# Release Datasets

In Unitlab Annotate, you can create unlimited datasets from your active projects. You can easily release annotations as datasets from projects. To release a dataset, you should have an active project with annotations.

{% hint style="info" %}
Learn how to create a project and start annotating data on the "[Setup a Project](https://docs.unitlab.ai/project-management/setup-a-project)" and "[Annotation](https://docs.unitlab.ai/project-management/annotation)" pages.
{% endhint %}

{% content-ref url="../project-management/setup-a-project" %}
[setup-a-project](https://docs.unitlab.ai/project-management/setup-a-project)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="../project-management/annotation" %}
[annotation](https://docs.unitlab.ai/project-management/annotation)
{% endcontent-ref %}

### Overview

To release a dataset in Unitlab Annotate, the following steps are required from your side.

1. [**Projects**](#id-1.-projects)
   * Make sure you have projects or [create a project](https://docs.unitlab.ai/project-management/setup-a-project) and start [annotating data](https://docs.unitlab.ai/project-management/annotation).
   * Ensure the project has progress and annotations.
2. [**Release a Dataset**](#id-2.-release-a-dataset)
   * Navigate to the "Release Dataset" page within your project in Unitlab Annotate.
   * Select the preferred format (COCO, YOLOv5, or YOLOv8) for the dataset.
   * Click on 'Release' to create a new dataset version based on the latest annotations.
3. [**Released Datasets**](#id-3.-released-datasets)
   * [Manage Datasets](https://docs.unitlab.ai/dataset-management/manage-datasets) on the Datasets page of Unitlab Annotate.

### **1.** Projects

In Unitlab Annotate, datasets are produced from projects based on the most recent annotations. Please make sure that your projects contain annotated data.

In our demo example, we have experimentally created a project named "**Vegetable and Fruit Segmentation**" on the [Setup a Project](https://docs.unitlab.ai/project-management/setup-a-project) page and annotated its data on the [Annotation](https://docs.unitlab.ai/project-management/annotation) page.

<figure><img src="https://1366014570-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FVY6yJqW9wWHP6u0XYu5Q%2Fuploads%2FhBROeJVH7EDQayNx1jgH%2Fdemo.webp?alt=media&#x26;token=7d69e8f7-76be-4fac-8baa-d00def78f467" alt=""><figcaption><p>Unitlab Annotate: A Demo Project</p></figcaption></figure>

The progress of the project is 100% annotated and 100% reviewed. Let's release a dataset based on this progress. You can release datasets as soon as your projects contain annotated data.

### 2. Release a dataset

To release a dataset, click on the project box and navigate to the "<mark style="color:blue;">Release dataset</mark>" page of the project as shown in the screenshot below.

<figure><img src="https://1366014570-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FVY6yJqW9wWHP6u0XYu5Q%2Fuploads%2FAJcW1uqv8jbPGsosWzZn%2Frelease_page.webp?alt=media&#x26;token=1fc46cd6-8b8c-402c-8b90-f322fa47ced6" alt=""><figcaption><p>Unitlab Annotate: The Release dataset Page of the Project</p></figcaption></figure>

To make a new release, click the button in the right corner labeled "<mark style="color:blue;">Release Dataset</mark>." &#x20;

<figure><img src="https://1366014570-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FVY6yJqW9wWHP6u0XYu5Q%2Fuploads%2FqCxGVSZ0D7h7nIEeucBv%2Frelease_popup.webp?alt=media&#x26;token=6b1fc4ec-9e37-46d4-9b8e-3b459d485d9b" alt=""><figcaption><p>Unitlab Annotate: The Release dataset Page - Release Dataset Popup.</p></figcaption></figure>

When releasing a dataset, you have the option to select either just the export format or both the export format and licenses when using Unitlab Annotate with the Free Plan.

{% hint style="warning" %}
NOTE! When you use Unitlab Annotate with the Free Plan, every dataset you release will be made public on Dataset page of Unitlab Annotate. Before releasing, you must agree to assign one of the following licenses to your dataset.

* MIT
* CC BY 4.0
* Public Domain
* BY-NC-SA 4.0
  {% endhint %}

{% hint style="success" %}
Discover Unitlab's [Plans and Pricing](https://unitlab.ai/pricing) to keep your datasets private by upgrading your plan.
{% endhint %}

In Unitlab Annotate, we support the following common export formats. Other formats are coming in the next version of Unitlab Annotate in the near future.

* **COCO**
* **YOLOv5**
* **YOLOv8**

In our example, let's select the COCO format and click on the "Release" button. This creates a dataset based on the latest annotated data of your project.

<figure><img src="https://1366014570-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FVY6yJqW9wWHP6u0XYu5Q%2Fuploads%2FP8b5s8KuqX3GDqaEdyLU%2Fcreated.webp?alt=media&#x26;token=9a52b1f2-e96f-4d57-97a5-6417aaabc570" alt=""><figcaption><p>Unitlab Annotate: The Release Dataset Page - A Release Created</p></figcaption></figure>

As your annotations are corrected or updated over time, you can create a new version of the dataset based on the most recent annotations. You never lose any data; you can restore or download older versions of your datasets.&#x20;

{% hint style="success" %}
Each new release creates a new version of the dataset. You can create an unlimited number of versions of your datasets from your active projects, keeping everything organized and lossless.
{% endhint %}

In our demo, we currently have only one version of the dataset. Let's proceed to update the annotations, label all previously unannotated data, and create a new release with each update. We can add additional data and release other formats of our dataset as well:

<figure><img src="https://1366014570-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FVY6yJqW9wWHP6u0XYu5Q%2Fuploads%2FTIqQTJ4MdRFc15fXEqUY%2Flist.webp?alt=media&#x26;token=b11af459-4883-4827-a4af-0e5a553e2efe" alt=""><figcaption><p>Unitlab Annotate: The Release Dataset Page - The Releases List</p></figcaption></figure>

In this demo, we created 4 versions of the project's dataset. To view all releases of your project, you can navigate to either this page or the Dataset page of Unitlab Annotate.

### **3. Released Datasets**

Let's find the dataset we have just released on the <mark style="color:blue;">Datasets</mark> page of Unitlab Annotate, as shown below in the screenshots.

<figure><img src="https://1366014570-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FVY6yJqW9wWHP6u0XYu5Q%2Fuploads%2F8eNNJDyU47n9Fg6VvosN%2Fdatasets.webp?alt=media&#x26;token=7b76c37b-6fb1-4915-a328-d973196613d9" alt=""><figcaption><p>Unitlab Annotate: The Datasets page</p></figcaption></figure>

On the Dataset page of Unitlab Annotate, you can control the versions of the datasets that are released from projects.

{% hint style="info" %}
Learn how to manage datasets, including version and access control, on the "[Manage Datasets](https://docs.unitlab.ai/dataset-management/manage-datasets)" page.
{% endhint %}

{% content-ref url="manage-datasets" %}
[manage-datasets](https://docs.unitlab.ai/dataset-management/manage-datasets)
{% endcontent-ref %}