# Export date field from a custom entry

**URL:** <https://discourse.jabref.org/t/export-date-field-from-a-custom-entry/1062>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [February 21, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/export-date-field-from-a-custom-entry/1062 "2018-02-21T03:45:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![warren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/97f17d/32.png) [@warren](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/warren)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/export-date-field-from-a-custom-entry/1062/1 "2018-02-21T03:45:21Z")

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Hi. I’m new to JabRef. Apologies if this is obvious but I’ve been playing with this for ~3 hours, and cannot make further progress.

I have made a primary source custom entry, and I am attempting to export only these entries to send them off to an archive. I’m happy with the Harvard.rtf export file output under export selected entries.

But - I’m getting all the entries but the date field I would like. Now what I think is happening is this isn’t a standard field for exporting using the standard JabRef embedded export code?

So: I assume I need to create some sort of custom export script? If that is the case, could someone please, please (yes - I’m a bit fed up right now:  
Send me a link to the beginners section of that process.  
Send me a basic export script that works and instructions on how to embed it into Jabref.

I suspect I’ll be able to go on from there.

Many thanks.

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**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 9:10am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/export-date-field-from-a-custom-entry/1062/2 "2018-02-21T09:10:42Z")

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Hi,  
Thanks for using JabRef!  
As far as I remember, the rtf export is also defined using layout files. I suggest copying the existing layout file to a new folder, modify the file and add the date field.

More information can be found here  
[https://help.jabref.org/en/CustomExports](https://help.jabref.org/en/CustomExports)

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**Author:** ![tobiasdiez](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/tobiasdiez/32/340_2.png) [@tobiasdiez](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/tobiasdiez)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/export-date-field-from-a-custom-entry/1062/3 "2018-02-21T10:31:11Z")

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If you put the publication date in the field `year` everything should work with the standard havard exporter.

In case you want to export information from a custom field (say `mydate`) then you need to customize the exporter as @Siedlerchr says. The Havard layout files can be found [here](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/tree/b1ec0e3c2cc24072cd0d0fbe6d233dbf8011c12d/src/main/resources/resource/layout/harvard) and come also with a [readme](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/blob/b1ec0e3c2cc24072cd0d0fbe6d233dbf8011c12d/src/main/resources/resource/layout/harvard/harvard.readme) (but I’m not sure how much of this is up-to-date).

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**Author:** ![warren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/97f17d/32.png) [@warren](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/warren)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 10:07pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/export-date-field-from-a-custom-entry/1062/4 "2018-02-21T22:07:41Z")

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Christoph, THANKYOU! 😉

Regards;  
Warren Lewington  
+61 408 612 752