Most small store owners never think about backups until something goes wrong: a bulk edit overwrites every product description, an app changes prices across the catalog, a theme update breaks a page that took a week to build, or someone leaves with the only login. On a hosted platform the servers are someone else’s job, but your data and the changes you make to it are still yours to protect.
This guide covers what to back up, how to export it, how often, where to keep it, and how to check your backups would actually help when you need them.
Key takeaways
- Back up the things that are hard to recreate: product data, content, theme customizations, settings and records.
- Export before every risky change, such as bulk edits, imports, theme updates and app installs, as well as on a regular schedule.
- Keep copies in at least two places, one of them outside the platform, with access limited to people who need it.
- Document settings that do not export, such as shipping rates, taxes and checkout options.
- Delete old customer exports you no longer need, rather than keeping every file forever.
What to back up
| Data | Why it matters | Typical export route |
|---|---|---|
| Products and variants | Titles, descriptions, prices, SKUs, options, tags, images | Product CSV export from the admin |
| Inventory | Stock levels per variant and location | Inventory export or product export, depending on platform |
| Collections and categories | How products are grouped and ordered | Varies; sometimes not exported, so record rules manually |
| Customers | Contact details, marketing consent, tags, notes | Customer CSV export |
| Orders | Sales records, refunds, fulfillment, taxes | Order CSV export or reports |
| Content pages and blog posts | Text you wrote, often a lot of work | Often no built-in export; copy text and images separately |
| Theme | Layout, code edits, custom sections | Duplicate or download the theme |
| Navigation and redirects | Menus and URL redirects that protect search traffic | Redirect exports where offered; menus recorded manually |
| Settings | Shipping, taxes, payments, checkout, notifications | Usually not exportable; screenshot or document |
| Email templates and notifications | Order emails, shipping emails | Copy templates you have customized |
| App data | Reviews, subscriptions, loyalty points, wishlists | Depends on each app; check its export options |
| Images and files | Product photos, downloads, brand assets | Keep your originals outside the platform |
The list of what your platform exports, and in what format, changes over time. Check its current help pages rather than assuming.
Exports by type
Products
A product export is the most useful single backup for most stores, because product data is where bulk mistakes do the most damage.
- Export all products and all fields, not only the current page or a filtered view.
- Check whether custom fields (sometimes called metafields or attributes) are included. If not, note where that data lives and how to export it.
- Product images in exports are often links to images hosted on the platform. If the store closes or the images are deleted, those links may stop working, so keep your original image files elsewhere.
Customers
Customer exports usually include names, email addresses, addresses, marketing consent status and tags. Because this is personal data:
- Export only when you need to, and store the file somewhere access-controlled.
- Keep the consent status with the record. If you ever move platforms or email tools, consent must move with the email address. Our guide to email and SMS consent basics explains why.
- Delete old copies you no longer need. Many privacy laws expect you to keep personal data only as long as necessary.
Orders
Order exports serve two purposes: a backup of your sales history, and records your accountant may need. Check with your accountant how long you have to keep sales records where you are, and in what form. Large stores may need to export orders in date ranges rather than all at once.
Theme
Before any theme change, make a copy:
- Duplicate the live theme in the admin, and give the copy a dated name, such as “Live backup 2026-03-01.”
- Download a copy if your platform offers it, so you have the files outside the platform too.
- Keep a change log of code edits: what was changed, where and why. This helps whoever works on the theme next. Our guide to removing leftover app code shows why undocumented theme edits become a problem later.
Settings you cannot export
Shipping zones and rates, tax settings, payment methods, checkout options and notification settings usually live only in the admin. Record them in a simple document or with screenshots, and update it when you change something. It takes an hour once and saves a lot of guessing if a setting is changed by mistake.
How often
There is no single right schedule. A rule of thumb for a small store:
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Products and inventory | Weekly, and before every bulk edit, import or app install that touches products |
| Customers | Monthly, or before connecting a new marketing tool |
| Orders | Monthly, plus whatever your accountant needs |
| Theme | Before every theme change or update |
| Content pages and blog posts | When you publish or edit significant content |
| Settings document | When you change a setting |
| App data | Before removing an app, and periodically for apps holding important data |
If your store changes daily, back up more often. If it rarely changes, the event-based backups matter more than the calendar.
Before risky changes
Many data problems come from a single action. Export first when you:
- Run a bulk edit or a CSV import.
- Install or remove an app that changes products, prices or theme code. Our Shopify app audit includes this step.
- Update or switch themes.
- Give a developer or agency access. See working with a freelance store developer.
- Prepare for a platform move. Our platform migration checklist starts with a full export.
Where to keep exports
- At least two places: for example, an encrypted folder on your computer and a cloud storage account with two-step verification turned on.
- Clear names: store name, data type and date, such as “products-2026-03-01.csv.”
- Restricted access. Customer and order files should be available only to people who need them.
- Not in email. Sending exports around by email leaves copies of personal data in several inboxes.
- A retention rule. Keep a set number of recent product exports, and delete customer exports once they are no longer needed.
Test your backups
A few times a year, as a rule of thumb, check that your backups would actually help:
- Open a product export and confirm every product and variant is there, with descriptions, prices and SKUs.
- Check special characters, such as accents and currency symbols, display correctly. Open CSV files in a spreadsheet tool that handles UTF-8 properly, and do not save over the original.
- Confirm image links or original image files are available.
- Try restoring a single product from the export into a test or draft product, to see how the import handles your fields.
- Check you can still open old theme copies.
Protect access too
Backups cover data. Access problems need their own precautions:
- The store owner account should belong to the business, with an email address the business controls and two-step verification turned on.
- Give staff and developers their own accounts with only the permissions they need, and remove access when the work ends.
- Review app access occasionally. Our guide to app permissions explains what different access scopes mean.
FAQ
Do I need a paid backup tool?
Not necessarily. Many small stores manage well with regular manual exports, theme copies and a settings document. Automated backup tools can save time and capture more detail for larger or fast-changing catalogs. If you use one, check what it backs up, where the data is stored, what permissions it needs and how a restore actually works.
Can I restore a whole store from CSV files?
Partly. Product, customer and some order data can usually be re-imported, but settings, theme customizations, app data and some content cannot be restored from standard exports. That is why the other backups matter.
How long should I keep old exports?
Keep enough recent product exports to recover from a mistake you notice late, and keep sales records as long as your accountant and local rules require. Delete customer data you no longer need.
Bottom line
Export products, customers and orders on a schedule and before every risky change, duplicate the theme before editing it, and document the settings that cannot be exported. Keep copies in two secure places, delete personal data you no longer need, and test your exports now and then. The day a bulk edit goes wrong, a recent export turns a disaster into an hour of work.
