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Snapshots represent an entity at a given time in the past. A snapshot is automatically created each time an entry or a content type is published.

Snapshots are not available in the sandbox environments (not master environment).
While this is true for sandbox environments, aliasing can effect how snapshots are created.
For example, having a 'master' alias pointing to a sandbox environment will create snapshots for that environment which might conflict when entries with the same ID exist.

Each snapshot has two top level objects: `sys` and `snapshot`.

The `sys` object contains technical information about the snapshot and has the following nested properties:

| Field              | Type   | Description                                                      |
| ------------------ | ------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| type               | String | Type of the resource. For snapshots it will always be `Snapshot` |
| createdAt          | Date   | Timestamp with the moment when the snapshot was created          |
| createdBy          | Link   | A reference to the user who created the snapshot                 |
| id                 | String | The unique identifier for this snapshot                          |
| snapshotType       | String | The type of snapshot. For now the only valid value is `publish`  |
| snapshotEntityType | String | Type of the entity in the snapshot. `Entry` or `ContentType`     |

The `snapshot` object contains the content of the entity at the moment the snapshot was taken (excluding the [`Entry.metadata` field](/references/content-management-api/overview)).

Note that `snapshot` object has *two fields only*, similar to the three-field structure of [`Entry`](/references/content-management-api/overview):

* `snapshot.fields` - holds the fields of the Entry at the time of the snapshot
* `snapshot.sys` - holds the technical details of the Entry at the time of the snapshot

There is no `snapshot.metadata` field because when taking a snapshot of the Entry, the `metadata` field (usually containing user-defined tags) is *not* stored in the snapshot.

## Collection filters

When querying large snapshots or large collections, the size in bytes of the resulting dataset may be quite large.
To avoid downloading large datasets with unnecessary data from the API, use the `select` operator.

With the `select` operator, you can instruct the API to only return specific fields from your dataset.

For example, to limit the returned dataset to fields representing snapshot id and snapshot creation time, use the select operator in the form of: `select` with the value of `sys.id,sys.createdAt`.

Note that using the `select` operator to query the Snapshots API is more flexible and permissive than the [more restrictive behavior](/references/content-delivery-api/overview) of querying the Content Delivery API with `select`. When using the `select` operator with the Snapshots API you can:

* request properties with depths larger than 2. For example, `select` with value `sys.id,snapshot.fields.title,snapshot.fields.description`.
* request a field with given locale and specify it at the end of the property path. For example, `select` with value `sys.id,snapshot.fields.description.es,snapshot.fields.description.en`.
* query snapshots of a specific Entry without having to specify the `content-type` argument.

## Entry Snapshots collection

[Get all snapshots of an entry](/references/content-management-api/snapshots/get-all-snapshots-of-an-entry)

## Entry Snapshot

[Get a snapshot of an entry](/references/content-management-api/snapshots/get-a-snapshot-of-an-entry)

## Content Type Snapshots collection

[Get all snapshots of a content type](/references/content-management-api/snapshots/get-all-snapshots-of-a-content-type)

## Content Type Snapshot

[Get a snapshot of a content type](/references/content-management-api/snapshots/get-a-snapshot-of-a-content-type)


## API Docs

- Snapshots [Get all snapshots of an entry](https://contentful.com/developers/docs/references/content-management-api/snapshots/get-all-snapshots-of-an-entry.md)
- Snapshots [Get a snapshot of an entry](https://contentful.com/developers/docs/references/content-management-api/snapshots/get-a-snapshot-of-an-entry.md)
- Snapshots [Get all snapshots of a content type](https://contentful.com/developers/docs/references/content-management-api/snapshots/get-all-snapshots-of-a-content-type.md)
- Snapshots [Get a snapshot of a content type](https://contentful.com/developers/docs/references/content-management-api/snapshots/get-a-snapshot-of-a-content-type.md)

## OpenAPI Specification

The raw OpenAPI 3.1 specification for this API is available at:
- [OpenAPI JSON](https://contentful.com/developers/docs/openapi.json)
- [OpenAPI YAML](https://contentful.com/developers/docs/openapi.yaml)