---
title: "Thesaurus Export"
canonical: "https://support.soutron.net/space/HG/3278729/Thesaurus%20Export"
format: markdown
---
This section covers the transformation and exporting of thesauri.

---

**To transform and export thesauri, select **<span style="color: #ff0000">**Thesaurus > Thesaurus Export**</span>**.**

The following screen is displayed:

![image](media://fa2f758a-d3f0-47d5-8dce-8f12fa353471)

## Exporting a thesaurus

 To export a thesaurus:

1. Select the thesaurus
2. Select the XML
3. Once you are satisfied with your selection, click on the "Export" link, located in the **Actions** menu

![image](media://74bd5226-5716-4695-bcd3-292c28a94500)


The downloaded Element Based XML file looks like this:

![image](media://aa515e3b-3d01-47cf-8637-971fd5e65df4)

By comparison, an Attribute-Based XML file looks like this:

![image](media://1b264db8-e01a-4194-8101-3bfa622ef0fe)

The difference between the formats is purely structural.

## Transforming the thesaurus

If you have been provided with a transformation file to provide a custom output, this section covers how this can be loaded. If you do not have such a file and require a custom output, please contact the [helpdesk](https://soutron.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/HG/pages/3277087) to discuss commission for this work. To transform your thesaurus:

1. Select your Thesaurus and XML, as above.
2. Once you are satisfied with your selection, click the box labelled "Apply transformation".
3. After that, the screen should look like this:> Macro (inline-media-image)
4. Click on the link marked "Create", located in the **Transformation Rules** menu.

![image](media://741236b5-1c30-414b-b02e-496aadcc548c)

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **Description** | A brief summary of the thesaurus in question. |
| **XSLT** | EXtensive Stylesheet Language Transformation, used to transform XML documents into other formats. |
| **Output Format** | The format in which the file can be presented. The chosen format can either be EXtensive Markup Language (XML) or Resource Description Framework (RDF). |

For further information on Thesaurus transformation, please call Soutron helpdesk.