Reusing ISA Metadata

Do you find yourself describing the same workflows over and over again? You can save time by reusing them! Swate’s Export/Import functionality allows you to store and reload completed ISA Swate tables, including multiple filled-out sheets.

This feature is especially useful when working with recurring Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). You can export a fully filled-out set of metadata sheets once and later import it. This way, you only need to make minimal adjustments, such as adding new sample IDs, without having to re-enter all the metadata from scratch.

We recommend using the ARCtrl export format. Make sure to also select the ARCtrl format during import to ensure correct structure and compatibility.

Utilizing ARCtrl, Swate supports multiple different import and export formats for JSON.

Export

Section titled Export

The “File Export” function can be found in the Sidebar.

Browser

You can export your data sheet simply by clicking on “Download”.

Excel

In contrast to the web version of swate, you cannot simply download your annotation tables.

In order to do so, you have to create a top level metadata sheet.

Import

Section titled Import

Save the file to a location accessible to you or your team (e.g., a shared folder or version-controlled repository). This makes it easy to manage personal or group-specific metadata tables, ensuring consistency and efficiency across experiments and projects.

A step-by-step guide including example data can be found in the Viola Guide.