Why do I see "Download failed" when exporting a report in Analytics?

Question

Why do I see Download failed when trying to export a report in Explore?

Answer

You see Download failed when you export a large report. When you export a report as an Excel or CSV file, the export service reloads the report in the backend to extract the raw data. If the report contains a large mass of data, the export service times out during the process and fails.

Note: The report builder has a greater timeout limit than the export service. This means that reports load successfully in the report builder, but still time out during the export process.

To resolve this issue, narrow down the scope of the report, such as add a date filter over a smaller timespan or filter on additional attributes.