Exporting data from Salesforce

[ltcommander]

Hello all,

This might seem like a pretty elementary question but I can't seem to be able to figure out how to export data from Salesforce. On the help section, it says I'll need the "Apex Data Loader export wizard". Where do I find that and how do I install that?

Thank you.

Vince

[Mono1]

I have exactly the same problem very easy to put in but Salesforce have done a sterling job to make it hard to extract. If I find out I will let you know

[rpr2]

There are several ways to extract data -- however all of these are controlled by your profile.  So if you are not the System Administrator in your organization, you may or may not see these options:

1.  In reports, there is an export button to extract you report data.

2.  You can get an extract of all your data (or a subset) by navigating to Setup | Data Management | Data Export.  This feature is available in the Enterprise and Unlimited Editions.  If you're on Professional Edition, this feature can be enabled for an additional fee.  It's not available for the other editions.

3.  You can export data using the Data Loader (referenced in this post).  You need to install the Data Loader on your computer.  To navigate to the file that you need to download and install:  Setup | Data Management | Data Loader.

There's also other ways through third party tools such as the Force.com Excel Connector

Rhonda

Message Edited by rpr2 on 09-05-2008 12:26 AM

[docbill]

For option #2, is there a way to automate this?   Our organization wants to download all data once per week.  Options #1 and #3 are not appropriate because they do not download all the data.   #2 does, but I have not figure out how to automate it.   It seems to require that the export is manually requested, and then after receiving an e-mail someone manually logs in within 48 hours and downloads with their webbrowser.

Ideally what would be nice is if we could just feed the e-mail into a java application that would use an API to download the export.

Bill

[JillW]

As a matter of fact, I have our SalesForce set up to do a full export every week. Go to "Data Management: Data Export", and then click on the "Schedule Export" button.

You will have the option of exporting your data weekly or monthly. You will also select the day and time. (I have it for Sunday at 2 AM.)

You can also choose to export all your data or only certain tables.

When your export is completed, you will get a notification by email. Then you have three days to go back into the Data Export section to download your backup. (If you wait longer, then the export will disappear.)

Hope this helps.

JW

[docbill]

Thanks for the reply JillW.   Actually, no that doesn't help.   We are trying to figure out a way to automate the export.  Relying on someone reading their e-mail, and manually downloading the file is not automated.   The other problem we run into with the scheduled process, is the schedule is not reliable.   Sometimes it can take nearly a full week from the scheduled time to when the export actually completes.   So the person doing the download can not plan their schedule so they are in the office when the data is ready to download.

Bill

[JillW]

OK... then my next idea is DemandTools. I've used this to upload records and dedupe SalesForce in both jobs where I've worked with SalesForce. (In fact, I lobbied for it when my current employer adopted SalesForce.)

It also has a mass back up feature that downloads all (or part) of your SF database. Use Windows own "Schedule Tasks" function (in the control panel) automate it. (DemandTools includes specific details on how to set this up in their help files.)

The upside to this is that you can run DemandTools' mass backup more than once a week.

The downside is that you have to buy a license for DemandTools, but you also get a free license for PeopleImport. I have found both tools to be extremely useful.

[docbill]

Thanks, JillW.   One of our administrators has been working on modifying a free eclipse module to do the same type of things.   I will suggest they compare what is available for DemandTools, as that might be cheaper than the cost of the development time.   Of course, the advantage of eclipse, is it works out of the box for Linux.   But we have a cloud of virtual machines we can use for tasks under Windows, so it is only a minor advantage...

Bill

[JillW]

I expect that Linux has a way to schedule tasks to run automatically. Then you'd only need to adapt the DemandTools instructions to fit.

[docbill]

JillW.   Oh, I was taking your comment about using Windows Scheduler to mean that DemandTools only runs under Windows...