# Level-wide export / import

Presets ({doc}`presets`) move one actor's interaction bundle at a time. **Export /
Import Actions** does the same job for an **entire level in one pass**: every
interactive actor, saved to and loaded from a single JSON file.

## Where it lives

**Tools → Mova Interact → Export / Import Actions**

- **Export** walks every interactive actor currently in the level (Blueprint
  instances and placed actors alike) and writes their full interaction bundles:
  Cycles, Groups, States, Tags, Proximity: into one JSON file.
- **Import** reads that file back and reconciles it against the level's current
  state.

## The diff viewer

Import doesn't apply blindly. It opens a **diff viewer** (a list pane and a diff
pane, multi-select) that shows what the import changes before
anything is written:

<!-- shot:export-import-diff -->
```{image} ../_static/screenshots/shot-export-import-diff-mockup.svg
:alt: export import diff (placeholder mockup)
:width: 100%
```

Save the real screenshot as: `shot-export-import-diff.png`

```{image} ../_static/screenshots/shot-export-import-diff.png
:alt: export import diff (real screenshot)
:width: 100%
```
<!-- /shot -->

Every actor in the file is classified:

| Classification | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| `AlreadyInSync` | The live actor already matches the file's entry, nothing to do if applied. |
| `Modified` | The file differs from the live actor. The diff pane shows which fields changed. |
| `Identical` | The file's entry and the live actor produce byte-identical data on comparison: the strict case of "in sync," called out separately so an exact re-export is visibly distinguishable from a merely equivalent one. |

Select one or many entries and apply only those: you are never forced to import
the whole file, or to import nothing.

## Blueprint defaults and placed instances, both

Export/Import applies to **Blueprint class defaults** as well as **placed level
instances**, for two different workflows:

- Fix the *default* interaction on a Blueprint (say, every `BP_Door` in the
  project) once, export, and re-import into another project's copy of the same
  Blueprint.
- Fix a *per-instance* override on one specific placed door without touching the
  Blueprint default at all.

The diff pane tells you which kind of entry you're looking at, so you don't
accidentally overwrite an instance override with a class default or vice versa.

## Why plain JSON matters

Interaction data is plain JSON, not a binary level asset:

- **Reviewable in version control**: a level's interaction data shows up as
  a readable diff in a code review, the same as any other text file. A reviewer
  can see "the Open group's easing changed" without opening the editor.
- **Portable between projects**: copy the exported file into another project and
  import it. The interaction data travels independently of the level asset
  itself.
- **Recoverable after a crash or a bad merge**: the answer to "we
  spent a week setting up interactions and one bad merge lost them." Export
  regularly (or keep the exported JSON under version control alongside the level)
  and a bad merge, a corrupted `.uasset`, or an accidental revert becomes a
  re-import, not starting over.

## Typical workflow

1. Before a risky merge or a big setup pass, **Export** the level to a JSON
   file and check it into version control alongside the map.
2. After the merge (or after `git checkout` recovers an old level asset), open
   **Import**, point it at the last-known-good export.
3. Review the diff: confirm the `Modified` entries are the ones you expect to
   restore, and that nothing you *want* to keep is about to be overwritten.
4. Apply the selection.

## See also

- {doc}`presets`: the single-actor equivalent, to reuse one object's
  interaction bundle instead of reconciling a whole level.
- {doc}`../concepts/model`: what's actually inside the JSON (States, KeyFrames,
  Actions, Groups, Cycles).