# Problem with getting Metadata from a QIIME 2 artifact **URL:** \ **Category:** User Support\ **Tags:** demux, summarize\ **Created:** [April 6, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695 "2018-04-06T19:22:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![savan](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@savan](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/savan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/1 "2018-04-06T19:22:34Z")
Hello, I am trying to get metadata from my artifact file (.qza), the command as: qiime metadata tabulate --m-input-file bioreactor.qza --o-visualization bioreactor-metadata.qzv however, it came out: There was an issue with viewing the artifact bioreactor.qza as QIIME 2 Metadata: Artifact \ cannot be viewed as QIIME 2 Metadata. ---
**Author:** ![thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/2 "2018-04-09T14:28:59Z")
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**Author:** ![thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/3 "2018-04-10T15:21:57Z")
Hi @savan - that warning is telling you that QIIME 2 isn't aware of a way to interpret (or _view_) that _type_ of data as metadata. If you are trying to visualize `SampleData[PairedEndSequencesWithQuality]`, I would recommend checking out the [`demux summarize`](https://docs.qiime2.org/2018.2/plugins/available/demux/summarize/) visualization, that should get you moving! Keep us posted! 🦖 ---
**Author:** ![thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/4 "2018-04-10T15:22:11Z")
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**Author:** ![savan](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@savan](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/savan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/5 "2018-04-24T17:40:24Z")
Hi @thermokarst, the artifact file barcode.qza was imported as format-Casava 1.8 paired-end demultiplexed fastq: qiime tools import --type 'SampleData[PairedEndSequencesWithQuality]' --input-path gzsample --source-format CasavaOneEightSingleLanePerSampleDirFmt --output-path bioreactor.qza My understand is I don't need to demultiplex the sequence reads, right? So the next step should be see summary and look at the sequence quality. However, no matter I use qiime demux summarize --i-data bioreactor.qza --o-visualization bioreactor.qzv or qiime dada2 denoise-paired --i-demultiplexed-seqs bioreactor.qza --o-table table --o-representative-sequences rep-seqs --p-trim-left-f 13 --p-trim-left-r 13 --p-trunc-len-f 150 --p-trunc-len-r 150 it all shows - Error: Got unexpected extra arguments. Could you please help me to figure out how to get moving forward? Thank you very much! ---
**Author:** ![antgonza](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/antgonza/32/1236_2.png) [@antgonza](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/antgonza)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/6 "2018-04-24T18:13:45Z")
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**Author:** ![thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/7 "2018-04-24T23:05:23Z")
Hi @savan! > [@savan](#): > > it all shows - Error: Got unexpected extra arguments. That looks like a shell error - it certainly isn't a QIIME 2 error! Did you copy and paste your command here exactly as you ran? If so, it looks like you might be missing the backslashes at the end of your lines: ```bash qiime demux summarize \ --i-data bioreactor.qza \ --o-visualization bioreactor.qzv ``` These tell your shell to escape the newline characters, allowing you to write a command across many lines. Alternatively, you could put it all on one line: ```bash qiime demux summarize --i-data bioreactor.qza --o-visualization bioreactor.qzv ``` The choice is entirely up to you! We like to spread across multiple lines in our tutorials and documentation because we think it makes things easier to read, but doesn't serve any _functional_ purpose. Hope that helps - keep us posted! 🦖 ---
**Author:** ![thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/8 "2018-04-24T23:05:25Z")
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**Author:** ![savan](https://forum.qiime2.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@savan](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/savan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/9 "2018-04-25T15:04:33Z")
Thank you very much @thermokarst!!! It works right now! ---
**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:** [May 26, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/problem-with-getting-metadata-from-a-qiime-2-artifact/3695/10 "2018-05-26T21:04:34Z")
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