Memory Atlas can export the description of a unit and all its descendants in the EAD format (Encoded Archival Description), the exchange format for finding aids. The file is meant to be read by another archival software, a portal or a partner. Two versions are offered:
- EAD 2002, offered by default: it is the one read by FranceArchives, AtoM, ArchivesSpace, the BnF and Calames;
- EAD3 1.1.1, the current version of the standard, which few tools import yet (see Who can read this file).
This export is descriptive: it contains the description (the ISAD(G) elements, the creators, the access points, the digital objects by their identifier), but none of your files. Memory Atlas does not read, copy or move any file, and connects to nothing. It is not a transfer: for preservation, use Prepare for Preservation (chapter 10).
For a document to read or print rather than import, see The finding aid (PDF, HTML) at the end of this chapter.
Léa wants to send the description of “Projet A — Lisières” to the library that is preparing her exhibition.
Start the export
Select the top unit of the branch in the tree (here “Projet A — Lisières”), then:
- File › Export › Archival Description (EAD)…;
- or right-click the unit, Export Description (EAD)…;
- or the ⌘K palette: type “ead”.
You can export any unit: a whole fonds, a series, a file or a single item, whatever its status (being described, validated, ready for preservation, transferred). The export changes nothing: not the units’ status, nor their lock, nor their transfers. It remains possible in a repository opened read-only.
The preview
The Export Description (EAD) sheet goes through four steps, numbered at the top: Preparation, Generation, Validation, Done. The first one shows what will be exported:
- Format: EAD 2002 or EAD3 1.1.1. The sheet offers the format chosen in Settings › General › Default EAD format (EAD 2002 if you haven’t changed it). Changing the format here applies to this export only.
- Files address (EAD 2002, if the branch has digital objects): see Give the files address.
- Units: the number of units in the branch, per level. Units placed in the trash are not exported.
- Digital objects: the associated files, cited only by their identifier, role, label and name.
- Context: when you export part of a fonds, the path of its ancestors. What the unit inherits (creator, conditions of access, languages…) is written on it, so that the document stands on its own.
- ISAD(G) rules V-01 to V-14: the same checks as Validate Branch. Here, they are reported without blocking: you can export a description that is still in progress. They appear in the final report.
Give the files address
The EAD file does not contain your files: it describes them. If you publish the files somewhere, on the website of the institution that receives them for example, enter its web address in Files address, for example https://archives.example.org/fichiers/. Each digital object will then point to that address followed by the name of its file (…/fichiers/PA_0001.png). The recipient can then link the description to the files, and ArchivesSpace will accept the objects.
The field is optional. Left empty, the digital objects are described with no link, and the report reminds you of it. If what you type is not a complete web address (starting with https:// or http://), the sheet says so under the field and Export… waits until you correct or clear it. Memory Atlas remembers the address for the next export from the same repository.
Choose the file
Click Export… (or ↩). The save panel suggests a name taken from the unit’s reference code, with the slashes replaced by underscores: FR-STX_PH_1_A.ead.xml for FR-STX/PH/1/A. Change it if you like, choose the folder, then Export.
If a file already has that name, the panel asks whether to replace it: Memory Atlas only replaces a file once you have confirmed.
Generation and validation
Memory Atlas writes the document to a hidden file next to the destination, then validates it: it checks it against the official schema of the format (EAD 2002 or EAD3 1.1.1) and checks the language, country and script codes, the dates and the repository codes (in EAD3, these are the checks of the official Schematron). The sheet shows the progress: “120 units written out of 500,” then “3.2 MB checked out of 12 MB.”
Cancel Export (or ⎋) stops everything: the hidden file is deleted, nothing is saved.
A non-conforming document is never saved: you will never find in your folder an EAD file that other software would reject for its form.
The report
The last step, Done, says what happened, then details the export:
- Description Exported: the document is saved and valid; Show in Finder opens its folder.
- Document Not Valid: Nothing Was Saved: validation found errors. They are listed, with the line and the element of the document at fault; fix them, then run the export again.
- Export Cancelled: no file was saved.
The summary gives the units exported, the digital objects, the result of the validation in the chosen format, the size of the file and the duration. The findings are sorted into Errors, Warnings and Information. Each one says where it comes from:
- EAD 2002 schema, EAD3 1.1.1 schema or EAD3 Schematron: a rule of the standard; an error prevents saving.
- Memory Atlas checks (EAD 2002): the language, country, script and repository codes and the dates; an error prevents saving.
- Memory Atlas mapping: what the export had to adapt (a custom level, a date kept as text, an inherited value written on the exported unit…) or what it does not export (the working status, the accession register, the location of the files). These are warnings or information, never errors.
- ISAD(G), without blocking the export: rules V-01 to V-14 of the preview.
Save Report… writes it to a text file next to the document (“FR-STX_PH_1_A — rapport d’export EAD 2002.txt”), which you can keep or attach to what you send. It is mostly useful when the export failed. Close (↩ or ⎋) closes the sheet.
What the file contains
The file FR-STX_PH_1_A.ead.xml is an XML text that you can open with any editor. It contains:
- a header: the document identifier, the title of the exported unit, your name (if it is given in the repository identity), the archives service, the language of the description, the description rules followed, the history of the description (creation, revisions, validation) and a note on the export, with the Memory Atlas version and the date (in EAD 2002: “Export EAD 2002, profil Memory Atlas 1.0”; in EAD3: “Export EAD3 1.1.1, profil Memory Atlas 2.0”);
- the exported unit, then all its descendants, nested in the order of the tree. For each one: its reference code, title, dates, extent, the ISAD(G) elements you filled in, its creators, its access points and its digital objects;
- for each digital object: its role, its label, the file name, the “Born digital” box and, in EAD 2002, the link to the file if you gave the files address. Not the file itself, nor where it is on your Mac: the recipient knows that an image “PA_0001.png” exists, but does not receive it.
Each descendant unit only carries what you entered for it: what it inherits from its parents is not repeated, as in the editor (an EAD software deduces it from the nesting). When you export part of a fonds, as with Project A here, the exported unit also carries what it inherits (the creator “Martin, Léa,” the language, the fonds’ conditions of reproduction) and a context line: “Fonds photographique (FR-STX/PH) › Projets personnels (FR-STX/PH/1).”
What is not in the file
The EAD export conveys a description, not your repository. It leaves out, and the report reminds you of it with an information finding:
- the units’ working status (being described, validated, transferred…), the creation and modification dates, the trash;
- the accession register: only the “Immediate source of acquisition or transfer” text is exported;
- the details of authority records: only the authorized form of the name (“Martin, Léa (1968- )”) is exported, without the other forms, the dates of existence or the history;
- the notes of terms;
- the files and everything about them on your Mac (location, size, type);
- the labels of a custom level (only its code is exported);
- the time of description events (the day is exported).
To keep or move a whole repository, use the JSON export (File › Export › JSON…, chapter 12): it can be imported back into Memory Atlas. The EAD file cannot be imported back in this version.
Who can read this file
The file follows the standard, with no proprietary additions. To date, the most widely used tools in France read EAD 2002: FranceArchives, AtoM and ArchivesSpace do not advertise EAD3 import, and the BnF and Abes (Calames) recommend staying with EAD 2002. This is why Memory Atlas offers EAD 2002 by default, written the way FranceArchives expects it. Choose EAD3 if your recipient asks for it. When in doubt, ask them which format they accept.
Import trials were run in September 2026 in these systems, in both formats:
- FranceArchives rejects EAD3 and reads Memory Atlas’s EAD 2002: units, dates, extent, creators, access points and, if you gave the files address, the digital objects;
- ArchivesSpace (4.2) rejects EAD3; it imports EAD 2002 as soon as the exported unit has a date and an extent and the digital objects have an address;
- AtoM (2.10) imports both formats. Only EAD 2002 keeps the description in French there. The digital objects are not created in it, even with the files address.
If the exported unit has no date or no extent, the report warns you (E2-M-22 in EAD 2002, EAD-M-22 in EAD3): some systems, such as ArchivesSpace, then reject the whole file. Fill them in on the unit before exporting if the recipient uses such a system.
If the branch has digital objects with no address, the report also warns you (E2-M-23 in EAD 2002, EAD-M-23 in EAD3): the file says they exist, not where to find them. Systems that require an address will not read them: AtoM ignores them, ArchivesSpace rejects the whole file. The file remains valid. In EAD 2002, give the files address; otherwise, it is up to the recipient to receive the files by other means.
If the recipient wants to know exactly how to read the file (the conventions of Memory Atlas, what gets lost), send them the profile of the format: Memory Atlas EAD 2002 profile 1.0 or Memory Atlas EAD3 profile 2.0.
The finding aid (PDF, HTML)
The EAD file is made for another software. For a person, Memory Atlas also writes a finding aid: a laid-out document to print, send or publish on a website. Léa prepares one for the library’s reading room.
Select the top unit (here the fonds), then File › Export › Finding Aid (PDF, HTML)…, or right-click the unit, or use the ⌘K palette: type “finding.” Like the EAD export, the command works whatever the status, read-only too, and changes nothing.
- Format: PDF to print or send; HTML to publish on a website. The HTML page can be read with a screen reader and printed from a browser; the PDF, which is not tagged, is read less well by VoiceOver.
- Depth: all levels, or only the first ones (a list of the series and files, without the items).
- Restricted access: what happens to the units whose access is “Restricted” or “Closed,” inherited included. By default, their description is masked: the document keeps only their reference code, title, dates and level, with the mention “Restricted access,” and their names go into no index. You can also leave them out of the document, with their descendants, or describe everything for an internal copy, not to be shared.
- Indexes: creators, persons, corporate bodies, places, subjects and genres, each with the reference codes of the units where they appear.
Click Export… and choose the folder; the suggested name is FR-STX_PH — instrument de recherche.pdf. The document is written in one go at the end: if you cancel, nothing is saved. The sheet then says how many units it contains (and how many are masked or left out), the number of pages and its size; Open displays it.
The document starts with a title page (the archives service, the title, the reference code, the dates, the creator, the date of issue), then the introduction (the description of the fonds), the arrangement, the description of each unit in the order of the tree, and the indexes. In the arrangement and the indexes, each reference code is a link to the unit’s description.
The document is always in French, like the description. It has only one layout, with no logo.
Export the inventory as CSV
To work on a branch in a spreadsheet (proofread, fill in a column, share with someone who doesn’t have Memory Atlas), select its top unit, then File › Export › CSV Inventory… (or right-click, Export Inventory (CSV)…). The suggested file is FR-STX_PH — inventaire.csv: one row per unit, in the order of the tree, with the reference code, the parent reference code, the level, the title, the dates, the extent, the ISAD(G) elements, the creators and the access points. It opens directly in Excel (semicolons, UTF-8). Only each unit’s own values are written, not what it inherits; the files of digital objects are not.
Its headers are the ones Import CSV Inventory… reads back (chapter 3): the file, imported again under another unit or into another repository, gives back the same branch.
“Country code not in the ISO 3166-1 list”
If the export fails with the SCH-COUNTRY error (or E2-COUNTRY in EAD 2002), your repository’s country is not in the ISO 3166-1 list of recognized countries: this is the case for XK (Kosovo) or reserved codes such as EU, which an earlier version of Memory Atlas accepted. The report says so: this country comes from the repository identity. Open File › Repository Identity…, choose another country from the Country (ISO 3166-1) menu, where the old one is marked “not recognized by EAD3,” then run the export again. Changing the country recomputes every reference code in the repository (see chapter 2).