What you will learn
- What "shutting down" actually means for data you haven't exported
- Why old reports can matter years after you wrote them
- Why photos are the part people forget to export
- What to actually do before December 15, 2026
Table of contents
Most of the conversation around Horizon's shutdown is about switching software: picking a new platform, rebuilding templates, getting comfortable with a new workflow. That's the visible, urgent part. The part that gets less attention is the archive — every report and every photo you've produced since you started using Horizon, sitting quietly in an account that's going away. Here's what actually happens to it, and why it deserves more than an afterthought.
What "shutting down" means for your archive
Carson Dunlop has said export tools will remain available through December 15, 2026. That's a hard deadline, not a soft one. The safest assumption for anything you haven't personally exported by that date is that it won't be retrievable afterward — there's no indication of an extended read-only access period or a way to request an old report from Carson Dunlop once the platform is retired. If a report or a photo only exists inside Horizon, its clock is running out along with the platform itself.
Why a report from years ago can still matter
It's easy to treat this as low-priority because you're not actively using those old reports day to day. But home inspection is one of the professions where "old" work can resurface with real consequences, for reasons that have nothing to do with which software you're on:
- State record retention requirements. Many licensing boards require inspectors to retain reports and related records for a set period — commonly 3 to 5 years, though it varies by state (Ohio requires five years from the date the report was delivered; Tennessee and North Carolina require at least three).
- Statutes of limitation and repose. A client, their agent, or an attorney can raise a claim well after the inspection itself. Limitation periods for filing a claim are often around four years, and statutes of repose — the outer limit for any claim regardless of when a defect was discovered — can run 5 to 10 years in some states.
- E&O insurance claims. If a claim is ever filed against you, your errors and omissions insurer will want the original report and any supporting documentation. Not having it doesn't help your case.
None of this means every inspector will face a claim. It means the reports sitting in your Horizon archive are exactly the kind of documents you're supposed to be able to produce on short notice, sometimes years after the fact — and after December 15, 2026, you may simply not be able to.
Photos are the part people forget
When inspectors think about exporting their Horizon data, they usually think about the account-level export — CRM records, client contacts, templates, that kind of thing. What that export doesn't include is the photos embedded in your completed reports. Those live inside the reports themselves, which Horizon handles as a separate, dedicated bulk export ("Request Export") rather than part of the standard account data download.
That distinction matters because photos are often the actual evidence in a dispute. A report might say "moisture staining observed at the base of the chimney," but it's the photo that shows exactly what was there, from what angle, in what condition. Text without the supporting photo is a much weaker record to have on hand than the two together.
If you've already run your account data export, don't assume you're covered. Photos and completed report PDFs are a separate export in Horizon — make sure you've run both.
What to actually do about it
The practical fix here isn't complicated, it's just easy to deprioritize until it's too late:
- Run Horizon's bulk report export (the "Request Export" option, separate from the account data export) to pull every completed report and its photos, not just your current jobs.
- Store that archive somewhere outside Horizon — cloud storage, a local backup, or wherever your business already keeps records — before December 15, 2026.
- Keep it organized by client and date so you can actually find something years from now if you need to, rather than digging through one giant folder.
For the full step-by-step on exporting everything from Horizon, including the difference between the account export and the report export, see our complete export checklist.
Worth thinking about for whatever you switch to next
This whole situation is a good argument for choosing a platform where "what happens to my old reports" isn't a question you have to ask again later. InspectionX hosts every report you write on a permanent link, accessible to you and your clients long after the inspection date, so your archive doesn't depend on us staying available to you in some special way — it's just how reports work on the platform. We're currently offering Horizon users 6 months free on InspectionX, regardless of where you are in your Horizon billing cycle.
Move to a platform built to keep your archive accessible
Redeem 6 months free and see how InspectionX handles report storage long-term.
Redeem 6 Months Free Schedule a DemoFrequently asked questions
Will my old Horizon reports be deleted when the platform shuts down?
Carson Dunlop has said export tools will be available through December 15, 2026. The safest assumption is that anything you haven't exported by that date won't be retrievable afterward, so treat the deadline as final for any report or photo you might need later.
How long do home inspectors need to keep reports and photos?
It varies by state, but many boards require at least 3-5 years of record retention (Ohio requires five years, Tennessee and North Carolina require at least three). Claims can also surface later under a statute of repose, which runs 5-10 years in some states, so many inspectors keep records longer than the legal minimum.
What happens if a client asks for an old report after Horizon shuts down?
If you didn't export that report before the shutdown, you likely won't be able to produce it. That's a problem if the request comes from a client, their agent, an attorney, or your E&O insurer during a claim.
Does Horizon's account data export include photos?
Not by default. Horizon's six-category account export covers CRM and business data, not the report PDFs themselves. Photos live inside your completed reports, which you export separately using the bulk "Request Export" button.