QShare

A minimalist QGIS plugin to export a packaged copy of your project — layers, layout images and the .qgz file — to a folder or a ZIP archive, ready to be shared with anyone.

No external dependencies. No bloat. It does one thing and does it well.

Why another one?

There are several QGIS plugins that package projects for sharing, and most of them try to do too much: extra dialogs, conversion options nobody asked for, fragile behaviour with rasters or layouts, broken layer paths after extraction. QShare is the opposite — a single dialog, two choices, and a project that just works when the recipient opens it.

Features

• Exports all vector layers either as Shapefile (one .shp per layer) or as a single GeoPackage (.gpkg) containing every layer.
• Copies all local raster layers along with their sidecar files (.aux.xml, .tfw, .prj, etc.).
• Copies every image used in print layouts to a dedicated IMAGENES/ folder, deduplicating images reused across multiple layouts.
• Keeps WMS/WMTS layers with their original URLs.
• Rewrites all paths in the .qgz as relative, so the package is portable.
• Outputs as a plain folder or as a .zip archive.
• Does not modify the active project in QGIS. The export runs against an isolated copy of the project, so your current session is left untouched.

Output structure

MyProject/
├── MyProject.qgz
├── LAYERS/
│   ├── MyProject.gpkg          (if GeoPackage was selected)
│   └── ...                     (or .shp files mirroring the layer tree)
└── IMAGES/
    └── ...                     (images from print layouts)

If you choose ZIP output, the resulting MyProject.zip contains exactly that structure at its root.

Installation

From the QGIS Plugin Repository

(pending approval)

Once published, install it from Plugins → Manage and Install Plugins → All, search for "QShare".

Manual installation

1. Download or clone this repository.
2. Copy the QShare folder into your QGIS plugin directory:
   • Linux: ~/.local/share/QGIS/QGISX/profiles/default/python/plugins/
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\QGIS\QGISX\profiles\default\python\plugins\
   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/QGIS/QGISX/profiles/default/python/plugins/
3. Restart QGIS (or reload plugins).
4. Enable QShare under Plugins → Manage and Install Plugins → Installed.

Usage

1. Open the project you want to share in QGIS.
2. Launch QShare from the Plugins menu or the toolbar icon.
3. Pick a destination folder.
4. Choose the vector format — GeoPackage or Shapefile.
5. Choose whether to output a folder or a .zip archive.
6. Click Export.

The dialog shows a live log and a progress bar. When it finishes, your shareable copy is in the chosen destination.

Compatibility

• QGIS 3.22 or newer.
• Compatible with both Qt5 (QGIS 3.x) and Qt6 (QGIS 4.x). All Qt imports go through the qgis.PyQt abstraction layer.

Limitations

• PostGIS and other database-backed vector layers are exported as files (SHP or GPKG); the database connection is replaced with a local data source in the exported project.
• Memory layers are exported as files.
• Non-local rasters (e.g. remote URLs other than WMS/WMTS) are skipped with a warning.
• Some advanced layer styling features (e.g. very specific symbology referencing absolute paths) may need manual review after export.

Contributing

Bug reports and feature requests are welcome on the issue tracker. Pull requests are also welcome — please keep the plugin's minimalist philosophy in mind.

License

QShare is released under the GNU General Public License v2 or later. See the LICENSE file for details.

Author

Created by Aarón Quesada.