  2. This starts an async export job and returns a job ID
  3. Use get_export_status with the job ID to check progress
  4. When the status shows "completed," you'll get a download URL in the response

Importing:

  1. Use get_import_upload_url to get a secure upload URL
  2. Upload your ZIP archive to that URL via PUT request
  3. Use import_user_data with the returned storagePath to start the import
  4. Optionally set mergeStrategy: "skip_existing" to protect existing data, or remapIds: true for cross-account imports

For the full tool reference, see MCP Tools — Complete Reference.

Example Claude Desktop prompts:

  • "Export all my ambientChat data as JSON."
  • "Check the status of my export job."
  • "Import my backup archive into ambientChat."

#Tips & Tricks

  • Export regularly as a backup. Set a mental reminder (or ask your AI to remind you) to export every month or so. If anything ever goes wrong, you'll have a recent snapshot to restore from. Think of it as flossing for your data hygiene.
  • JSON format preserves everything for re-import. If you might ever want to restore your data, always export as JSON. CSV is lovely for browsing but it's a one-way trip — you can look but you can't go back.
  • CSV exports open beautifully in spreadsheet apps. Want to see how much you've spent at Costco this year? Export as CSV, open in Sheets, and sort to your heart's content. Pivot tables optional but encouraged.

#Options

Setting What It Does Default
Export Format JSON (importable) or CSV (spreadsheet) JSON
Merge Strategy (Import) Overwrite existing items or skip them Overwrite
Remap IDs (Import) Generate new IDs instead of preserving originals (for cross-account imports) Off

#Known Limitations

  • Large accounts may take a minute to export. If you've cataloged thousands of items and uploaded hundreds of documents, the export job needs time to gather and package everything. The background job handles this gracefully — you just need a bit of patience.
  • CSV is read-only. You cannot import a CSV file back into ambientChat. It's an export-only format designed for human consumption. For round-trip portability, use JSON.
  • Import replaces or skips — no per-field merge. When importing with the "overwrite" strategy, the entire item is replaced with the imported version. There's no way to merge individual fields (e.g., keep the current price but update the notes). If you need that level of control, edit items individually after import.
  • Cross-account imports require ID remapping. If you're importing data from one account into a different account, use the remapIds option. Otherwise, document ID collisions may cause unexpected behavior.
  • Export download links expire. The download URL provided after export has a time limit. If you wait too long, you'll need to run the export again. Download promptly, like milk from the doorstep.

#Version History

Version Date What Changed
6 2026-06-24 Save / Print / Export AI answers from chat & the Q&A tab (AMB-343)
2 2026-06-07 Added Web section — exporting your data from the web interface (Settings)
1 2026-03-01 Initial guide