Guides
Export your Salesforce data: backup, report or Data Loader
Salesforce gives you three ways out: the Data Export Service in Setup, which builds a zip of CSV files, one per object; a report exported as “Details Only”; and Data Loader, a client you install. When leaving Salesforce, the export service is your full backup and the report is your import file: one row carries the contact and its account name. The zip must be downloaded within 48 hours of the email.
Facts checked on October 6, 2026
01Three methods, three different files
The three methods do not produce the same file, and you choose by what you need it for. The baseline is the Salesforce documentation on Trailhead, checked on October 6, 2026.
Data Export Service (Setup > Data Export)
- What it produces
- A zip of CSV files, one per object, sent by email
- Use it for
- A full backup, attachments included as an option
Report exported as “Details Only”
- What it produces
- A CSV or Excel file, without groupings or subtotals
- Use it for
- The import: contacts with their account, deals with their stage
Data Loader
- What it produces
- CSV files from an installed client, through its interface or command line
- Use it for
- Repeated or automated exports
The export service is rate limited. According to Trailhead, the weekly export, available every 7 days, requires Enterprise, Performance or Unlimited Edition. Professional and Developer Editions only get the monthly export, every 29 days. If you just ran one, the next has to wait: download everything as soon as the email lands.
02Running the Data Export Service
- 1
Open Data Export
In Setup, type “Data Export” in Quick Find, then pick Export Now for an immediate run or Schedule Export to set a recurring one.
- 2
Choose the encoding
Pick UTF-8: it keeps accents, curly apostrophes and non English names intact.
- 3
Decide on attachments
Tick images, documents and attachments only if you want to archive them: they make the zip heavier and do not go through a record import.
- 4
Replace carriage returns
“Replace carriage returns with spaces” puts every description on one line, so the file reads cleanly in a spreadsheet.
- 5
Select the objects
Tick Accounts, Contacts, Leads and Opportunities, or “Include all data” for a full backup. Start with Start Export.
- 6
Download within 48 hours
Salesforce emails you when the zip is ready and deletes it 48 hours after sending. A large export is split into several zip files.
03Exporting a report for the import
Backup files are built to be restored into Salesforce. To bring data into another CRM, a report is simpler: it puts fields from several objects on one row, such as a contact and its account name. Build a “Contacts and Accounts” report, add the columns you need, then export it.
- 1Open the report, click the arrow next to Edit, then Export.
- 2Choose “Details Only” : one row per record, with no formatting, groupings or subtotals.
- 3Choose Comma Delimited .csv or Excel, and UTF-8 encoding if your data has accents.
- 4Repeat with an opportunities report holding account name, amount, stage and close date.
04What you get, and what is missing
- One file per object in the backup zip : Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity, and any other object you ticked.
- Decorated headers in some exports : an object prefix such as “Contact: First Name”, a __c suffix on custom fields, “(Do not modify)” on technical columns.
- Five columns per address : Mailing Street, City, State/Province, Zip/Postal Code and Country for a contact, their Billing counterparts for an account.
- No groupings or subtotals in a “Details Only” report.
- Attachments only if you ticked them, inside the zip, never inside the record files.
05Traps in Salesforce exports
- The 48 hour window : after that the zip is gone, and the 7 or 29 day frequency stops you from running it again right away.
- Encoding : an ISO-8859-1 export opened as UTF-8 breaks accents. Choose UTF-8 at export time.
- Multi line descriptions : without the carriage return option, one cell can spread over several rows in a spreadsheet.
- Custom fields : their technical name ends in __c. Keep the mapping to their labels so you know what to recreate.
- Reports only export what they show : check that email and account name are there.
06Bringing Salesforce files into Kasar
The move goes through the CSV or Excel import, on every plan: 150 MB per file, 10 files per pass. Kasar automatic mapping knows the decorations Salesforce adds to its exports and strips them before matching columns to your fields.
“Contact: First Name”, “Account: Billing City”
- What Kasar does with it
- The object prefix is stripped before matching, the column is recognized
Annual_Revenue__c, or any __c field
- What Kasar does with it
- The suffix is stripped and the rest of the name is matched to your fields
“(Do not modify)” at the end of a header
- What Kasar does with it
- The marker is ignored
Mailing Street, City, State, Zip, Country
- What Kasar does with it
- Sent to the contact address subfields
Billing Street, City, State, Zip, Country
- What Kasar does with it
- Same, for the company address
First Name, Last Name, Account Name
- What Kasar does with it
- First name, last name, company
Lead Source, Annual Revenue, Amount
- What Kasar does with it
- Source, revenue, amount
- 1
Import accounts
They become companies. Kasar matches companies on domain, name or LinkedIn ID.
- 2
Import contacts
From the Contacts and Accounts report, Account Name becomes a Relation to companies, matched on name. A missing company is created and linked.
- 3
Import leads
They go into contacts too. The company name, plain text in Salesforce, becomes a real relation to a company. Add them to a “Salesforce leads” list to find them again.
- 4
Import opportunities
First create your Salesforce stages in the Kasar opportunities pipeline under the same names, then link the Stage column to the pipeline. Import this file only once.
What to hold before switching Salesforce off
- The full backup zip, downloaded and stored, even if you only import the reports.
- A Contacts and Accounts report and an Opportunities report, Details Only, UTF-8.
- The Leads object exported separately.
- The list of __c fields to recreate in Kasar.
- A zip that arrived more than 48 hours ago and was never downloaded.
For what both tools cost, licenses and add-ons included, see Kasar vs Salesforce.
Frequently asked questions
48 hours after the email saying it is ready, according to Salesforce documentation checked on October 6, 2026. Then the zip is deleted. The export frequency (every 7 or 29 days depending on edition) often prevents an immediate rerun.
Enterprise, Performance or Unlimited, according to Trailhead. Professional and Developer Editions get the monthly export, every 29 days. Reports, on the other hand, can be exported whenever you like.
Not for common headers: Kasar strips object prefixes, the __c suffix and “(Do not modify)”, and recognizes Mailing and Billing address columns. For a custom field with no match, choose “New” in the mapping, or let Leo propose the field to create.
They are in the export service zip if you ticked the option. They do not go through the record import, which reads rows and columns. Keep the zip as an archive and bring into Kasar only the documents still in use.
Sources
Every fact on this page can be checked on the official page below, read on the date shown.
- Salesforce Trailhead, Learn Data Export Methods and Steps · read on October 6, 2026
- Salesforce Trailhead, Manage Reported Data · read on October 6, 2026
- Salesforce Help, Export Backup Data from Salesforce · read on October 6, 2026