When a company merges two Salesforce orgs — through an acquisition or a consolidation project — moving files between them is always the hardest part. Records can be migrated with Data Loader, but files need a different approach.
Why Files Are the Hardest Part of Org Consolidation
- Salesforce has no built-in "copy files from Org A to Org B" feature
- Files must be exported from the source org and re-uploaded to the target org
- They must stay linked to the correct parent records after re-upload
- The volume is often enormous — tens or hundreds of thousands of files
The File Migration Workflow
- Step 1 — Export from source org: Use SFDC File Exporter to bulk download all files, organized by object and record name
- Step 2 — Match records: Use the metadata CSV exported alongside the files to map source record IDs to target record IDs
- Step 3 — Re-upload to target org: Use the Salesforce API or a migration tool to upload files back with the correct ContentDocumentLink records
What SFDC File Exporter Gives You
- All files downloaded in original format — PDFs, DOCX, images, spreadsheets
- Folder structure organized by object type and record name
- A
metadata.csvper folder with Salesforce IDs, filenames, sizes, and owners - No AppExchange installation in either org required