---
title: "Export, Import and Copy Perspectives and Entities"
url: "https://docs.noreja.com/en/article/export-import-and-copy-perspectives-and-entities"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2026-10-23T08:29:07.944Z"
---

# Export, Import and Copy Perspectives and Entities

How to copy an entity or perspective (also onto another entity or data source), export its configuration as a file, and import that file into another Noreja installation.

Entities and perspectives can be copied within Noreja and moved between Noreja installations, for example from a test system to production. This page explains the three ways: copy, export and import of a configuration file.

> **Permissions:** feature **Builder**: **Create** to copy an entity or perspective and to import a configuration file, **Edit** (or an Edit share) to export it. A copy belongs to you, also when the original was only shared with you. See [Create and Edit Roles](https://docs.noreja.com/en/article/create-and-edit-roles).

### Copy

Click **Copy** in the row of an entity or perspective. A panel opens with the name of the copy (the original name with "Copy" added) and the sharing.

-   **Perspective**: choose the **Entity** for the copy. Besides its own entity, you can choose another entity that has activities with the same names, for example the same process on another system. Entities without all the activities are greyed out. Filters whose property doesn't exist in the other entity are left out.
-   **Entity**: choose the **Data Source** for the copy. Data sources that aren't compatible with the entity are greyed out.

![The copy panel of the Purchase-to-Pay perspective: Perspective name Purchase-to-Pay Copy and the opened Entity list, in which only Purchase-to-Pay can be chosen and the other entities are greyed out](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/ddfd8396-a3a6-40aa-828f-4bb0237ee382)

The copy is a new item: it has to be imported before it can be analysed, and it isn't shared until you share it.

### Export

Click **Export** in the row of an entity or perspective. Your browser downloads its configuration as a JSON file: for an entity its data objects, activities and data connections; for a perspective its activities, relationships and filters.

### Import a Configuration File

-   Above the list of entities or perspectives, click **Import configuration** (the upload icon).
-   Click **Browse** and choose the exported file. Noreja shows what it contains, where it was exported from, and what it needs: the data objects of an entity or the activities of a perspective.
-   Enter a **Name** and choose where it should go: the data source for an entity, the entity for a perspective. Only entities that contain all the activities, or tested data sources that contain all the data objects, are offered.
-   Choose **Private** or **Share** and click **Import**.

![The panel Import perspective configuration with Browse, No file selected, Name, Entity, Private and Share, and the buttons Cancel and Import](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/4ce87385-fba1-4fd2-9045-15db68994ddb)

To move a perspective to another installation, export both the entity and the perspective. There, import the entity configuration first, then the perspective configuration onto that entity. If no entity contains all the activities, Noreja says so and asks you to import the matching entity configuration first.

The imported entity or perspective is new and has no data yet; start its import afterwards (the entity before its perspectives). See [Import Entities and Perspectives: Status and Errors](https://docs.noreja.com/en/article/import-entities-and-perspectives-status-and-errors).

### Related

-   [Create an Entity, Manually or with Suggestions](https://docs.noreja.com/en/article/create-an-entity-manually-or-with-suggestions)
-   [Create a Perspective](https://docs.noreja.com/en/article/crafting-a-dimension-causal-hypothesis)
-   [Import Entities and Perspectives: Status and Errors](https://docs.noreja.com/en/article/import-entities-and-perspectives-status-and-errors)