Export Backup Data from Salesforce

Export Backup Data from Salesforce

Your Salesforce org can generate backup files of your data on a weekly or monthly basis depending on your edition. You can export all your org’s data into a set of comma-separated values (CSV) files.

NOTE Users with the “Weekly Data Export” permission can view all exported data and all custom objects and fields in the Export Service page. This permission is granted by default only to the System Administrator profile because it enables wide visibility.

You can generate backup files manually once every 7 days (for weekly export) or 29 days (for monthly export). In Professional Edition and Developer Edition, you can generate backup files only every 29 days. You can schedule backup files to generate automatically at weekly or monthly intervals (only monthly intervals are available in Professional Edition and Developer Edition).

Heavy traffic can delay an export delivery. For example, assume that you schedule a weekly export to run until the end of the month, beginning April 1. The first export request enters the queue, but due to heavy traffic, the export isn’t delivered until April 8. On April 7, when your second export request is scheduled to be processed, the first request is still in the queue. So, the second request isn’t processed until April 14.

NOTE Only active users can run export jobs. If an inactive user schedules an export, error emails are generated and the export doesn’t run.
  1. From Setup, enter Data Export in the Quick Find box, then select Data Export and Export Now or Schedule Export.
    1. The Export Now option prepares your files for export immediately. This option is only available if enough time has passed since your last export.
    2. The Schedule Export option allows you to schedule the export process for weekly or monthly intervals.
  2. Select the desired encoding for your export file.
  3. Select Include images, documents, and attachments and Include Salesforce Files and Salesforce CRM Content document versions to include these items in your export data.
NOTE Including special content in the export increases data export processing time.
  1. If you want to have spaces instead of carriage returns or line breaks in your export files, select Replace carriage returns with spaces. This selection is useful if you plan to use your export files for importing or other integrations.
  2. If you're scheduling your export, select the frequency (only available for orgs with monthly exports), start and end dates, and time of day for your export.
  3. Under Exported Data, select the types of data to include in your export. If you aren’t familiar with the terminology used for some of the types of data, we recommend that you select Include all data. Note the following:
    1. Formula (derived) and roll-up summary fields are always excluded from exports.
    2. If your org uses divisions, data from all divisions is included in the export.
    3. If your org uses person accounts and you are exporting accounts, all account fields are included in the account data.
    4. If your org uses person accounts and you are exporting contacts, person account records are included in the contact data. However, the contact data only includes the fields shared by contacts and person accounts.
    5. For information on field limitations, see the Salesforce Field Reference Guide.
    6. The Include all data option selects all objects for export at the time the checkbox is selected. For a recurring scheduled export, be sure to reselect the Include all data option to include newly created objects.
  4. Click Start Export or Save.
    1. Salesforce creates a zip archive of CSV files and emails the user who scheduled the export when it’s ready. The email address for this notification can’t be changed. Exports complete as soon as possible, however we can't guarantee the date and time of completion. Large exports are broken up into multiple files. To download the zip file, follow the link in the email or click Data Export. Zip files are deleted 48 hours after the email is sent (not including weekends). For example, if the email is sent on a Friday, the .Zip file is deleted on Tuesday.
NOTE For security purposes, Salesforce can require users to pass a CAPTCHA user verification test to export data from their org. This simple text-entry test prevents malicious programs from accessing your org’s data. To pass the test, users must correctly type the two words displayed in the overlay’s text box. The words entered in the text box must be separated by a space.

TIP Ensure that any automated processes that process the export files rely on the column headings in the CSV files, rather than the position of the columns.

Backup Data Export Considerations

No Sandbox Support
  1. The data export service isn't supported in sandboxes. You can request an export in your sandbox, but the export doesn’t get processed and doesn’t complete. The only way to remove the export request after it’s been queued is to refresh your sandbox.
File Size Considerations
  1. If the size of data in the org is large, multiple .zip archives are created. Each .zip archive file contains one or more .csv files and can be up to 512 MB (approximately). If the total size of exported data is greater than 512 MB, the export generates multiple .zip files.
Adjust Export Files
  1. Depending on the encoding selected, you might have to make adjustments to the export file before viewing it. Use the following instructions that apply to the character encoding you selected.
    1. View Unicode (UTF-8) Encoded Export Files
    2. View Unicode (UTF-16, Big Endian) Encoded Export Files
    3. View Unicode (Little Endian) Encoded Export Files

View Unicode (UTF-8) Encoded Export Files

If you have Microsoft Excel 2003:
  1. Open Microsoft Excel
  2. Click File | New.
  3. Click Data | Import External Data | Import Data.
  4. In the Microsoft Excel text import wizard, select the CSV file.
  5. Select “Delimited” and choose the “Unicode (UTF-8)” option for File origin.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Select Comma in the Delimiters section and click Finish. You might be prompted to select a range of cells.
NOTE If commas aren’t appropriate for your locale, use a tab or other delimiter. Specify your delimiter in Data Loader Settings (Settings | Settings).
  1. Repeat these steps for each file.
If you have an earlier version of Microsoft Excel (pre-2003):

  1. Open the file in Microsoft Excel.
  2. Select File | Save As.
  3. Save the file as type Web Page.
  4. Select Tools | Options | General tab and click the Web Options button.
  5. Select the Encoding tab, and then choose the “Unicode (UTF-8)” option.
  6. To close the dialog boxes, click OK.
  7. To save the file with selected encoding, select File | Save.
  8. Repeat these steps for each file.

View Unicode (UTF-16, Big Endian) Encoded Export Files

  1. Open the export files in a text editor that supports this character set. Microsoft Excel does not support this character set.

View Unicode (Little Endian) Encoded Export Files

  1. Open the file in Microsoft Excel.
  2. Click column A to highlight the entire first column.
  3. Open the Data menu and choose Text to Columns.
  4. Select the “Delimited” radio button and click Next.
  5. Select “Comma” in the Delimiters section and click Finish.
NOTE If commas aren’t appropriate for your locale, use a tab or other delimiter. Specify your delimiter in Data Loader Settings (Settings | Settings).
  1. Repeat these steps for each file.

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