# How to read provenance in an artifact file?

**URL:** https://forum.qiime2.org/t/how-to-read-provenance-in-an-artifact-file/7257
**Category:** User Support
**Created:** [December 3, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/how-to-read-provenance-in-an-artifact-file/7257 "2018-12-03T14:59:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Life](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Life](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Life)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/how-to-read-provenance-in-an-artifact-file/7257/1 "2018-12-03T14:59:50Z")

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Hi Bod,

I downloaded .qza file, but i can not understand where i could find commands you used.Then exported classifier-dada2.qza file and get .pkl file, but i could not read it with python pickle. I think i'm doing something wrong. Сould you please explain in more detail how can i find commands within the provenance in the file.

Thank you!

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### Author: ![Nicholas\_Bokulich](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/nicholas_bokulich/32/19937_2.png) [@Nicholas\_Bokulich](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Nicholas_Bokulich)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/how-to-read-provenance-in-an-artifact-file/7257/2 "2018-12-03T16:11:57Z")

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Hi @Life,

> [@Life](#):
>
> Сould you please explain in more detail how can i find commands within the provenance in the file.

To see a file's provenance:

1. go to [https://view.qiime2.org](https://view.qiime2.org) and view the artifact there. Do not export the file — you will lose its provenance.
2. Click on the "provenance" tab in the upper-right side of the screen
3. Click on any of the boxes (representing individual commands) to see what command/parameters were used, and other info like QIIME version and system environment. You should see something like this:

 ![image](https://forum-qiime2-org.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/2X/5/5399223ddd433196f386a0935b8ca2a7218e975a.png)

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### Author: ![system](https://forum-qiime2-org.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/3X/2/1/21af5fe23cb6f4579467c66a9ed94e55274ca7bd.svg) [@system](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/how-to-read-provenance-in-an-artifact-file/7257/3 "2019-01-03T22:12:00Z")

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