# ee.data.startProcessing

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Create processing task that exports or pre-renders an image.

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Return value is null if a callback is specified.

Returns an object with fields:

- taskId: Submitted task ID (without hyphens).

- name: Full operation name in the format projects/X/operations/Y

- started: will be 'OK'

- note: may have value 'ALREADY_EXISTS' if an identical task with the same unsubmitted ID already exists.

| Usage | Returns |
|---|---|
| `ee.data.startProcessing(taskId, params, *callback*)` | ProcessingResponse |

| Argument | Type | Details |
|---|---|---|
| `taskId` | String | Unsubmitted ID for the task (obtained from newTaskId). Used to identify duplicated tasks; may be null. The server will create and return a submitted ID. |
| `params` | Object | The object that describes the processing task; only fields that are common for all processing types are documented here. type (string) Either 'EXPORT_IMAGE', 'EXPORT_FEATURES', 'EXPORT_VIDEO' or 'EXPORT_TILES'. json (string) JSON description of the image. |
| `callback` | Function, optional | An optional callback. If not supplied, the call is made synchronously. |