Tips and FAQs
This page lists every question answered in the ENA FAQ, grouped by topic, so you can search the whole FAQ in one place. Use your browser’s find function to search the list, or use the search box in the sidebar to search the full text of the documentation.
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- Accounts and Collaboration
- Sample Metadata Standards
- Which Sample Checklist Should I Use?
- What Spatiotemporal Metadata Is Mandatory?
- My Checklist Uses Different Field Names For Location And Date — Are They Still Valid?
- How Do I Format A Precise Date And Location?
- I Only Know The Year Of Collection — How Do I Report That?
- Which Location And Date Apply To Ancient DNA Samples?
- What About Samples From A Zoo, Botanic Garden, Aquaculture Or Farm?
- What If I Cannot Provide One Of The Mandatory Fields?
- A Consortium Agreement Prevents Me Sharing These Metadata — How Do I Report It?
- My Spreadsheet Upload Fails With Missing Or Mismatched Fields
- Sample Taxonomy
- Which Taxonomy Database Does ENA Use?
- Which Taxonomy Should I Use For My Samples?
- How Do I Check Whether A Taxon Can Be Used?
- What Taxonomy Should I Use For Environmental Samples?
- Do I Need To Request A New Taxon?
- My Organism Is Unidentified Or Only Known To Genus Level — What Do I Use?
- How Do I Request A New Taxon Name?
- An Existing Taxon Is Wrong — Can It Be Corrected?
- Data Files and Formats
- Assemblies and Analyses
- Which Accessions Will My Submission Receive, And Which Become Public?
- What Are Locus Tags And When Do I Need One?
- What Can I Submit From A Metagenomics Study?
- What Is Defined As A MAG Within ENA?
- How Is The Quality Of A Metagenomic Assembly Defined?
- How Do I Navigate Through A Metagenomics Study?
- How Do I Register Samples For Co-Assemblies?
- How Do I Submit Uncultured Virus Genomes (UViGs)?
- How Do I Submit Metagenome Assemblies Without Raw Data Or Primary Assemblies To Point To?
- Submission Errors and Troubleshooting
- Updating Existing Records
- Data Release Policies
- How Is Data Release Managed?
- Can I Advance/Postpone The Release Date?
- I Released My Study, Why Can’t I Find It In The Public Database?
- My Study Is Public, But The Browser Says There Is No Public Data Associated With It
- If My Study Is Already Public, Will New Data I Submit To It Become Public Automatically?
- Can I Make My Study Partially Available?
- Can I Remove A Study After Submitting It?
- My Data Were Released Earlier Than I Intended — What Can I Do?
- What Do The Data Availability Statuses Mean?
- Removing and Suppressing Data
- What Is The Difference Between Cancellation And Suppression?
- What Should I Include In My Request?
- How Do I Remove Records That Have Never Been Public?
- How Do I Remove Records That Are Already Public?
- What Happens To Data Once It Is Suppressed?
- Can I Remove Only Part Of My Submission?
- Can I Request Removal Of Records In Another Webin Account?
- How Do I Release Temporarily Suppressed Data?
- Files Generated by the Archive