Exporting Retrospectives

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Overview

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

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Supported Providers

Rootly supports the following external document providers:

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

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Native Editor vs External Providers

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When to Use the Native 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 share a published retrospective with stakeholders outside of your organization

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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

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Using Both

Many teams combine approaches:

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

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What Gets Exported

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

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Content That Syncs

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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

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Provider-Specific Formatting

Rootly adjusts content formatting for each provider:

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How to Export

The editor header provides two ways to share and export your retrospective: the Share dropdown and the Export dropdown (for external providers).

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Share Dropdown

Click Share in the editor header to access these options:

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Exporting to External Providers

If your team has external integrations configured, you can click the Export button in the editor header to export to connected providers. The dropdown shows each configured provider (Confluence, Google Docs, Notion, etc.) with:

• Provider name and icon
• Last export timestamp (if previously exported)
• Export button to sync the current content

Click Export next to a provider to push the current retrospective content to that external document. This updates the existing document if one was already created and overwrites its content.

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Managing Export Workflows

At the bottom of the View dropdown, click Manage workflows to configure where retrospectives are automatically created when incidents resolve. Workflows can automatically create external documents when:

• An incident is resolved
• A retrospective is created
• A retrospective is published
• A workflow step is completed

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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
• Edits in the external document do not sync back to Rootly

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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 }}

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Keeping Documents Updated

If you make changes to the retrospective in Rootly after the initial export:

1. Open the Export dropdown in the editor header
2. Click the Export document contents button next to the provider you want to update
3. The external document will be updated with the current content

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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 Export for updates: After editing a retrospective, use the Export button to push changes to the external document.
• 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.

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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 re-export.

How do I update an already-exported document?

Open the Export dropdown and click Export next to the provider. This updates the existing external document with the current retrospective content.

Can I export to multiple providers?

Yes, if multiple workflows are configured. Click Export for each provider you want to sync to.