Exporting Retrospectives

Export retrospective content to external documentation providers like Google Docs, Confluence, Notion, and more.

Overview

Rootly can export retrospective content to external documentation providers, allowing teams to use their preferred tools while benefiting from Rootly’s incident management features.

Supported Providers

Rootly supports the following external document providers:

• Google Docs
• Confluence
• Notion
• SharePoint
• Dropbox Paper
• Coda
• Quip
• Datadog

Each provider has its own authentication and configuration requirements. Contact your administrator if you need access to a specific provider.

Rootly Editor vs External Providers

When to Use the Rootly Editor

The built-in collaborative editor is ideal when:

• Multiple team members need to edit simultaneously
• You want data blocks and variables that update automatically
• You prefer keeping incident data within Rootly
• You want to publish a retrospective accessible via a public URL

When to Use External Providers

External providers work well when:

• Your organization standardizes on a specific documentation tool
• You need to share retrospectives with stakeholders outside Rootly
• You want documents accessible in your existing knowledge base
• Compliance or governance requires specific storage locations

Using Both

Many teams combine approaches:

1. Draft in Rootly: Use the Rootly Editor for initial drafting and collaboration
2. Export for distribution: Export to an external provider when ready to share broadly
3. Link back: The external document links back to the incident in Rootly

Exporting happens at specific points (when you click Export) rather than in real-time.

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What Gets Exported

When exporting to your external providers, Rootly processes your retrospective content to ensure compatibility.

Content That Exports

Content Type	How It’s Handled
Rich text	Formatting preserved (bold, italic, headings, lists)
Tables	Converted to provider-native table format
Data blocks	Rendered as static content at export time
Liquid variables	Resolved to actual values at export time
Code blocks	Formatted appropriately for each provider
Links	Preserved as clickable hyperlinks

Incident Data Blocks in External Documents

If your retrospective document contains data blocks:

• Timeline: Rendered as a formatted table with event date, source, user, and description
• Follow-ups: Rendered as a list with title, priority, status, assignee, and due date

Data blocks become static content in external documents. They won’t update automatically if the incident data changes after export.

Provider-Specific Formatting

Rootly adjusts content formatting for each provider:

Provider	Special Handling
Confluence	Inline code converted to Confluence macros
Google Docs	Tables formatted with borders and styling
Notion	Content structured for Notion’s block model
Others	Standard HTML-to-provider conversion

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How to Export

The Export button in the editor header provides access to all export options for your retrospective.

Export Dropdown

Click Export in the editor header to access these options:

Option	Description
Publish retrospective	Publishes the retrospective, making it accessible via a public URL and notifying subscribers
Export to new document	Opens a modal to create a new export to any connected provider
Update exported document	Opens a modal to update a previously exported document (only visible if exports exist)

Once a retrospective is published, the Export dropdown updates to include additional options:

Option	Description
View published retrospective	Opens the published retrospective in a new tab
Copy link	Copies the published retrospective URL to your clipboard
Save as PDF	Downloads the published retrospective as a PDF file
Document settings	Customize what gets appended to the published document (e.g., timeline, action items, incident metadata)

If you have no external integrations configured, click Manage integrations to connect a document provider. Contact your administrator to set up integrations in Configuration → Integrations.

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Publishing a Retrospective

Publishing makes your retrospective accessible to your team and, for non-private incidents, available via a public URL that can be shared with stakeholders outside of Rootly.

How to Publish

1. Open the Export dropdown

   Click Export in the editor header.

2. Click Publish retrospective

   If the incident has already been resolved, the retrospective is published immediately. If the incident is still active, a confirmation dialog asks you to confirm that you want to publish before the incident is resolved.

What Happens When You Publish

• The retrospective status changes from Draft (yellow chip) to Published (green chip) in the editor header
• The published document is accessible via a public URL for non-private incidents
• Subscribers are notified that the retrospective has been published
• The Export dropdown updates to show additional options: view the published document, copy its link, save as PDF, and access document settings

Document Settings

After publishing, you can customize the published retrospective by clicking Document settings in the Export dropdown. Document settings let you control what gets appended to your published document, such as:

• Incident timeline
• Action items / follow-ups
• Incident metadata (severity, services, roles, timestamps)

This allows teams to tailor what stakeholders see in the published version without modifying the editor content.

Re-publishing

If you make changes to the retrospective after publishing, your published document gets updated automatically. The published URL remains the same — only the content is updated.

Publishing and exporting are independent actions. Publishing makes the retrospective available via a Rootly URL. Exporting pushes the content to an external provider like Confluence or Google Docs. You can do both.

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Exporting to a New Document

To export your retrospective to an external provider for the first time:

1. Open the Export dropdown

   Click Export in the editor header.

2. Select Export to new document

   This opens a modal where you can configure the export.

3. Choose your destination

   Select the provider (Confluence, Google Docs, Notion, etc.) from the dropdown. Each provider shows its icon for easy identification.

4. Set the document title

   The title defaults to “Retrospective - [Incident Title]”. You can customize it.

5. Configure provider-specific options

   Some providers require additional configuration:

   • Confluence: Select a space key for the destination
   • Notion: Select a parent page
   • Other providers may have their own options
6. Click Export

   The export is created in the background. You’ll be notified when it completes.

Updating an Existing Export

If you’ve already exported the retrospective and want to push updated content:

1. Open the Export dropdown

   Click Export in the editor header.

2. Select Update external document

   This option only appears if you have previously exported the retrospective.

3. Choose which export to update

   Select the export you want to update from the list. Each entry shows the provider name and document title.

4. Confirm the update

   A warning confirms that the external document’s content will be replaced with the current retrospective content. Click Update to proceed.

Updating an export overwrites the external document with the current retrospective content. This is a one-way operation — changes made in the external document will be replaced.

Working with Exported Documents

Once a retrospective is exported to an external provider:

• A link to the external document is stored on the incident
• The document lives in your external provider’s system
• You can open external documents directly from the More actions menu in the editor header
• Edits in the external document do not sync back to Rootly

Document Links

After exporting, you can reference external document URLs using Liquid variables:

• {{ incident.confluence_page_url }}
• {{ incident.google_drive_url }}
• {{ incident.notion_page_url }}
• {{ incident.sharepoint_page_url }}

Managing Integrations

Click Manage integrations in the Export dropdown to go to Configuration → Integrations (Docs & Retrospective category), where you can connect or configure document providers.

How Workflows and Exporting Work Together

Workflows and the Export button serve different purposes:

• Workflows can automatically create external documents (e.g., in Confluence or Google Docs) when an incident resolves or another trigger fires. These workflows do not create or modify the Rootly document — they only affect external providers.
• The Export button in the editor lets you manually export the Rootly document’s content to a new external document or update an existing one at any time.

If you want the Rootly document to be created automatically, set up a separate Create Rootly Retrospective workflow. Otherwise, create it manually from the Retrospective tab.

The Rootly document and external documents are independent paths. A workflow that creates a Confluence page will not write to or create the Rootly document, and vice versa. If you create the Rootly document before a workflow fires, the workflow will not override it.

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Best Practices

• Set up workflows for initial creation: Configure workflows to automatically create external documents when incidents resolve, so you don’t have to manually export each time.
• Use Update for changes: After editing a retrospective, use Update external document to push changes to the existing export.
• Include data blocks before exporting: Add Timeline and Follow-ups blocks before exporting so they’re rendered in the external document.
• Verify liquid variables have values: Empty variables create gaps in the external document. Check that referenced fields exist for the incident.

Frequently Asked Questions

My export failed with an authentication error

The connection to the external provider may have expired. Re-authenticate the integration in Configuration → Integrations or contact your administrator.

Data blocks are empty.

Data blocks must have data to render. If the incident has no timeline events or follow-ups, the blocks may appear empty. Add data to the incident before exporting.

Liquid variables resolve to N/A

Ensure the incident has the expected data. Variables without values resolve to N/A. Check that referenced fields (Jira ticket, assigned roles, etc.) exist for this incident.

Changes in the external document aren't in Rootly

Export is one-way. Edits made directly in the external provider don’t sync back to Rootly. Make edits in Rootly and use Update external document to push changes.

How do I update an already-exported document?

Click Export in the editor header and select Update external document. Choose the export you want to update from the list and confirm. The external document will be overwritten with the current retrospective content.

Can I export to multiple providers?

Yes. Use Export to new document for each provider you want to export to. Each export is tracked independently and can be updated separately.