Scan Exports and Reports

Scans can be exported as a Nessus file or a Nessus DB file, as described in Export a Scan. These files can then be imported as a scan or policy, as described in Import a Scan and Import a Policy.

You can also create a scan report in several different formats. For all formats, you can configure a report to include all scan information or specify a custom set of information. For an HTML or PDF report, you can also use a Tenable-provided report with preconfigured filters. For more information, see Create a Scan Report.

Report templates are used to define the content of a report, based on chapter selection and ordering. Once custom templates are defined (see Create a Custom Report Template for more information), you can use them to generate HTML or PDF reports for scan results. In addition to custom templates, some system templates are predefined and provided with Nessus. To view custom and system report templates, see Customized Reports. For more information on the system templates provided by Tenable, see https://www.tenable.com/nessus-reports.

Format	Description	Allows Customization?
Exports
Nessus	A .nessus file in XML format that contains the list of targets, policies defined by the user, and scan results. Password credentials are stripped so they are not exported as plain text in the XML. If you import a .nessus file as a policy, you must re-apply your passwords to any credentials.	No
Nessus DB	A proprietary encrypted database format that contains all the information in a scan, including the audit trails and results. When you export in this format, you must enter a password to encrypt the results of the scan.	No
Reports
PDF	A report generated in PDF format. Depending on the size of the report, PDF generation may take several minutes. Either Oracle Java or OpenJDK is required for PDF reports.	Yes
HTML	A report generated using standard HTML output. This report opens in a new tab in your browser.	Yes
CSV	A comma-separated values (CSV) export that can be used to import into many external programs such as databases, spreadsheets, and more.	Yes