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Downloading Species Data

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You can download the species in your search results to a NatureServe Explorer Species PDF report, an XML file, or an Excel spreadsheet and save it to your computer. If you need to retrieve the results report/file again, it will be available on the NatureServe Explorer server for 24 hours. Report downloads are currently limited to approximately 800 species.

About the PDF Report

The PDF report contains a selected set of attributes that are used to describe species in NatureServe Explorer. It is designed to provide an overview of the species data resulting from your search in a viewable format.

About the XML File

The XML file contains the complete set of attributes that are used to describe species in NatureServe Explorer. It is designed to be utilized specifically when the actual species data need to be used rather than only viewed (as in the PDF report). Uses for XML data include conversion to a web page, or upload into a spreadsheet or application for analysis.

About the Excel Spreadsheet

The Excel spreadsheet file contains a summary of selected species and their habitats. It is designed to provide relevant species habitat information in a standardized spreadsheet format.  

To Download the Results Data

  1. Click the Download Species Data button at the top of the results page to download all of the species in your search results. This button will not appear if there are no species in your results. Subspecies, varieties, and populations will automatically be included in the XML file if they were included in your search.

  2. The Download Species Data page should open. Select the desired data format by clicking either the PDF Report, XML File, or Excel Spreadsheet radio button.

  3. Enter your email address twice. (Your email address will only be used to notify you when your file is ready for download.)

  4. Read the license and check the box to agree to its terms.

  5. Click Download.

  6. Wait for an email from Services_natureserve@natureserve.org. (You may want to add this email address to your spam filter safe-sender list so that it is not treated as spam.)

The time needed to generate the report or file is exponentially linked to the number of species that were included in the search. Data for 70 species should take a minute or two, while a report/file with thousands of species may take many hours to generate. We anticipate working on performance enhancements in the next phase of development.

Note: Until a bug is fixed, even UNCHECKED species in your results list will be included in your report.

Accessing files

Once the PDF report, XML file, or Excel spreadsheet has been created, an email will be sent to the address provided:

  1. Click the link in the email http://.../download/Species_Data_YYYY-MM-DD_#.pdf or http://.../download/Species_Data_YYYY-MM-DD_#.xml or http://.../download/Species_Data_YYYY-MM-DD_#.xls to view the data in your web browser.

  2. When viewing the report or file in a web browser you can save it to your computer by going to the File menu and choosing Save for Internet Explorer.

  3. Choose the location on your computer to be used for saving the .pdf, .xml, or .xsl file.

Alternately, bookmark the address of the link in the email to retrieve the data within the next 24 hours.

See also:

Using NatureServe Explorer

 

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