Exporting data from Salesforce looks simple until something goes wrong. A missing attachment, a hit API limit, or a CSV that opens garbled — these mistakes cost teams hours of recovery work. Here are the most common ones and exactly how to avoid them.
Mistake #1 — Exporting Records But Forgetting the Files
This is the most common and most damaging mistake. Salesforce's built-in Data Export gives you CSV files for all your standard and custom objects — but it does not download the binary files attached to those records.
Every contract PDF, signed proposal, invoice image, and note attachment lives in a separate system (ContentDocument / ContentVersion for Files, the Attachment object for older records). None of these are included in the weekly export zip.
Fix: Always run a separate file export using a dedicated tool. SFDC File Exporter by RASPSYS LLP was built specifically for this — it downloads ContentDocument files, classic Attachments, Documents, and enhanced Notes in their original format, organized by record or object.
Mistake #2 — Exporting at the Wrong Time (Mid-Transaction)
Scheduling a Salesforce data export during peak business hours is risky. If records are being updated while your export runs, you may end up with inconsistent snapshots — Account records at one point in time, related Opportunity records slightly later.
Fix: Schedule exports during low-activity windows — early morning or weekends. If you're doing a migration, coordinate with your team to avoid record updates during the export window, or use as-of-date filtering in your queries.
Mistake #3 — Hitting the API Governor Limit Mid-Export
Salesforce enforces API call limits per 24-hour rolling window. If you run a large export — especially programmatically via Data Loader or the REST API — while other integrations are also consuming API calls, you can hit the limit and have your export cut short.
The resulting CSV is silently incomplete. There's no error message in the export file itself.
Fix: Check your API usage before running large exports: Setup → System Overview → API Requests, Last 24 Hours. Run large exports during periods of low integration activity. SFDC File Exporter manages its own API calls efficiently and respects governor limits automatically.
Mistake #4 — Exporting Data Without Checking Field-Level Security
The user account running the export can only see fields they have read access to. If you run a Data Loader export with a standard user account, you'll silently miss fields that are restricted at the profile or permission set level.
Fix: Run exports using a System Administrator profile, or an Integration User with explicit read access to all fields you need. Audit the export CSV against the expected columns before considering the export complete.
Mistake #5 — Using the Wrong File Encoding (Breaking Special Characters)
Salesforce exports CSV files in UTF-8 format. Excel on Windows opens CSV files using the system's default code page (often Windows-1252), which turns accented characters, Asian scripts, and special symbols into garbage.
This is especially damaging for international orgs with names and addresses in non-ASCII scripts.
Fix: Open Salesforce-exported CSV files in Excel using Data → From Text/CSV → File Origin: 65001 (UTF-8). Alternatively, use Google Sheets or a text editor to inspect the raw file before processing.
Mistake #6 — Exporting Too Much (and Never Finishing)
Attempting to export your entire org history in one shot is a common beginner mistake. For orgs with millions of records, a full weekly export can time out, fail mid-export, or produce zip files too large to process.
Fix: Export in batches. Use date ranges — "Created Date last 12 months", then "Created Date 12–24 months ago", etc. Data Loader supports filter criteria in SOQL queries; use them. For files, SFDC File Exporter's date range filter makes batched exports straightforward.
Mistake #7 — Exporting Without a Retention or Naming Plan
Running an export produces a folder of files. Without a plan for how to name, store, and access them, those files become useless within weeks — nobody can find the record they need, and duplicate exports pile up on shared drives.
Fix: Before exporting, decide: where will this go? What folder structure? Who can access it? SFDC File Exporter organizes downloaded files into subfolders by object type and record ID automatically, making it easy to find a specific file later.
Mistake #8 — Assuming "Export" and "Backup" Are the Same Thing
An export is a point-in-time snapshot. A backup is a recoverable copy you can restore from. Most teams do the former while thinking they're doing the latter.
The difference matters when something goes wrong. Can you actually restore a deleted record from your "backup"? Can you re-upload a file to the correct record? Have you tested this?
Fix: After every export, test the restore path for at least one record and one file. Document the steps. This is especially important before major changes — see our Salesforce Backup Checklist.
Mistake #9 — Not Documenting What Was Exported
Six months after your export, will you know exactly which objects were included? Which date range? Which user account ran it? Without documentation, an export is almost as useless as no export.
Fix: Keep a simple export log — a spreadsheet or a text file. Date, objects exported, date range filter, tool used, file location, and the person responsible. Takes 5 minutes and saves hours later.
Mistake #10 — Skipping the File Export on "Small" Changes
Admins often skip the file backup before "small" changes — a new field here, a Flow update there. But even small changes can trigger unexpected data issues, and if something does go wrong, you'll wish you had that file backup.
Fix: Make file backup a habit, not a one-time event. SFDC File Exporter runs incrementally — you can export only files modified in the last 7 days in minutes. Build it into your change management process.
How RASPSYS LLP Can Help
If your team is managing a complex Salesforce org, a migration, or a compliance-driven data retention requirement, RASPSYS LLP offers hands-on support for export, backup, and data management strategy. We work with Salesforce orgs of all sizes and can help you build a reliable, documented export process from scratch.