Resolve XML Backup Restore Error: Missing 'exportDescriptor.properties' in Confluence

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Summary

Discover steps to fix XML backup restore errors in Confluence due to missing exportDescriptor.properties, ensuring successful data recovery.

Diagnosis

XML backup file restoration failed, and the following is seen from the UI:

Error: Zip file does not contain exportDescriptor.properties. It contains several XML files and attachments.

The following appears in the atlassian-confluence.log:

2012-08-31 18:58:56,524 ERROR [http-8770-5] [confluence.util.zip.FileUnzipper] unzipFileInArchive The file: exportDescriptor.properties could not be found in the archive: C:\data\confluence\temp\upload_59b7e4d6_1397b8e0951__7f4d_00000010\ds-185627-2.xml.zip

Cause

The XML backup failed to restore because Confluence was unable to detect/readexportDescriptor.properties file from the backup. This file is required for the restoration process.

  1. This is a common problem when the exportDescriptor.properties file is:

    1. Missing from the XML backup

    2. OR incorrectly nested inside another sub-folder:

      Incorrect

      /Confluence-site-export-2024-09-10-16-03-57-737.xml/Confluence-site-export-2024-09-10-16-03-57-737.xml/exportDescriptor.properties

      Correct

      /Confluence-site-export-2024-09-10-16-03-57-737.xml/exportDescriptor.properties

      ℹ️ This can happen when the files aren't zipped correctly.

  2. This issue can also be due to insufficient disk space.

  3. This can also be caused by selecting a file other than a Space/Site export zip file.

Solution

  1. Ensure that the XML backup is valid. It should contain at least the following two files:

    1. exportDescriptor.properties

    2. entities.xml

  2. When recompressing the file:

When recompressing a backup, zip files directly.

Select all files in the subfolder and zip them directly. Avoid zipping the folder itself, as this will nest the contents, preventing Confluence from locating them.

(In the example below, "Archive.zip" is our recompressed XML backup file.)

A gif showing how to compress files.

Double-check if the folder structure is as below:

File structure of archive.zip showing entities.xml, exportDescriptor.properties, and attachments sorted by page ID. Each page has two attachments.

  1. Don't use Windows ZIP compression to compress the XML backup. Use 7-Zip or WinZip instead.

  2. Please make sure that you have sufficient disk space to import the XML Backup.

  3. Ensure that you are starting with an XML backup zip file from Confluence

    1. Creating a Space Backup

    2. Creating an XML Site Backup

Updated on May 29, 2025
Platform
Cloud and Data Center
Products
Confluence Cloud
Confluence Data Center
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