How to export TIBCO Spotfire library content from version 12.0 and higher for import into earlier versions

Product:TIBCO Spotfire Server
Versions:12.0 and higher

Summary:
This article provides information on how to fix a common issue faced while importing library content from Spotfire versions 12.0 and higher to earlier versions that did not support library compression.

Details:
From Spotfire version 12.0 onwards, content stored in the Spotfire library is compressed by default (see Spotfire library introduction for more details). This means that by default, content exported from the library is also in a compressed format. If you try to import that compressed content from 12.0 and higher to earlier versions of Spotfire where library compression is not enabled, then the import will fail with the error "Exception importing item: StorageItem". For example, from the import dialog or impex.log:

Starting import of: /myCompressedExportFrom12.0.part0.zip
Found 10 items to import.
All 10 items inserted.
Handling dependencies.
Post processing 7 imported items of types: join, datasource, procedure, query, column, filter.
Import handler verifying items of type spotfire.datasource. Phase 1 of 6.
Import handler verifying items of type spotfire.column. Phase 2 of 6.
Exception importing item: StorageItem
Deleting item that failed import:12509ec0-f21d-4612-a944-9d4d40194409
Exception importing item: StorageItem
Deleting item that failed import:2e86ffe4-c3bc-49f8-8960-44995a2b1bbf
Exception importing item: StorageItem
Deleting item that failed import:3f3deaba-dbad-4808-8fad-b9f596d45a93
Exception importing item: StorageItem
...
Import handler verifying items of type spotfire.filter. Phase 3 of 6.
Import handler verifying items of type spotfire.join. Phase 4 of 6.
Import handler verifying items of type spotfire.procedure. Phase 5 of 6.
Exception importing item: StorageItem
Deleting item that failed import:1abeb3af-297e-43b7-99f3-77b17e5e901e
Exception importing item: StorageItem
Deleting item that failed import:24be2f25-2327-4ca0-9033-768d95020127
Exception importing item: StorageItem
Deleting item that failed import:39de7110-93d7-43ae-80f5-6610386cd3f0
Import handler verifying items of type spotfire.query. Phase 6 of 6.
Exception importing item: StorageItem
Deleting item that failed import:4e1da338-7169-40ee-81c4-e08ce9a73e7b
Exception importing item: StorageItem
Deleting item that failed import:5723c922-e8c9-4302-b827-2e327b69bd8a
Exception importing item: StorageItem
Deleting item that failed import:607695a4-fea4-453e-beb0-db1d6f728386
...
Post processing 100 imported items of types: dxp, Automation Job.
Import done

Resolution:
If you want to export the Library content from Spotfire version 12.0 and higher and intend to import to earlier versions where compression is not supported then you will have to export the contents using the export-library-content command and set 'compressed-content' parameter to 'false'. The resulting library content will then be compatible with earlier versions.

For example:
See Exporting library content by using the command line for more details.