The pattern: schedule weekly exports, download promptly on email notification, ship to long-term storage, test restore quarterly. For orgs with strict recovery requirements, graduate to a paid backup product; for compliance archive, Data Export is fine if disciplined.
- Open Setup, Data Management, Data Export
The page hosts both Schedule Export and Export Now. Pick Schedule Export for recurring backup; Export Now for one-time needs.
- Configure the export scope
Pick objects to include. Most orgs include all standard and custom objects. Include attachments and files if those are in scope for backup.
- Set the schedule for recurring exports
Weekly for Enterprise+ editions, monthly for Professional. Pick a day and time off-business-hours.
- Assign the email recipient who will monitor the export
The admin email gets the completion notification with the download link. Pick a monitored mailbox (not a personal email of someone on vacation).
- Download promptly on email notification
The 48-hour download window is the hard constraint. Build an operational habit of downloading within 24 hours.
- Ship to long-term storage
S3 bucket, internal backup system, compliance archive. The export is your snapshot; the long-term storage is where it lives.
- Test restore quarterly
An untested backup is a hope, not a recovery plan. Pick a sample, restore to a sandbox, verify the data matches expectation.
Weekly (Enterprise+) or monthly (Professional). Tightest cadence the edition supports.
Which objects are exported. Most orgs include all.
Optional add-on; significantly increases archive size.
Archive encryption with admin-provided passphrase. Recommended for compliance contexts.
Who gets the completion notification. Pick a monitored mailbox.
- The 48-hour download window is hard. Missed emails mean lost archives until the next scheduled export.
- Data Export does not include metadata. Apex, page layouts, custom field definitions need separate Metadata API backup.
- On-demand Export Now is rate-limited. Plan around the limit; emergencies cannot trigger ad-hoc exports outside the window.
- Data Export is not a restore tool. Restoration requires Data Loader or Bulk API import; not a one-click recovery.
- Untested backups are hope, not recovery. Quarterly restore tests are the discipline that turns Data Export into actual operational protection.