How do you export Xactimate estimates for an AI data license?
Xactimate is where contractors and adjusters write up the scope and cost of a property loss. The estimates are the company's own work, but the unit prices inside them come from price lists that the vendor supplies under a license. A careful export separates the two, and that decides what can be offered.
What an Xactimate account usually holds
| Estimates and scopes of work | Line items by room and trade, with quantities and notes on what needs repair or replacement. |
| Sketches and measurements | Room layouts and dimensions drawn or imported for the loss. |
| Reports | The formatted estimate documents produced for a claim file, saved as PDF. |
| Project photos and notes | Loss photos, inspection details and comments kept with the project. |
| Revision history across a claim | Supplements and revised estimates, which show how a scope changed after a closer look. |
How estimates leave Xactimate, route by route
| Tool | What an export gives you | What is missing or needs an admin |
|---|---|---|
| Export project as ESX (Xactimate online) | Select a project, choose the Export icon and then Save project, which downloads an .esx file. ESX is the default format. | The help article does not say what the file contains in detail, who may export, or any size limit. ESX is a vendor format, so a person needs Xactimate to read it. |
| Export to Excel (online or desktop) | The same Export window offers Export to Excel, which saves the project as an Excel file. | The documentation does not describe which fields the spreadsheet holds. Open one and check before relying on it. |
| Export project from Xactimate desktop | A local project can be dragged out as an .esx file, or exported through the Export icon. Projects export as ESX, with Excel also available through the browse method. | The project must be closed first. Only projects held locally are covered by that article. |
| Reports to PDF | In an open estimate, Documents then Reports, then the Export dropdown offers Export PDF File or Email PDF file. | PDF only. The article does not list which reports are included, and the Inspection Wizard may ask for estimate details first. |
| Price list download | A price list of items by city or postal code, used by the software to price estimates. | It is vendor content, not your own record. See the next section for why it stays out. |
Tool names belong to their owners and are used only to say where records usually live. Export features change by plan and version, so check the current rules for your account.
Your estimates and the vendor's pricing are different things
The scope you wrote, your measurements, photos and notes are your records. The unit prices come from price lists published by the vendor, which says it researches pricing data on a regular schedule across markets in the United States and Canada. Access is sold under a license, and the price data is not yours to license on.
We did not find the vendor's license text on redistribution in the documents we could read, so we cannot quote it. Treat price list contents as licensed in and leave them out of the set. Your own contract with the vendor is the place to confirm, and counsel can read it with you.
Counting estimates and noting loss dates
The unit to report is the estimate, counted per claim or project, and revisions counted separately from first drafts. Give the earliest and latest loss dates, the loss types such as water, fire or wind, and the regions. Note whether the counts come from the project list or from a tally of exported files.
Be clear about how each estimate was priced. If many files rely on a vendor price list, say so, and plan for the price columns to be removed or the set to describe quantities and scope only. The vendor's documentation does not say how long old projects remain in your account, so check that the older ones open.
Who exports, and what the claim file adds
Export permissions are not described in the help articles we read. The account administrator is usually the one who can confirm which users may export, and a license change can alter what a user sees. Check the current rules for the account.
An estimate belongs to a claim. It names a policyholder, an address, an adjuster and often an insurer, and it may sit inside an insurer's workflow. Those names are removed or de-identified. General information, not legal advice: where an estimate was written for an insurer or a client, ask counsel whether your agreement lets you use it.
What stays out for an Xactimate set
| Vendor price lists and pricing data | Licensed in, so left out of the license and not offered onward. |
| Policyholder names, addresses and claim numbers | Removed or de-identified, with the loss described by type and region. |
| Insurer and adjuster identities | Carrier names and individual staff are taken out. |
| Photos showing people or home interiors | Not licensed unless they can be cleaned reliably. |
A claim-estimating shop, sketched
A restoration contractor has written about two thousand estimates over several years. An administrator exports closed projects as ESX files and as Excel, and saves the PDF reports for a sample. A tally counts estimates and supplements separately and marks the figure as verified. Price columns that come from the vendor's lists are dropped, policyholder and carrier details are removed, and photos with people in them stay out. The owner reads a handful of cleaned scopes and approves the sample before anything is shared.
Questions owners ask about this
Can an ESX file be handed to an AI lab as it is?
It carries project data in a vendor format and can include price items from the vendor's lists. It is better treated as a source to convert, with pricing removed and personal details cleaned.
Does the Excel export remove the price list problem?
Not by itself. We could not confirm from the documentation which columns the spreadsheet holds, so check one for priced lines before deciding.
Is a PDF report enough?
It reads well but is the hardest to turn into structured data. It is often kept as a reference alongside the ESX or Excel files.
Who owns an estimate written for an insurer?
That depends on your agreement and the assignment terms. Ask counsel to read them before the estimate is prepared.
Didn't find your question? Ask us directly.
Sources
The vendor's own pages this guide draws on. Some help centers did not open for us, and where a step rests on a summary and not the page itself, the guide says so. Menus and limits change by plan and version, so check the current pages for your account.
Keep reading
Related kinds of records
- Quotes and estimates: A price and the argument behind it, with margins and current prices kept out unless the owner says.
- Claims and underwriting files: A risk decision, its reasons and what happened next, with every policyholder removed first.
- Inspection reports and photos: A finding beside its photos and its fix, with faces, plates and addresses removed first.
Industries that keep these records
- Insurance agencies: A quote, a renewal and a claim follow-up in the agency’s own words, with customers and carrier files kept out.