The ELN's Data Dryad Launchpad can be accessed from the Navigation bar (Fig 1). The launchpad allows users to generate Data Dryad (External Link) datasets, update them, and easily upload files attached to their relevant ELN pages directly to Dryad.


Fig 1. ELN navigation bar. Users can access the Data Dryad Launchpad from the navigation bar.

The Data Dryad workflow is described in the following sections.

In order to submit data to Data Dryad, you must first obtain an API token from your Data Dryad account page. Upon activating the API account, you will see the ability to generate an API token at the bottom of the page, as shown in Fig 2. Upon generating a token, it will remain active/usable for 10 years. After 10 hours, the user will need to get a new token.


Fig 2. Data dryad token generator. Clicking the button to get a new token will provide the user with an API token. This token lasts for 10 hours, after which a new token must be generated.

Data Dryad datasets are created using the form shown in Fig 3. Many of the fields are required by default from Dryad, including: a title, author information, funder information, keywords, field of science, and so on. The first two fields – Pages Relevant to Dataset and DataDryad API token – are not part of the standard Data Dryad dataset creation process, but are necessary for the Launchpad. Why?

Well, the first part (Pages Relevant to Dataset) is used to designate which ELN pages are part of the dataset. This process then turns attached ELN files into available files for sending to Data Dryad (discussed further in the next section). The second part (API token) is necessary in order to carry out Data Dryad operations, or at least, it is as of April 6 2026.


Fig 3. Dryad dataset creation form. Contains all the standard fields you would find on the Data Dryad website, plus two others: relevant page selection and Dryad API token.

It is worth noting that Data Dryad datasets are account-wide for the first author, i.e., the user who is signed in is able to see all of their created Dryad datasets, which are displayed as cards (Fig 4).


Fig 4. Example Data Dryad dataset card.

The card provides a direct link to the web-editable Dataset, as well as a View button to make further edits to the dataset in the ELN (Fig 5). It is from this View window that you can update dataset metadata, upload files directly to Dryad (Step 3), generate a README file (Step 4), and lock and export the README to Data Dryad (Step 5).


Fig 5. Landing page when Viewing a Dataset. Shows the dataset editing form, available and attached (uploaded to Dryad) files, and README editor.

As you link ELN pages to your Dataset, any and all attached files that are available to the ELN page become available to direct upload to Data Dryad.

TBD…

TBD…

There are a select few operations that cannot be performed in the launchpad (deletion of files from Dryad, submitting a dataset to curation), or which have limitations (deleting a full Dryad dataset). These operations are discussed in more detail in the following sections.

Deleting Data Dryad datasets can only be done indirectly, i.e., they cannot be deleted through the ELN launchpad. This is because Data Dryad's API does not document a DELETE route to delete datasets. However, you can still delete datasets from your ELN by performing the following sequence of actions:

1. Delete the dataset on Data Dryad's website
2. Click the 'Delete from LIMS' button on the dataset's display card in the ELN

You must perform these steps in order. If you attempt to delete from the LIMS and ELN before deleting from Data Dryad, you will receive an error message telling you the operation is not allowed. This happens because, in order to try to maintain as much synchronicity as possible, the 'Delete from LIMS' step first checks whether the dataset still exists in Dryad. If it does, an error message is returned, telling the user that they must first delete the dataset from the Dryad website before further action can be taken.

Dryad files, like Dryad datasets, cannot be deleted through Data Dryad's API and must therefore be deleted from the Dryad website itself. However, as of April 6 2026, unlike Dryad datasets, there is no deletion mechanism for Dryad files in the LIMS. This will be remedied in a future update, and consequently, so will this section.

The final step for any Data Dryad dataset is to submit it for curation/review. Although this step can be activated through their API, and thus could be engaged via the Launchpad, we made the decision to not allow this process for the following reason: there are some input fields that are only available through the Data Dryad website and cannot be accessed programmatically, including some important agreement documentation/terms of service acceptance, and some author settings. So, because of these limitations, the ability to submit your dataset to curation will only be available by accessing the Data Dryad site itself. If this becomes a sticking point for users, we may make changes.