--- title: "Export circles, roles and their holders to Excel or CSV" description: "Organisation administrators download every circle and role, with the members who hold them, as an Excel workbook or a ZIP of CSV files from Structure settings, for the whole organisation or for one circle and its sub-circles." category: administration-security section: data-and-compliance tags: [admin] type: Tutorial lastUpdated: 2026-10-09 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/administration-security/export-circles-and-roles-to-excel-or-csv --- # Export circles, roles and their holders to Excel or CSV You export your organisation's circles, roles and their holders as a spreadsheet from **Structure settings** → **Export**. The file comes as an Excel workbook with one sheet per table, or as a ZIP of CSV files with one file per table, for the whole organisation or for one circle and everything beneath it. Only organisation administrators can run it, because the file lists the email address of every role holder. You need to be an organisation administrator. The other pages of **Structure settings** open to anyone with structure administration rights, but the **Export** entry is hidden from them, and the server refuses them if they paste the page's address: the file carries member email addresses, so it has the same gate as the members export. If the page reads **Not available**, your account does not administer the organisation. ## How do I export the organisation? 1. Open **Structure**, then **Structure settings** at the bottom of the left panel, and select **Export**. The **Export the organisation** page opens. 2. Under **What to export**, keep **The whole organisation**, or select **One circle** and pick it in **Search circles**. A circle's export includes everything beneath it: its roles, its sub-circles and theirs. 3. Under **Format**, choose **Excel (.xlsx)** for one workbook with one sheet per table, or **CSV (.zip)** for one CSV file per table, ready to import into another tool. 4. Select **Export**. A progress bar reads **Preparing the file…** while Talkspirit builds the file in the background. You can leave the page: the run carries on, and it is waiting for you when you come back in the same browser. 5. When the summary line appears (format, number of circles, roles and assignments, file size), select **Download the .xlsx** or **Download the .zip**. The file opens in a new tab, named `governance-export-` followed by a short run identifier. To run another export, select **New export**. The scope and format choices are locked while a run is in progress. > **Note:** The download link expires, one hour after the file is ready by default. The page then reads **This link has expired. Run the export again to get a new one.** Download the file as soon as it is ready, and store it with care: it contains email addresses. ## What does the file contain? Three tables, named **Circles**, **Roles** and **Assignments**: three sheets in the workbook, or `circles.csv`, `roles.csv` and `assignments.csv` in the ZIP. Both formats carry exactly the same columns. If your organisation has renamed circles or roles, the page uses your terms, but the table and column names in the file stay in English. - **Circles**: one row per circle, with its identifier and name, its parent circle, how many decision makers, other members, roles and sub-circles it has, and its purpose, domains and accountabilities. One extra column per custom field defined for circles. - **Roles**: one row per role, with its circle, whether it comes from a role template, whether it is marked as hiring, whether it has holders, its creation date, and its purpose, domains and accountabilities. One extra column per custom field defined for roles. - **Assignments**: one row per member and role, or per member attached directly to a circle with no role, with an empty role column. Each row gives the member's display name and email address, the circle and role, the date the assignment started and the date it ends, its scope, whether the member is a decision maker and a circle admin in that circle, and the time allocated to the assignment as a share of full-time (FTE). The file describes the structure as it is when the run starts. It lists active assignments only. ## What are the limits? - An organisation can start 10 exports per hour. Beyond that, **Export** answers **Hourly export limit reached for this organisation. Please retry in a few minutes.** - A file larger than 50 MB fails with **Export too large** and no file is produced. Export one circle at a time instead. - A run belongs to the administrator who started it. Another administrator opening the page does not see your run or your link, and starts their own. ## When should I use the JSON export instead? This export is for reading and analysing: who holds what, in a spreadsheet. It does not re-import. To copy the structure into another organisation, or to edit it and load it back, use the JSON export in Architect mode, which the import understands but which does not record holders. Both are described in [Exporting my organisation's data as an administrator](/en/administration-security/export-your-organisations-data-as-an-administrator). ## What's next? - [Exporting my organisation's data as an administrator](/en/administration-security/export-your-organisations-data-as-an-administrator) - [Exporting my organisation's data as a member](/en/administration-security/export-my-organisations-data-as-a-member) - [Assigning or removing a member from a role](/en/structure-governance/how-to-assign-or-remove-a-member-from-a-role) - [Architect mode in the Structure module](/en/structure-governance/architect-mode-overview)