Know what you hold in an online service, what you need to take with you and what would make a copy usable elsewhere. Keep the export, the actual files and a checked access route connected to a practical continuity plan.
Evidence checked October 17, 2026 (America/Denver). Version 1.0. Original-source desk review; no practical testing.
What this guide helps you do
A platform-dependence and portability planning guide. It reviews public instructions and a qualified Colorado legal-information gateway. It performs no export, transfer, account change or legal eligibility assessment. Check current service terms, permissions and requirements for the actual account before acting.
Map the service and what depends on it
List the information, functions and people that rely on the platform. Include documents, messages, photographs, permissions, public addresses, collaborator access and any workflow that uses them. Identify the owner and the email, device or administrator needed for access. Separate material you control from other people’s contributions or restricted records. Choose what must remain available if access, pricing, service features or organizational arrangements change.
Define what a usable departure would require
Write down the material and context you need outside the service: actual files, readable formats, dates, organization, relationships and necessary permissions. Decide which features need an alternative and which can be left behind. A service may export some content without reproducing its entire behavior elsewhere. Check the destination’s current import requirements and available help before treating a download option as a complete exit plan.
Read what the export actually includes
Google describes selecting products and data for a downloadable archive, with delivery options and account restrictions. Its instructions explicitly distinguish downloading from deletion. WordPress.com’s content XML carries content and media links, rather than the media files themselves; themes, plugins and site settings are outside that content export. These examples show why the actual contents and dependencies matter. They do not establish the behavior of every provider or a successful transfer from these services. Source: Google data-download guidance. Source: WordPress.com content-export guidance.
Plan a bounded check of the copy
Choose a small permitted sample and a safe separate destination. Record the export date, selected scope, file types and any missing material. Check whether an authorized person can open the actual files or import a copy and find the expected content, images and context. For a website, account for media and source access without exposing private material. Record the result and its limits. Preserve the working original while resolving gaps; an untested archive is a candidate copy. Source: WordPress.com content-export guidance.
Separate provider features, terms and legal routes
Record the actual service’s download, cancellation, retention and support terms with their dates. If you are considering a legal data-access request, identify the relevant jurisdiction and coverage separately. Colorado’s Attorney General overview supplies an official starting point, but some introductory wording is older and individual eligibility and current requirements need further checking. A public question-submission form is a different process from asking a provider for your information. This guide determines no individual right or remedy. Source: Colorado Attorney General privacy-act overview.
Keep continuity and a review point
Name who holds the protected copy, who can use it and what credentials or software are needed. Compare a simpler local tool, another provider and a paper or offline route where suitable. Include recurring cost, support, collaboration and accessibility in that comparison. Keep dated terms and test notes with the plan. Revisit it after account, ownership, service or format changes, and resolve outstanding transfer gaps before making consequential changes.
A record you can use
| Record | What to write down |
|---|---|
| Dependencies | Service/account owner, material, collaborators, access requirements and consequences of loss. |
| Usable exit | Required files, formats, dates/context, permissions and replacement functions. |
| Export scope | Current instructions/terms, selected products, actual inclusions, exclusions and restrictions. |
| Copy check | Permitted sample, safe destination, actual open/import result, missing material and limits. |
| Rights and requests | Jurisdiction, official source/date, coverage questions and correct provider request route. |
| Continuity | Protected copy/access, alternative, support, unresolved gaps, owner and review trigger. |
Learning route
- Map: Name the material and dependencies.
- Inspect: Read the export scope and terms.
- Check: Try a permitted copy separately.
- Maintain: Keep access and an alternative.
Checklist
- The account owner and important dependencies are recorded.
- The plan names the actual material and functions needed elsewhere.
- Export inclusions and exclusions are visible.
- A safe sample check has a recorded scope.
- Provider features and legal coverage are checked separately.
- A responsible person can revisit the continuity plan.
Resources and their limitations
Google data-download guidance
Google data-download guidance — Google Account Help
Use. Read the current instructions for selecting products, data and archive delivery. Check account restrictions, actual included material and a safe way to open or import a representative copy.
Access and cost. Public HTML reading. Accounts, equipment, subscriptions, services and access to linked material may have separate conditions; none purchased or tested.
Review and limits. Provider instructions, not an independent export test. Downloading does not delete the data on Google servers. Work or school administrators can restrict downloads. Completeness, recent changes, retained permissions, portability to another service and successful recovery were not established. No account entered, export requested, file downloaded or deletion performed.
WordPress.com content-export guidance
WordPress.com content-export guidance — WordPress.com Support
Use. Read what the XML export includes and excludes. Plan an authorized transfer of actual media and any separate theme, plugin or settings material, then test a copy in an appropriate destination.
Access and cost. Public HTML reading. Accounts, equipment, subscriptions, services and access to linked material may have separate conditions; none purchased or tested.
Review and limits. The content XML includes media links rather than the media files themselves and is not a complete theme/plugin/settings backup. The source must remain accessible for media import. Private content needs an authorized secure transfer plan; the page’s public-visibility preparation is not adopted as a universal step. No site visibility, content, domain, plugin or theme changed; no export, import or restore performed.
Colorado Attorney General privacy-act overview
Colorado Attorney General privacy-act overview — Colorado Department of Law / Attorney General
Use. Use the overview and consumer questions to identify the relevant issue, then check current law, rules, coverage and the actual provider’s request process before relying on a particular right.
Access and cost. Public HTML reading. Accounts, equipment, subscriptions, services and access to linked material may have separate conditions; none purchased or tested.
Review and limits. Colorado-specific overview only. Some introductory FAQ wording still looks forward to July 2023; a live page check does not establish that every passage reflects all current requirements. Statutes, rules and individual eligibility, deadlines, fees or remedies were not comprehensively reviewed. A separate question-submission form is not consumer guidance or a provider data request; it was archived only as a navigation check. No form or request submitted.
Historical starting point
The Spring 1969 9100 A Calculator entry describes saving programs on wallet-sized magnetic cards. That is a historical starting point for asking where work is stored and what can use it. Current platform terms, data rights, interoperable formats and secure transfer are explicit modern extensions. No historical specification, price, supplier or present compatibility inferred. Locator: Whole Earth Catalog — Spring 1969, PDF page 69, printed page 67.
Related guides
Last substantive desk review: October 17, 2026. Sources retain their own dates and geographic limits. Local services and individual products require a fresh check at the time of use. For a correction, retain the page title, source and passage in question.
