Export formats and injection safety reference

This page describes the three export formats available on MapleGather reports and lists, how the sync vs. async paths work, what formula-injection escaping means for CSV and Excel files, and how PII columns are handled for different roles.

Export formats

Format	Best for	Member PII	Injection-safe	Notes
CSV	Spreadsheet import, accountant handoff	Gated by your role	Yes — cells escaped	Works in any spreadsheet application
Excel	Finance teams using formulas	Gated by your role	Yes — cells escaped	Dates as dates, numbers as numbers (not all-text)
PDF	Board packets, archival copies	Omitted for board exports	Not applicable	Org branding, title, period, timestamp, per-page footer

Sync vs. async threshold

Result set size	Path	What you see
1,000 rows or fewer	Sync — immediate download	File downloads to your browser right away
More than 1,000 rows	Async — queued	“Export queued” message in the dialog; email with download link; also available in Your exports

Check Your exports if the email doesn’t arrive — the download is always available there and does not depend on the email.

Column selector

Before every export, the export dialog lets you choose which columns to include. Columns currently visible in the report are checked by default. Uncheck any column to leave it out of the export.

Formula-injection escaping (CSV and Excel)

Cells in a CSV or Excel file that begin with =, +, -, or @ are automatically escaped before download. This prevents the values from being interpreted as spreadsheet formulas when you open the file.

After an export with escaped cells, you’ll see: “N cells escaped — review before pasting into a formula-aware sheet.”

If 0 cells needed escaping, no notice appears.

Excel exports additionally preserve correct data types: dates appear as dates, numbers as numbers, and text as text. This is important for financial data that will be used in further calculations.

PII columns and the board export

Who exports	Member PII columns
Admin with full export permissions	Selectable — check “Include member details (names, email)”
Admin without per-member export permissions	Omitted from column selector and output; a note explains the restriction
Board Member / Governance Reader	Always omitted — board exports are aggregate-only; file names include “Aggregate” and “Board View” to make the no-PII guarantee explicit

If your export request includes PII columns but your role doesn’t permit them, the server omits those columns, lists them in the export’s omitted-columns note, and records an audit log entry.

PDF details

PDF exports render with:

Your organization’s branding in the header
Report title and date range
The timestamp of when the export was generated
Per-page footer
The full report table

PDFs are useful as archival records of exactly what was shared — for example, “what did we present at last month’s board meeting?”