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Solar design and proposals

How to find and size your OpenSolar data.

Find how many projects OpenSolar holds, and how a full export works through Export Report and the API.

Find how much you have

  1. Open the Projects page and switch from Kanban to List View. The export option only appears in List View.

  2. Clear any filters so you see everything. A saved view applies to your whole organization, so use Discard, not Save, when you are only looking around.

  3. Click Export Report, choose All projects, pick the columns (Current view, or All projects data if you are an Admin), and click Export. OpenSolar prepares the file in the background and emails you when it is ready.

  4. Open the CSV from the email link, or from Control > Customer > Files, and count the rows. One export holds at most 2,000 projects. If you land on exactly 2,000, split the export with filters such as created date or stage and add the batches together.

  5. Subtract test projects and duplicates. A duplicated project shows up in the list next to the original, so it inflates the count.

  6. Find your oldest project with Sort & Filter, for example by narrowing on created date, or sort the exported CSV if it carries a created-date column. That project is where your records start.

What to put on your intake

Your intake has five boxes for each system. Here is what goes in each one for OpenSolar.

What does it hold?
Solar projects, one per customer site, with contacts, system designs and proposals, workflow stages and actions, documents and transactions.
Data types
Structured records and Text. Add Image if your team uploads site photos to projects.
How big is it?
Projects, from the CSV row count (or the sum of your batches) after removing duplicates and test projects.
Verified or estimated
Verified if the number comes from export rows. Estimated if you read it off a filtered screen or guessed from a sample.
Records start
The created date of your oldest project.

Exporting the full history

If a buyer licenses your records, this is how the full history comes out of OpenSolar.

  1. Nothing is pulled until a buyer licenses the data and the scope is agreed: which projects, which dates, and which fields.

  2. For the main project table, an Admin repeats Export Report from List View with All projects and All projects data, in batches of up to 2,000 (split by created date, stage or sold status). Each batch lands in Private Files, and the Admin gets an email titled something like OpenSolar Projects Data Export.

  3. For design and proposal detail, switch on the API. Set up your Wallet first (Control > Integrations > Your Wallet), then enable API Access or Raw Data API Access under Control > Integrations > Integrations & Services. Raw Data API Access adds the full design data, proposal data and custom data. API Access alone leaves those out.

  4. Get a bearer token by sending your OpenSolar login to the token endpoint. You can't generate one inside the app. A standard token expires after 7 days unless the user is set up as a machine user.

  5. Page through the projects call (GET /api/orgs/:org_id/projects/ with page and limit), then fetch project and system details one project at a time. Stay inside the throttle limits, for example 100 project-detail calls a minute per user and 10,000 a day for the organization.

  6. Files stored in Private Files can also be listed through the API. Download links in the response expire after one hour, and organization-wide calls are capped at 1,000 a day.

We only ask for an export after you sign a license and agree the scope. Sizing your data for the intake never needs one.

Limits to know

  • An export holds at most 2,000 projects. OpenSolar says a larger request only includes the first 2,000 matching projects, so the rest are left out of the file.
  • Export Report only appears in List View and depends on your role. If the button is missing, ask an Admin to check the Projects export permission on your role.
  • Without All projects data, you only get the columns in your current view, which may leave out fields a buyer wants. Only Admins can choose All projects data.
  • The API is a paid wallet product. After a 30-day free trial, a fee comes out of the wallet for each new project created, and project creation is blocked if the wallet runs short. If you switch it off, projects that were bought while it was on keep API access, and all others lose API access and webhooks.
  • Deleting a project in OpenSolar is permanent and removes everything inside it. Deleted projects can't be counted or exported.
  • A duplicated project does not copy history events, project management actions, project files or transactions, so duplicates are thinner than the originals.
  • The API has throttle limits on every endpoint, listed in OpenSolar's developer docs. They can change, so check them before you plan a bulk pull.

This guide isn't legal advice. Check your contracts, and any recording-consent rules that apply, with your own lawyer.

Why buyers value it

OpenSolar is where many installers design the system, price it, send the proposal and then keep working the project through their own workflow stages, from the sale through permitting and install. Each workflow action gets a timestamp when it is ticked off, so the record shows not only what was quoted but how long each step took and where projects stalled.

That sequence, from quote to signed deal to installed system, is hard to rebuild from outside. Buyers use it to study conversion from proposal to sale, pricing against system size, and how long installs take in different markets.

What stays private

Customer contacts (names, emails and phone numbers), site addresses and payment or transaction details are removed or excluded before delivery. Uploaded and generated documents, such as signed contracts, are left out of scope by default. Team members' logins and API tokens are not part of a package.

Third-party content isn't yours to license. That includes high-resolution imagery you pay for through your OpenSolar Wallet (for example Nearmap) and any price lists or catalog data that came from your suppliers. What you license is your own project, design and workflow records.

Common questions

Probably not. OpenSolar caps each export at 2,000 projects and only includes the first 2,000 matching ones. Split the export with filters, for example by created date or stage, run each batch, and add the row counts up.

The CSV covers project-level fields and is enough to fill in the intake. Design and proposal detail come through the API, and the fullest set needs Raw Data API Access. Your scope decides which one you need.

Yes. Duplicates appear as separate projects in the list, so subtract them. Deleted projects are gone for good and can't be counted, which means your count reflects what exists today, not everything you ever created.

Sources

Vendor documentation, checked . Screens and plans change, so if a step looks different in your account, check with OpenSolar.