Trello Exported JSON data is missing data before September 2018

[Jason Reich]

(title, description updated, see below)

Hello, I've been using Trello's exported JSON data to make backups of our boards.  In some cases I was processing and making reports from the data, and found that some of the exports are missing data. 

I've found missing comments, missing activities, and missing attachments.  In one case one card only had its title and description.  I've dug into the original JSON (1.3MByte before reformatting) from the export and there are several items I just cannot find.

Has anyone else used their exported JSON data and noticed this?  It's very concerning that data is missing in this way.  Any suggestions of what might be going on?

Update: after closer inspection, it looks like comments and activity from before approx August 25, 2018 are being excluded.  This is an older board that had most activity from July through Dec 2018, and almost everything from July and August is not there in the export.  I've seen a couple comments from very late August, so it doesn't seem to be right at the end of the month.

Any ideas?  These comments and activity items are present in the board on Trello, but not there in the exported data.

[Garrett · Accepted solution]

Hey Jason,

Behavior like this is currently expected with exports. Trello has a 1,000 action limit for activity included in an export along with the activity in your board menu. So with older boards, you won't be able to see past a certain point.

The older activity still exists, but to find that you'll need to make a request via our API. I answered a similar question to this previously which covers how you can get that info:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Trello-questions/My-Board-Activity-does-not-go-past-a-certain-date/qaq-p/1362031

Hopefully that will help you get that older activity!