# Hierarchical JSON Output

You can use the Hierarchical JSON output step to convert hierarchical data from a previous step into JSON format. For an overview of hierarchical data in Pentaho, see [Hierarchical data](https://docs.pentaho.com/pdia-data-integration/extracting-data-into-pdi/hierarchical-data).

**Note:** This step accepts only hierarchical data.

### Step name

* **Step name**: Specifies the unique name of the Hierarchical JSON output step on the canvas. You can customize the name or leave it as the default.

### Options

![Hierarchical JSON Output step dialog box](https://773338310-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FYwnJ6Fexn4LZwKRHghPK%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-a8f57b4ebc1af678856fe68b91352b92f708e85a%2FPDI%20Hierarchical%20JSON%20Output%20step.png?alt=media)

#### Fields

| Field                        | Description                                                                                             |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Input hierarchical field** | Specifies the hierarchical input field name from a previous step which is formatted to the JSON format. |
| **Output field**             | Specifies the step output field to contain the generated JSON output.                                   |

#### Additional options

| Option                     | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pass output to servlet** | Select to return the data using a web service instead of passing it to output rows. See [PDI data over web service](https://pentaho-public.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/EAI/pages/384958757/PDI+data+over+web+services). |
| **Pretty print?**          | Select to format the output JSON data.                                                                                                                                                                                |